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Are brakeless fixies stupid?

Lumen · 2016-10-25 13:51:40

Saw a dude on a brakeless fixie this morning skid-stopping his way alongside traffic down the Stepaside-Dundrum road. I had assumed that all those people were dead or retired from such activities. Now far be it from me to deny people a bit of excitement, but surely this is not the climate in which to be relying on the…

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#92 30-10-2016 4:19pm
doozerie

Registered Users Posts: 4,830 ✭✭✭

Join Date: April 2005

Posts: 4758

I'm not going to argue that brakeless fixies on the road are smart, but it's not a black and white situation. My personal view is that if the rider has good enough bike control and they ride at a speed suited to the circumstances, then the risks involved are no different to those faced by someone riding a bike with brakes conscientiously.

That's a lot of "if"'s of course, a lot of things have to tie together for that argument to hold up. And human/rider behaviour is the single biggest variable in there, just as it is with most situations where humans are involved. So I don't consider riding a brakeless fixie stupid in itself, but riding one without any regard or concern for the circumstances or for those around you, that's stupid. But that is stupid on a bike with brakes too.

Forrest Gump had that bit right:

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