Is it a “cool” thing I am not getting or weight watching at it’s most dangerous? Nearly killed a yoof on a brake-less BMX when he couldn’t stop at a junction and when I say nearly I mean within an inch of his life.

Put some brakes on it for the sake of your mother.

Tricks with brakes are easy, tricks without are proper skills.

You’ve never ridden BMX have you?

If you had, you would know….

🙄

no brakes and a freehub? so only way to stop is to bail, or jam feet on wheels? doubt its weight, more likely lack of maintenance/money?

I’m used to seeing local kids running just a rear brake which makes sense. There is no way I’d let my kids ride on public roads/pavements without any brakes at all though.

If there is a good reason for doing it they need to keep off the streets and stay in the bike parks.

It’s fashion/performance.

Brakeless bikes look better and cool people are brakeless.

Saying that, doing barspins w/o a brake lever in the way feels soo much nicer. Clearance for tdowns too, bike generally feels so much more awesome and fluid.

Generally, brakeless is bad, but if feels good.

Is rad innit 😐

Cool in skate parks etc, dumb on the road.

If you have to ask..

I don’t like it but loads of people say it helps them commit to things better. Personally it makes me worse as I go into everything slowly without brakes. There is something very nice about riding a brakeless bmx though, it’s completely silent and just feels solid. No cables flopping around or chain hitting the brakes etc.

I did a lap of llandegla red with no brakes a few weeks ago.Not brakes that did’nt work,there were no brakes on my bike!Bit of a ‘I wonder’ experiment because I was bored and the were already off my bike.Bar a couple spots it really did’nt make much difference to be honest.Makes you realise exactly how much you safety brake when you don’t actually need to.
Looks weird….in a good way.
It’s the new niche you know 😉

Saw a kid in Fort Willy last week who just managed to stop himself hitting a police motorcyclist by wearing his trainers out on the tarmac. Didn’t look very cool at all!

because they don’t need brakes to do skids.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alL-GFxslUo[/video]

These are kids. They cant drive to the skate park so of course they’ll ride them on the road

A guy at work witnessed a yoof plow into a sign due to have no brakes on his bmx. Managed to bend the sign with his head and slice his bottom lip open, if he hadn’t of hit the sign it was quite a drop into a field.

You’ve never ridden BMX have you?

Never did tricks but raced as a kid, got a good collection of trophies along the way.

All with one rear brake.

The one thing I can do well on a bike, the 90degree hop used to work very well for stopping when riding brakeless. BMX brakes don’t really work well anyway.

[video]http://vimeo.com/2924815[/video]

I’ve a brake less bmx which became brake less as parts were stolen off it to keep my sons bmx rolling. I use it on pump tracks and intend getting it on to some smooth flowy blue grade trails too. Taking away the option of brakes has taught me to commit to things more and trust the bike/grip where I’d be grabbing a handful of brake if I had the option. This trust in your bike is something that is easily transferred to your MTb riding ultimately making you faster.
Mg son would have no brakes on his bmx too (more for fashion reasons) but I insist he runs one as he uses it on the street/roads

My BMX is essentially brakeless, never have been able to make the bastard work. Makes it even more suited for its “hanging off the garage wall” role.

That Chris Akrigg video clip shows what can be done when riding brakeless.

The same as with brakes, only without them 😕

Well, what a bunch of moany old duffers you lot are…!

Never did tricks but raced as a kid, got a good collection of trophies along the way.

All with one rear brake.

So you have no idea either then. 🙂

I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a bmx brake that works to any acceptable standard. Apart from the vee on my poerlite that would lock up and spit you sideways onto the road sliding into oncoming traffic.

Fly brake (baradine pads) and lever will lock a wheel with one finger…squeels like a banshee though.

I’m pretty sure Vert riders used to ride brakeless originally so they couldn’t bottle out and dab the brakes. And now others have copied.

The reason for no brakes is “commitment”. You don’t want to go into a decent ramp spin and scrub speed by instinct as you bottle it. This from some fantastic kids at Windsor. Of course my son’s has a rear brake and it isn’t coming off. Even one brake is illegal for the road. But I figure half legal is better than not.

And U brakes are pretty good.

I had an S&M dirtbike that had bosses designed for a dia compe brake that never made it into production. The pad fixing hardware on the brake had to be ground down and they nearly rested on the stays. This brake,AD990,and araya aero’s custom chromed by customriders was a very powerful combo. Not quite magura rim brake power but nothing like yer typical calliper dia compe’s etc.

I had an S&M dirtbike that had bosses designed for a dia compe brake that never made it into production. The pad fixing hardware on the brake had to be ground down and they nearly rested on the stays. This brake,AD990,and araya aero’s custom chromed by customriders was a very powerful combo. Not quite magura rim brake power but nothing like yer typical calliper dia compe’s etc.

As for not affording brakes.. if you look around you will find many pro models with no brake mounts at all.

Odyssey Evolvers are good brakes. No flex and on a clean chrome rim they stopped me well. Quite noisy though.

trials compound brake pads. if your brakes still dont work with them, then they never will.

retro83 – Member
http://www.vimeo.com/2924815

4m05s.

slainte 😯 rob

Must be a trend, as when we bought my sons’ BMX last month the chap specifically said to him to not remove the brake – the thought that my lad would hadn’t even entered my head.

Vert riders took brakes off as levers going into leg arteries is generally a bad thing.

Cool in skate parks etc…

As a skater, I would beg to differ. It’s friggin’ dangerous. And most skateparks don’t allow it for that reason.

As for teh BMX, I can kind of get it in the park/on the street but I agree that for riding in traffic it’s too optimistic.

I wonder whether cycle speedway bikes will at some point out-niche the ‘tarck’ bike trend? Freewheel, brakeless and fast.

GET YOUR LEG OUT SON!

Article from 2002 (so it’s not a new thing)

http://bmx.transworld.net/21026536/features/the-brakeless-revolution/

IIRC Hoffman rides brakeless?

And here’s a rather good reason to have at least one working brake…

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-10-25/news/os-bicyclist-killed-winter-park-fire-truck-20111025_1_fire-engine-firetruck-brakes

Personally, I think brakeless riders are a bunch of idiots, who lack the self-control to stop using brakes… Just because you have a lever on your bars, doesn’t mean you have to pull it!!

rocket jr’s bmx has no brakes he does foot jams. Was quite entertaining watching him the first time at the skatepark down a drop in round a concrete berm thing and straight on into a low wall 🙂

the chap specifically said to him to not remove the brake

and here is the problem.

And trousers waistbands that sit below the arse…………..

As a skater, I would beg to differ. It’s friggin’ dangerous.

So what brake do you have fitted to your skateboard?

And most skateparks don’t allow it for that reason.

well that’s a load of bollox.
I do use a brake and I’ve had collisions with skaters and inliners in parks, each time it was 100% their fault.

Last time I was out riding my formula brakes packed up.

The hilarious thing was I went faster, rode safer by picking lines better and committing instead of using brakes as an excuse to ride badly….. and generally had fun.