17 Comments

  1. MMaarrttiinn527 on

    No real reason to take it off besides it looks cooler without the brake on
    Even if you have brakes on, that doesn’t mean you are constantly using them

    I saw one youtuber who described it as “brake assisted riding” which I think is the best way to put it (forgot the name of the youtuber)
    You can skid equally as well with the front brake on, as you would with it off

  2. Keep it on until you can say that you can skid within 2 seconds before colliding with something. If not, then keep it on.

  3. I run a brake. Actually I prefer a brake over blowing out my knees. Also I am 59 and my knees are already bad.

  4. The real skill is learning how to feather the front brake instead of grabbing a handful of it. I have one on my flip flop hub fixed gear/ss and I tried grabbing a handful of it in a safe area and it makes the pedals feel really choppy and if I didn’t have straps I would have probably went OTB from it skipping in the front. This was when I first started though, just thought I would share

  5. Numerous-Door6433 on

    I keep it on, and as others have said, have it and don’t use it if you don’t want to. Also a safety law in a lot of areas to have two forms of braking. In fixed, it’s front brake and the fixed gear for stopping

  6. You seem to use the horns rather the flat tapeless part, just get these bullhorn-end brake-levers. Looks better than this photograph for sure 😀
    Can keep the right one disconnect to keep the look symmetrical if that matters.

  7. i have bikes with a brake and bikes without. Purpose, circumstance, and gearing should all be considered.

    my bike for distance rides (47/15) has a brake, my city bike (47/16) has no brake. My winter bike has a brake also even though it’s 44/16, it’s more of a “which wheel has traction” scenario.

  8. I used to and never had serious troubles, I always managed to stop in time because I never really tried dumb things (blowing a red light through a crowded intersection, filtering over the double yellow, going 20mph while beside parked cars, etc etc).

    However, the one time I did try a bike with a front brake, I was riding through a quiet neighborhood when the car in front of me slammed on the brakes, and the only reason I didn’t get trunk panel stuck between my teeth was because I could use the brake instead of skidding.

    So I bought myself a front brake. I keep it only for emergency situations though.

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