7 comments:

• John Garrett posted at 8:55 am on Fri, Jul 29, 2011.

  Posts: 11

  on the rare occasion i find my self on a man powered two wheeler i look forward to the long breaks i get after pedaling hard and want to coast as far as possible hopefully all the way to my destination if the wind is with me so the track bike is not for me but i think they are cool and would definitely try one if i had the chance on a non busy street with no traffic of course preferably with a large pile of leaves around to bail into if need be

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• Brian Dockter posted at 6:58 pm on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.

  Posts: 2368

  Kevin,

  The rider has to improvise. Now, we're not talking about skateboards where the rider can just jump off. Oh, I suppose these bikers have come up with some pretty good techniques of stopping at 30 or 40 MPH. But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't have to be this way.

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• Kevin Paglia posted at 5:55 pm on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.

  Posts: 1729

  Actually as an avid biker (both kinds) I would like to know how these bikes do stop when there are no brakes.

  Maybe if someone has one they can let us know how they stop in an emergency situation.

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• Bob Parker posted at 3:32 pm on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.

  Posts: 1

  I think you are blowing things a bit out of proportion, Brian.

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• Brian Dockter posted at 7:36 am on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.

  Posts: 2368

  Thank you LNS for glorifying a very dangerous form of transportation.

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• Brian Dockter posted at 7:33 am on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.

  Posts: 2368

  http://www.cracked.com/funny-5317-fixed-gear-bikes/

  
  Remember when you would get going way to fast on your big wheel and your feet would fly off the pedals, which would often lead to hard-to-explain bruises on your legs and a crippling fear of sloped surfaces? This is what it is like on a fixed gear bike, only the pedals are made of steel and you are going a billion times faster. What does all that add up to? A permanent limp and mostly useless gonads. Cheers.

  In an effort to decrease their life expectancy further, many fixed gear riders take the brakes off their bikes. These bikes are perfectly capable of having brakes, people just remove them in an effort to increase their street cred, in the same way that Hell's Angels don't wear helmets. Nothing says bitchin' like the sweet combination of brain and pavement. Having no breaks means that every time a kid/dog/Spice Girl jumps in front of your bike, the only option left is to use their mangled carcass as a makeshift brake, hopefully giving you enough time to add sarcastic insult to fatal injury.

  
  

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• Brian Dockter posted at 7:14 am on Wed, Jul 27, 2011.

  Posts: 2368

  I just don't see any logic, other than the bike's race capabilities, to have this type of bike. One has to plan well ahead when stopping. How about those sudden stops
  to avoid cars, other bikes, or pedestrians? I'm curious why the article did not mention
  the higher risks one takes when riding this bike. Of course the faster you pedal the faster you go. This applies to all types of bikes.

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