jrg1244

Spotted this in today's paper... I have been seeing more SS/Fixies without brakes around town. Always makes me cringe.

Cyclist whose bike had no brakes collides with pickup truck in Bath, police say

The 22-year-old bicyclist was not wearing a helmet, and his bike was not equipped with brakes, police said.

BY MATT BYRNESTAFF WRITER A bicyclist who was not wearing a helmet suffered serious injuries Monday after he ran a red light and collided with a pickup truck in Bath, police said.
Police did not identify the 22-year-old man on the bike, but said he was riding a bicycle that was not equipped with brakes, said Bath Police Deputy Chief Andrew Booth said.
Witnesses told police that the cyclist was headed east, downhill, along Centre Street, when he entered the intersection with Washington Street against the light and struck a pickup truck headed north. The pickup truck driver had the right of way, police said.

Police briefly shut down the intersection to tend to the cyclist’s injuries and investigate how the crash occurred.

The cyclist was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/10/...th-police-say/

Happy Feet

Seems the problem was entering the intersection against a light, not riding a fixie.

DrIsotope

Nothing to do with helmets, nothing to do with fixies. The guy ran a red light and hit a truck.

But it's not sensational unless it is immediately pointed out that he didn't have a helmet on.

tgenec86

Moral of this story, don't ride a fixed gear if you can't properly estimate your speed and stopping distance. Too many "Red Bull wannabe's" out there all caught up in the ultimate hipster mode of bike transportation, and just as many fixie fanatics who think they're hard core bike messengers and take WAY too many chances.

I'm a curmudgeon. If I ride a fixie it's on a track and we call them "Track Bikes" instead of being edgy and hip.

Milton Keynes

Was it actually a fixie or was it just a crappy old bike which no longer had brakes on it?

Troul 

Was it a trek? Too many on the road, it probably didn't help matters.

79pmooney

There might be a relationship between going downhill without brakes and entering the intersection against a light. No inside knowledge here. Just speculating. (I've been known to use brakes to avoid trucks of all sizes in my years of riding both fix gears and geared bikes. I find them quite useful.

And no, the problem is not that he was riding a fix gear. Fix gears are just as safe as geared bikes. But they have the same basic stopping issues. The same remedies work well.

Ben

79pmooney

No, no, no! See my post above. (Actually yes - don't ride ANY bike if you cannot properly estimate speed and stopping distance.)

Ben with 100,000+ fix gear miles (all with good brakes)

Sy Reene

Call me stoopid, but fixies can't have brakes?

Happy Feet

I've seen some FG riders with amazing skills but I'm not one of them. I started riding mine on flat dike gravel with no brakes but when I transitioned to mixed road and gravel I put a front one on.

Lemond1985

My guess is that it was a brakeless fixed gear ebike. I've said from day one those things aren't safe, even if you get twice the exercise, and they allow old people to ride fixed gears.

alcjphil

Had you read the initial post, you wouldn't have had to guess. It was a brakeless fixed gear bike. Only a brainless idiot would ride a brakeless fixed gear Ebike. Does such an abomination even exist?

CliffordK

And, I think that is the question that many police and administrators and reporters don't fully understand.

A true "fixie" has as much of a braking system as a beach cruiser with only a rear coaster brake. Especially if the rider has some kind of pedal retention system.

On the other hand, a single speed with a freewheel isn't a fixie.

It sounds like the rider made the choice to run the light.

Happy Feet

That one cracked me up just imagining someone tossing the brakes on their SS "fixie" because it's what the cool kids do.
I break with ma legs dang it!

You always have the foot drag emergency brake jic. That's why fixie riders wear Daytons.

CliffordK

Yet, we know there are many of those out there.. Some former 10-speeds without any derailleurs, and a chain stretched around the old freewheel cluster to the front double-ring.

Or, perhaps some with a fixie sprocket screwed onto a freewheel hub without a lockring.

Gresp15C

No fixies were offended by the article.

Milton Keynes

Actually, neither the original post nor the article states this. All it says is that the guy was riding a bike without brakes. Could have been a fixed gear bike, could have just been a junky bike without any brakes.

Metieval

From Sheldon Brown
"Maximum braking occurs when the front brake is applied so hard that the rear wheel is just about to lift off. At that point, the slightest amount of rear brake will cause the rear wheel to skid."

and

"Some cyclists like to ride a fixed-gear bicycle, that is, a bicycle that does not permit coasting. When you brake hard with the front brake on a fixed gear, the drivetrain gives you excellent feedback about the traction at the rear wheel. (This is one of the reasons that fixed gears are favored for winter riding.)

If you ride a fixed gear with only a front brake, your legs will tell you exactly when you are at the maximum brake capacity of the front brake. Once your fixed gear has taught you this, you will be able to stop any bicycle better, using the front brake alone."

Now for things that we do NOT know. What the bike was other than not having brakes.

We don't even know if the red light running was intentional, or due to no brakes.

What I do know, Some of ya'll need brakes between your assumptions and your keyboards.

Ghazmh

For some reason this reminds me of when the local news calls any person on a bike a “cyclist”

wipekitty

Don't laugh - I saw that more than once back in the heyday of "fixies" and wannabes. Usually, they were smart enough to at least leave a front brake with a freewheel, but not always.

Also, didn't the fixed gear trend die like a decade ago?

indyfabz

I live in Philly. It's alive and well.

Milton Keynes

Well technically that's true, but we all know that it takes more than just sitting in a cockpit to be a pilot. To you and me, if they're not wearing lycra & helmet and riding safely, it's just some guy on a bike. But to the general public and news media in particular, anyone on a bike will always be a "cyclist."

subgrade

So just putting on lycra and helmet changes everything? I certainly have seen a few 'cyclists' who seem to think that.

livedarklions

No way am I ever going to agree that it is reasonable to ride any bike without brakes on a road. Don't know what caused him to run a red at the bottom of a hill, but seriously, if you were betting...

badger1

I'm pretty sure the problem here was that the rider was not in his illusory drops, from whence much greater emergency control etc. blah blah blah can be exercised.

Let this be a lesson to us all.