Originally Posted by
TugaDude
+1 on foot retention!
Also, the OP mentioned "reverse pedal". Pedaling in reverse is only possible if the bike has come to a stop, so I'm sure what you meant was what is sometimes called "back pedaling" and even that is somewhat of a misnomer. I'm not sure what to call it, but what I do is give the crank a little "back pressure" every time it comes around. I'm sure everyone has their own technique, but I tend to add that back pressure on one side only, in my case, the right side. It is just the way I learned. I didn't have anything to learn from, just came up with it on my own. It works OK for me. The other technique is to develop what they call "spaghetti legs", where you stop actively pedaling forward and make your legs go somewhat limp, offering resistance to the cranks in the process. This will also slow you down.
Neither is a substitute for good brakes! Make sure you have brakes, plural, at least in the beginning. If you decide, although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, you can get by with a front brake alone. In my opinion, you should just keep them both.
I've said this before but I love to take a long ride and try to never have to use my brakes. I'm often successful and when I'm done, it brings a big smile to my face. Not because I'm saving brake pads, but just because!
I did mean "Back pressure". I'm postponing until the Roads are dry from melted snow, I rode my Single Speed Pista today and that was tough enough.
My area is very hilly, I never see other single speed bikes. Just hill after hill. So I had to learn how to do Hills myself. I learned to really attack the "Down" portion, not just coast.
When I don't handle the "Down" portion of a steep hill fast enough , I wear myself out when I hit the "Up" portion so I really work at keeping the legs pumping. all the time
.Here she is when I first bought her , before I mounted the front brake and changed the pedals to MKS Strapped Pedals. I bought her at 48/16 but I'm going to make her 44/16.
