stryper

don't listen to people tell you to loose the front brake, thats a stupid idea. Many people ride without one, including myself, but that doesn't mean everyone should. And nobody should ever tell another person to remove their brake. That is a decision that you the individual riding the bike need to make for yourself.

As far as learning to skid, read the sheldon brown article posted above, then watch some how to you tube videos or something, then if you can watch someone in real life. Having somebody there to watch and teach you will help you learn significantly faster.

Build your own

I ride brakeless most of the time,but this has to be the sh****est advise for someone new to FG ever.

JohnDThompson 

Why? At a minimum this doesn't seem to have any relevance to the topic under discussion.

superjohnny

Nobody should ride off the track without a brake. It's called the law (in most states). Why would you not? Does it not look cool? Do you respect people who tell you it doesn't look cool?

ModernDivo

I don't ride clipless so I don't really know, but wouldn't it be too easy to accidently become unclipped if you were skidding on them?

brandonspeck

I've had this problem with eggbeaters a few times, but it was rare. I really had to be whipping my bike out when it happened. But I switched to Candy's and the small platform keeps you in better.

Tomo_Ishi

I haven't tried Egg Beaters but I tried Alium cleats and these were awesome. I think Aliums never unclip; so much so you really need to practice unclipping.

But I am using SPD now because Alium cleats aren't so widely available where I am. These are pretty fine, too. I haven't had skid-unclipping. I can unclip easier compared to Alium which is just the way I like. Cleats seem to be tougher.

T

elTwitcho

Someone on this forum had the same thing happen with egg beaters and he went down hard. If your technique sucks while pedalling out of the saddle using clipless, you stand a high chance of bailing regardless of the system. I run SPDs and pull up pretty hard on the upstroke, and even with factory spring tension (ie, about the mid way point) I've never unclipped unintentionally in the 2 months I've been using them. If you twist your foot sideways or even pull up at an angle (ie inside of the foot harder than outside of the foot) they release pretty easily, which I believe is by design.


That said, I would not use them or any other clipless system for skidding since it's much more difficult to accidentally unclip with toe straps

EatMyA**

keep the brake.

If you can afford toeclips get them. You dont NEED them but I think its a bit easier than skiding on platforms.

when I was a kid we used to skid on platforms just fine. If we really wanted to skid we would HOOK one foot under the pedal. Then again only poor kids had fixed gears.

Well no...Some kids couldnt afford bikes at all so they would borrow their dads bike and it was too big of course. They couldn't stradle it so they would put one leg THROUGH the frame under the top tube. Now it didnt matter wheter they where fixed or freewheel bikes because you cant do a full revolution on that position. So kids had to do a 1/10 turn forward on the cracks and then turn backwards 1/10 over and over again. Slowly you would build up speed and get to go pretty fast. I got to get video of this lost "art". I am sure someone here woud get a laugh out of it.

As for brakes we didn't use brakes on our bikes even single speeds. If you had one you were considered a *****. Then again I rode on the sidewalk, got runover once, cliped once, hit head-on once, and I hit a car coming out of a driveway once, I flew through the air and landed on the other side. Also we would get INSIDE truck tires and roll down hills.....wait...

Hmmmm. You know what? Dont ****ing do anything I did as kid. Get a brake or two, some toe-clips, and drive on the road like an adult.

Tomo_Ishi

I think those "accidental" unclipage occurred because of the following reasons:

1. Using SH-55 cleats instead of SH-51

I think SH-55 cleats will disengage for any slightly upward stress.

2. Float angle of the pedals are too narrow
3. Technique is poor like me and can't keep the feet straight.

I had a difficult time with 4 degree float angle; because I can't keep my feet straight. It is kinda hard to notice but keeping feet straight so exactly is kinda hard. SPD will disengage ... accurately. I went 6 degree float angle; and this seems to work extremely well.

Probably the person panicked like anyone here would be and his feet went everywhere. SPD accurately disengaged and he went flying. Egg Beaters would probably done something similar. It's no fault of the machine.

Smashed into a car? Huh! That's nothing. I somehow fell over sideways at a big cross-section waiting for green-light. I failed to react and landed hard on my side all clipped in and everything. So I ended up upside down in the perfect riding position except my back was on the asphalt and my bike wheels straight up to the sky. And, I couldn't disengage and had to be pulled aside. ... Totally bruised my ego.

T

teiaperigosa

after you learn how to ride...then you can put the brake back on

Saberhead

As far as skidding goes, I'm still trying to learn too, and I think double straps help (they do for me anyway). Maybe if you feel like youre not getting it down as tight, try and invest in some double straps to see if it helps more (just get a pair of cheaper ones to see if works to your benefit). Having some friends who are more advanced can be useful, they can watch your form and tell you what your doing right/wrong.

teiaperigosa

double straps have nothing to do with it. singles are just fine

luketg08

I was able to learn how to skid without foot retention, but I had some rather scary moments. Get some retention. Power straps are cheap and pretty easy for a novice to clips to use.

Yaktizzle417

This.

All my friends that I got to start riding with me all rock front brakes. Its not worth the extra 2pts to look cool and hip when you can't stop. Especially when you plow into a person, car, curb, or other anti-cycling object.

jpdesjar

i used my front brake for about a year or more...i just recently took it off because i feel comfortable riding brakeless

jim-bob

Bad advice.


Good advice.

teiaperigosa

loose loose, you know... like a newport

eMXiMeR

gee that sure makes sense