It's interesting to me, riding freewheels on the road again after so long with just a fixed gear, to learn how different cornering is. A rear brake is entirely unnecessary on a fixed gear, although it might be desirable according to your tastes, but when you are coasting around corners at much higher speeds than you can maintain fixed (even if only because you can keep your inside pedal raised), a rear brake does make a big difference in subtle adjustments of speed and therefore in the feeling of control.
And that leads to this Segway: I never understood what people meant by "feeling more at one" with the bike when it has a fixed drivetrain; but recently, going back and forth between fixed and free, I begin to see, or at least feel, that riding fixed seems "more natural" and less "artificial, in that whatever a fixed gear bike does, your body is forced to respond to it in a way that is less required with a freewheel. This is vague, but it is concrete. But fixed just seems more "natural" -- and fun -- to me. On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 2:31 PM, Christopher Murray < [email protected]> wrote: > I think Bill has it right. You actually did have a rear brake previously, > it was just part of the drivetrain. I have always felt that the rear brake > helps balance out the stopping power. I am pretty sure that I would > eventually fall if I didn't have two brakes. The rear brake seems to keep > the bike under control as the front brake handles most of the actual > braking. I would definitely not let my wife/ daughter/ son ride with a > front only set up. > > Go find a few different scenarios and try riding into them at the same > speed braking with just the front, just the rear, and both. I'd be > interested in what you'd discover. > > Cheers! > Chris > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten ************************************************************************** ************** *The point which is the pivot of the norm is the motionless center of a circumference on which all conditions, distinctions, and individualities revolve. *Chuang Tzu *Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.* *(The cross stands motionless while the world revolves.) *Carthusian motto *It is *we *who change; *He* remains the same.* Eckhart *Kinei hos eromenon.* (*It moves [all things] as the beloved.) *Aristotle -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
