czr

Front brake or helmet? If you could only have one. This is just hypothetical.

prathmann

I would certainly go with the front brake. Much better to avoid a crash than to possibly mitigate the results of one.

REDMASTA

how fun a brake and helmet thread all in one.

can I trade my choice for a snickers bar? don’t need my cyclefocuschi clouded with hunger.

hairnet

I ride tru fixie. No helmets or breaks... Can't stop won't stop

Mars_

Seconded! I wud rather a front brake than a helmet too

Gresp15C

I don't ride fixed, but have a coaster hub bike. On its maiden ride, an incident made me pledge to install a front brake the moment I got home. On the other hand, I've only had about 2-3 incidents in my entire life when I was lucky that I wore a helmet.

A friend of mine just gave me a flip flop wheel. We're all intrigued by it, and will give it a try (my daughter and myself), but Dad's rule is that we will have front and rear brakes on the bike.

veganbikes

I might suggest a full frontal lobotomy!

Dougboy

None - both significantly reduce street cred

Mars_

Who cares about street cred when your head is cracked open on the pavement cuz some dumbass hit you and you didn’t have at least a front brake to stop? Cmon.

Idk if is cuz I live in the city but drivers here SUCK! They don’t look out for anyone and don’t follow traffic laws, all in a rush. I don’t wear helmets but I just couldn’t ride without at least one brake.

REDMASTA

Philasteve

Front brake, lots of other things to be mangled other than your head in a stupid accident that could have been avoided with a little braking help.

RandB

When I had a front brake on the fixie I almost went over the handlebars a couple several times when stopping, which left me thinking that the use of front brakes is the best argument for wearing a bicycle helmet.

Actually the main reason that I currently do not have my fixie commuter setup with brakes is that was a real pain to set the Steamroller up with brakes and 32mm studded tires and fenders. I really dislike when the the front wheel locks up on ice, or locks when going downhill.

For safety, when not on flat dry roads I find a rear brake to be preferable to either a front brake or a helmet.

hardboiled718

^ almost going over the handlebars "a couple several times"? Front brake is about finesse, you don't hamfist it. I'm not against front brake removal for whatever reasons, but there's no denying it provides significantly more stopping power than rear alone and if you're locking your front brake then you need to be applying pressure more slowly in conjunction with rear wheel control.

RandB

Yes, I know, I mostly had gotten used to using the the brakes when not on icy roads. A few years back my bicycle was stolen and getting the brakes, fenders and studded tires set up properly is a real pain on the replacement bicycle. I don't feel much need to go through the hassle of modifying fender and frame to get it all set up.

JohnDThompson 

Having worked with many traumatic brain injury patients in my three decade career as an RN, I can say "all it takes is one incident" to change your life forever in a bad way.

Gresp15C

As an aside, how do you feel about RN as a career these days? My son has talked about it as a possibility, along with other fields in the medical "spectrum" such as PA, etc.

Agreed about your point. I tell people that my brain is what feeds my family, and I can't afford to lose it.

JohnDThompson 

Well, I've been retired for two years now. I suppose that's a good sign: I was able to earn enough to allow retirement at age 61. A good thing about being an RN is your job won't get outsourced overseas. But as a hospital-based RN, I had to work all shifts, and regular weekend and holiday shifts. That's what happens when your workplace is open 24/7/365. I was always a little jealous of the Physical and Occupational Therapists. Until fairly recently they didn't have to work weekends, and as of the time I retired anyway, still didn't have to work evenings, nights, or holidays. And the pay was comparable to RN pay.

The ongoing turmoil in our health system in the United States means there is constant pressure to cut costs, and sometimes that means inadequate staffing. That's how I ended up working double shifts right up to my last day. While in principle providing adequate staffing is the responsibility of management, in practice there is more compelling pressure to take a chance and staff minimally, hoping no one will call in sick or no disaster will overwhelm patient assignments than there is to provide a little buffer in case something comes up that requires more staff.

drlogik 

I consider myself a good and safe rider. Given the choice of helmet or front brake I would choose to not ride, and I absolutely love riding my fixie.

Caliper

Front brake.

But, I ride with a helmet and two brakes. Partly because I like the hoods for climbing, also because I like not dying. I still use backpedaling to slow when I can but brakes stop the bike far faster than any backpedaling ever could.

Caliper

It's not true unless you're also rocking a wool jersey and leather soled shoes.