souledout1

So a 19 year-old kid from SF State died last week while visiting his parents in our hometown of Santa Cruz. He was riding down a fairly steep hill at a reported 25 miles an hour behind a Fed Ex truck. Fed Ex truck turns right, and that's where the speculation begins as to exactly what happened, however this much is known; He was riding without a helmet and brakeless.

I ride my fixed gear all over Santa Cruz county and mine is equipped with a brake that I need to use REGULARLY, due to narrow bike lanes, roads with no center turn lane, and a ton of hills. It would certainly be much more of a rush to ride without a brake, but I value my life over the opinion of some arrogant, fixie snob, hipster jerk-offs. Have fun riding brakeless, just hope that nothing unexpected happens while you're on the road. What a shame for his family, to lose their son in such an easily avoidable way. Is it too harsh to call it Darwinism? I use my legs to slow down, and my brake for emergencies. I only wish that he did the same.

nathbdp

Listen

Can someone who has been driving a sedan hop in a formula 1 car and expect to be able to drive it like michael schumacher?

no.

people need to learn their limits and develop skill before trying **** that requires said skill.

it's like people who think sportbikes are cool, so they buy a hayabusa and wreck it on the first ride because they don't know how to handle a bike.

edzo

that's all that needs to be said

brakeless is for the track.

superheros ride track. everyone else is a poseur

xg43x

No, when I was living in Oakland I ran a front brake, a rear at one point because of the terrain. For me, I gotta run a brake when I am in a busy or hilly area. I moved to Stockton, a relatively flat town and ride away from the population so I removed my brakes. I know that if I was visiting a city I would have brakes on in a heartbeat. Its not because I am a wuss or dont know how to slow down with the use of my legs, its for own reassurance.

edzo

brakeless doesn't make you faster though.

let me show you how much faster I can ride using my brakes. a lot faster.

willypilgrim

Guess what dude?

Tons of people die in bike accidents each year, and 99% of them are rocking brakes.

gfrance

Correct. But I say it's fine to run brakeless if you run a tiny gear ratio and basically use the bike for quick little trips around the neighborhood going very slow speeds.

I like to ride fast, hard and for long distances. Need a brake.

charlesxbronson

pads are worn down on my frontbrake, so instead of dying, i am riding a cruiser atm.

Zombie Carl

You don't need brakes, or a saddle, or handlebars. These things just make it easier and safer to ride.

crushkilldstroy

Every time someone makes a post that has any sort of common sense to it, this guy comes in and gets all sensey defensey.

Tons of construction workers die on the job each year, and 99% of them are wearing protective gear. I'm gonna show up to work tomorrow in flip flops and a hawaiian shirt.

glennn

conor

i'm thinking of riding barless but with a front brake 'cause i'm not an idiot.

nathbdp

I routinely grip my stem to steer my fixie.

NewYorkMantle

hey, i might have a brake lever on my bars but i ride brakeless in practice. it's an emergency brake at the very least and everyone needs to have one.

mugatu

people with airbags and seatbelts die in car wrecks too, those must be superfluous

willypilgrim

haha, sensey defensey?

I didn't say anything pro or con for brake use, but you can't deny that the majority of accidents that occur on bikes are occuring on bikes equipped with brakes.

Having a brake or brakes doesn't mean you can draft off a mail truck and not pay attention to what your doing and you'll somehow magically be okay because you have a brake. I blame the kid, not the lack of an additional brake on his bike.

And I'm not the one talking rationally?

souledout1

My point is this. In this particular case, a brake and helmet could have almost assuredly saved his life. That's my point. While there are a ton of bike related deaths each year. This one, in particular, could have been avoided with a brake. That's my point. Not all accidents, but this one. Here's the link to the article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, which I just saw AFTER I made this thread.

https://santacruzsentinel.com/story.p...on=Top+Stories

souledout1

Also I don't want to hear anyone else ever tell me that fixies can stop without brakes. I effing know this. I'm not stupid. However, You can't stop going downhill at 25+ mph with your legs. Have fun with that. I'll use my brake and then go home at night and spend time with my family and friends. My favorite brakeless supporter response is this, "Oh, what if your brake cable snaps, blah blah blah. Shut the **** up! What if your dropout snaps and your bike falls apart? Huh? What about that? I'm not talking about bike malfuncions, I'm talking about people needing to stop faster than skidding or pushing back on their pedals. ALL I'M SAYING IS THAT IN THIS CASE A BRAKE COULD HAVE EASILY SAVED THIS KID'S LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nathbdp

Need to post pictures of his mangled corpse. That's what gets people to get brakes and wear protection.

queerpunk

maybe why don't we all just let the story speak for itself? maybe we hold off on speculation? maybe, since somebody died and that's sort of sad, we try and hold off on the rampant insult-throwing? maybe, we all make our choices and make sure that they are well-informed?

maybe this thread won't devolve into something utterly toxic.

humancongereel

this thread could get very bad, very quickly.

mugatu

You're right, you didn't say anything pro or con. You didn't say much at all. There's no way anyone could have known anything about your "rational" perspective based on your first post without making a plethora of assumptions about your thought process. I'm not even sure what point I'm trying to make right now, other than that I hate how fruitless and repetitive discussions are on internet forums because nobody presents their points with enough validity to be of any use.

Charlesbian

there is no reason or excuse not to have one. dont give me the "too expensive" crap, i found my brakes used for 15$, alot cheaper than those deepVs and arrospokes.

get

a

brake

humancongereel

nice maybes, but i don't see that happening.

i would like to see a little more respect for this kid, though, i know he has a lot of grieving friends right now, and there have been some pretty jerkoff things tossed around pretty lightly in this thread.

glennn

maybe he should've been paying more attention, but like somebody said above, a brake and helmet could've saved his life. it's not the smartest thing to speed when you drive, but if you get into an accident, an airbag and safety belt can save your ass. do you ****ing get it now?
willypilgrim just cut your losses and exit this thread quietly.