Brake what’s fixed
safety February 15th, 2010
Good grief, I just spent the afternoon riding around the U District and 4th Avenue and I am here to tell you: the brakeless fixed-gear phenomenon has in no way abated. I even saw some doufus inexperienced rider riding a brakeless fixed-gear mountain bike with front suspension. What’s that about?
I think the only thing I haven’t seen is a brakeless fixed-gear recumbent. Any takers?
It’s only a matter of time before this turns tragic. Tragic in the physical injury sense.
–Erik Ryberg
February 16th, 2010 at 3:40 am
Eric.
Riding small gear off road fixed leads to some Very technical MTB when on the trail
Riding breakless is not something which i would give up but i can serenely see your point. basically anyone riding fixed wheels for less than 6 months scares me.
I will ride a fixed recumbent, but only if you buy me a high wheeler and i can ride that too.
February 16th, 2010 at 9:58 am
I’m more scared of the people I see riding breakless single speeds w/ a freewheel! Or only a front break. Or, I saw a “fixie” on campus @ a dorm bike rack w/ no lock ring on the cog… & of course no breaks…
February 16th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Have have seen several near accidents on campus caused by these idiots.
February 16th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
We need Dwight to start making Brake What’s Fixed stickers.
Actually, E I think the fixed mtb can be alright if you know what you are doing + running a really low ratio. Of course it should still have the brakes though. Sheldon Brown’s winter riding setup:
“I have an old Bridgestone CB-3 set up for nasty winter conditions, with a 28/15. This gives a nice low gear, a 3.63 gain ratio (49″ / 3.88 m) which will take me as fast as I care to go when the streets are snowy. A fixed gear this low makes the brake almost un-necessary: such a low gear lets me slow the bike down quickly by resisting, especially considering that it can’t go very fast.”
February 16th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I can assure you all that the brakeless fixed-gear mountain bike I saw was not being ridden by a person who was capable of “technical” riding.
But perhaps he was borrowing the bike?
And is it really so smart to go mountain biking without brakes, in any case?
I still fail to see how brakes detract so much from the riding experience.
EBR
February 16th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Why do you people care what others are riding? You obviously haven’t ridden a fixed-gear bike or mastered the skill it requires. You sound just like people who hate cyclists and think they shouldn’t be on the roads or in traffic. Seems like every other bike blog is spending more time ragging on cyclists rather then motorists.
So layoff the critical name calling, it’s beneath this site’s subject matter.
February 16th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
I’d never consider hiring an attorney for a bicycle related case who spends his time without justification calling cyclists “doufus” for the type of bike they choose to ride. Shows a lack of cycling knowledge and disrespect towards cyclists, in my opinion.
February 17th, 2010 at 6:39 am
Brakes detract from some paoples egos! hahahahaha
February 17th, 2010 at 7:28 am
I like to ride my road bike with brakes as much as I like to ride my track bike with out.
Am glad thou that my love of riding bikes was reborn via fixed gear, and some of the skills i learned on a fixed gear (ie looking farther ahead, braking Far earlier ect)
have migrated over to my other riding
February 17th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Formerfixie–
You’re right. I probably should have described this person’s riding rather than called him a name. I think if you had seen him struggling to stay upright and ride a straight line while accelerating around the left-hand side of a car that had stopped at the crosswalk on University to allow pedestrians to cross, you would have winced just as I did.
As I mentioned in my last post on this subject, I deal every day with people who have been injured, sometimes very badly injured, in bicycle collisions with motorists. I’ve yet to see one that was aggravated by the presence of brakes.
–EBR
February 17th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Having a brake does not make
a fixed gear bike any less fixed.
You can have a brake and not use
it if you want to further your
skills.
Not having a brake does make any
bike less safe in traffic.
Skidding is not controlled braking
and the drive train is not considered
a braking mechanism, i.e. semi-trailer
trucks do not rely on “jake brakes” to
stop.
It’s not the type of bike you ride, but
rather the way you ride it that demonstrates
your awareness of the required social
responsibility to others on public
facilities. I love tandems, but I
dislike tandem riding on crowded
sidewalks.
As a motorist, I would not want to
collide with a cyclist who did not
give himself a chance of stopping
effectively. Not having a brake
is shifting the cyclist’s part of the
responsibility to avoid collisions over
to and unduly upon motorists and/or other
cyclists.
February 17th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
formerFixie, the amount of skill required to ride a fixie brakeless and do so safely is all the more reason to ride with brakes. I’ve ridden a fixed road bike twice without brakes and I couldn’t find anything appealing about not having a front brake. You can still ride without using the brake, but it’s plain stupid to not have one just in case.
That said, I do regularly ride a 24″ fixie without any brakes, but it only has one wheel and a max speed of 12mph d:
February 18th, 2010 at 6:59 am
I wonder how many tires the skidding fixie riders go through. That has to get expensive, right?
February 18th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Former Fixie, I agree with you about the name calling. But as far as cycling knowledge goes, Erik isn’t telling you here that he has logged plenty of miles on fixed gear bikes. Back in the day, he used to ride one for training…and up until last year he still had one that he would ride around town. I assure you his attitude is not the result of lack of knowledge.
February 18th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
formerFixie,
It is one thing when the crazy no brake fixie riders only endanger themselves, but countless times (both here and in ABQ) I have collided with, or just barely avoided colliding with (by use of my brakes of course, primarily my front brake, which provides the majority of the stopping power) disrespectful fixie riders who fail to yield the right of way, ride the wrong way and can’t or won’t move out of my way, run into the back of me, and then get huffy about the accident/near miss that they caused. Get some effing brakes! Once you get hit by car your attitude will change, believe me.