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As some of you fixed gear bike riders know, there’s a big to do going on about riding fixed gears without brakes. And there are people on both sides of the fence with valid arguments. But when you boil down the arguments, strip away to faux reasoning and BS responses, you’ll find that the debate is this:

STYLE vs. SAFETY

STYLE

Believe it or not, but in the fixed gear bike community, a brake is basically a biker no no. If you have a brake on your bike, you’re basically saying:

“I have a fixed gear bike but don’t know how to control it. So I need a brake because I’m lame and a poser.”

This comment, in a way, holds true. The mere fact that common, everyday trendy kids are riding bikes made for racing (but NOT racing them in formal competition) is kind of ironic is, at its core, ironic. True, a fixed gear is more efficient from a physics standpoint; however, how efficient does your transportation need to be to ride 3 blocks down to the liquor store to pick up a handy case of PBR? That argument aside, adding a brake into the irony of riding a fixie just muddies the purity of riding and owning a fixed gear. That’s because if you’re going to go fixed, you better know how to ride fixed. This means knowing how to use the technology of a fixed bike to its full advantage. A brake is basically a training wheel – a crutch. When you have a fixed gear bike, the mere technology allows you to stop without one. A non-fixed bike doesn’t have this luxury. It NEEDS a brake to stop in any manner. But we’re not talking about non fixies.

So a brake, since it’s basically a training wheel, is in no way fashionable. It’s a sign of weakness – and who wants to look weak? There are safety advantages to having a brake on fixed gear bikes, but it’s not a necessity to stop. However, combining a fixed gear bike with a brake does make it much easier to stop

SAFETY

The style of brakeless fixed gear bikes is one that should be simple to understand. But, the safety argument for HAVING A BRAKE is also a simple one to comprehend. Although you don’t need a brake with a fixed gear to stop, a brake does make stopping that much easier. And since with fixies, you tend to go faster than with a heavy beach cruiser or multi-speed bike, additional braking assistance is a plus. As was mentioned previously, you don’t need a brake to stop a fixed gear, but you do need to know how to use the fixie to stop properly. The one thing that is very difficult to do is stop quickly with a fixed gear. Typically if you’re riding at a moderate speed and plan your stopping, you can stop easily without a brake. However, if you’re hauling some butt and a car pulls out in front of you a few feet away (i.e. you have time to stop, but not that much time), having a brake can definitely help you from ending up rolling over a hood.

CONCLUSION

So as you can see, both arguments have their points. There are some innate style factors that come with not having a brake, and there are definitely some added safety features to having one. So what’s the answer? Do we hand out fixed gear bike licenses and test riders before they are allowed to ride one around town? We all know that as more people find out about fixed gears, the more uninformed riders are flooding the streets, meaning they probably don’t know how to properly ride one but they want to be stylish as possible – which means they won’t have brakes and will probably plow into you, your car, or a wall as they rocket down a hill. So unless licensing becomes a reality (or some sort of fixed gear testing), the style vs. safety argument will rage on (and both sides will have valid points).