Brakes or no brakes

[jasee]

Sorry to bring this subject up again. I see it's been discussed before.
I occasionally service my neighbours childrens bikes. Renewing or realiging
their brakes. Making sure nothing is loose etc. Recently one was bought a
bmx. After a few months, I was horrified to see he'd removed his back
brakes. Apparently one of his friends has no brakes!
He can't explain (to me) why he has removed them, other than when going over
jumps they apparently could lock, he says. I think he's probably done it
because his friends have done it, and they've probably done it because it's
macho or they've read it's cool to do it.
Having looked around a bit, I see there's a fashion inspired by some well
know New York street riders who ride with no brakes.
But there seems to be some doubt as to which brake to remove. Personally, if
any, I'd have preferred him to remove the front. As he wouldn't then go over
the handlebars if trying to stop quickly.
I can't see any logic in it anyway. Some tricks are impossible to do without
brakes. And you don't have to use them. It can't be to save weight, they
weigh almost nothing compared to the weight of the bike. Maybe you could
possibly get squewered by a brake lever, but how many times has that
happened?
He doesn't just use his bmx in a skatepark, he rides to it along a narrow
main road (about five miles). He never wears a crash hat of course.
I've put new rear brakes on, but I'm not sure how long they're going to stay
there!
How do you stop with no brakes anyway? If you sit on the saddle, if the
ground is very flat and smooth you *might* be able to do it at slow speeds
(I haven't tried it!) by extending your legs right forward so that only your
heels touch the ground (lightly!) but it probably pretty easy to break legs
that way.

[d***@gmail.com]

Removing the brakes on a BMX bike is not merely a fashion. Perhaps it
is to some, but those individuals don't seem to understand what's going
on anyways. I rode w/ brakes for about 9 years, 3 of those years
professionally doing shows. I took my brakes off, as other riders had
done it, as a way to increase my skill level, and was able to still
perform in shows professionally. Nearly any trick you can do with
brakes you can do without, you just need to be more creative. As for
stopping, it may be a waste of money (I didn't pay for shoes or tires,
companies gave them to me), but it is quite easy to jam your foot into
your back tire in between the tire and the frame. Though not maybe the
norm, or the safest thing you can do, it is a way for BMXer's to push
the progression of the sport by forcing creativity in it's riders.
There are probably quite a few riders that would disagree with me and
say, "why can't you just not use them, instead of taking them off?" To
them I say, why do you use your left leg too, and not only your right?
It just forces you to be more creative, and you are not tempted to use
that crutch.

I hope I was able in some small way to shed some light on the subject
for you, and I'm open to any further discussion or questions regarding
this subject.

Post by jasee
Sorry to bring this subject up again. I see it's been discussed before.
I occasionally service my neighbours childrens bikes. Renewing or realiging
their brakes. Making sure nothing is loose etc. Recently one was bought a
bmx. After a few months, I was horrified to see he'd removed his back
brakes. Apparently one of his friends has no brakes!
He can't explain (to me) why he has removed them, other than when going over
jumps they apparently could lock, he says. I think he's probably done it
because his friends have done it, and they've probably done it because it's
macho or they've read it's cool to do it.
Having looked around a bit, I see there's a fashion inspired by some well
know New York street riders who ride with no brakes.
But there seems to be some doubt as to which brake to remove. Personally, if
any, I'd have preferred him to remove the front. As he wouldn't then go over
the handlebars if trying to stop quickly.
I can't see any logic in it anyway. Some tricks are impossible to do without
brakes. And you don't have to use them. It can't be to save weight, they
weigh almost nothing compared to the weight of the bike. Maybe you could
possibly get squewered by a brake lever, but how many times has that
happened?
He doesn't just use his bmx in a skatepark, he rides to it along a narrow
main road (about five miles). He never wears a crash hat of course.
I've put new rear brakes on, but I'm not sure how long they're going to stay
there!
How do you stop with no brakes anyway? If you sit on the saddle, if the
ground is very flat and smooth you *might* be able to do it at slow speeds
(I haven't tried it!) by extending your legs right forward so that only your
heels touch the ground (lightly!) but it probably pretty easy to break legs
that way.

[jasee]

Post by d***@gmail.com
Removing the brakes on a BMX bike is not merely a fashion. Perhaps it
is to some, but those individuals don't seem to understand what's
going on anyways. I rode w/ brakes for about 9 years, 3 of those
years professionally doing shows. I took my brakes off, as other
riders had done it, as a way to increase my skill level, and was able
to still perform in shows professionally. Nearly any trick you can
do with brakes you can do without, you just need to be more creative.
As for stopping, it may be a waste of money (I didn't pay for shoes
or tires, companies gave them to me), but it is quite easy to jam
your foot into your back tire in between the tire and the frame.

Thanks for your reply, I'm still not exactly clear how you manage to stop,
I've not tried you method, but I can imagine it just locks the wheel at any
speed at all or you might break your toes (surely?)

Post by d***@gmail.com
Though not maybe the norm, or the safest thing you can do, it is a
way for BMXer's to push the progression of the sport by forcing
creativity in it's riders. There are probably quite a few riders that
would disagree with me and say, "why can't you just not use them,
instead of taking them off?" To them I say, why do you use your left
leg too, and not only your right? It just forces you to be more
creative, and you are not tempted to use that crutch.
I hope I was able in some small way to shed some light on the subject
for you, and I'm open to any further discussion or questions regarding
this subject.

I can understand that for the purposes of shows, it would increase the
challenge. However, there you are usually compelled to wear crash helmets
and knee and elbow pads.
I don't think I've ever seen a kid round here wearing any of those things
and they ride on the roads to the skate parks. Five miles in this case. It
probably takes quite a bit of skill to stop using your foot between the
frame and the wheel (as you mention) without breaking your foot. Beginners
don't have time to develop this skill on the road, they just need to be able
to stop quickly.

Post by d***@gmail.com

Post by jasee
Sorry to bring this subject up again. I see it's been discussed before.
I occasionally service my neighbours childrens bikes. Renewing or
realiging their brakes. Making sure nothing is loose etc. Recently
one was bought a bmx. After a few months, I was horrified to see
he'd removed his back brakes. Apparently one of his friends has no
brakes!
He can't explain (to me) why he has removed them, other than when
going over jumps they apparently could lock, he says. I think he's
probably done it because his friends have done it, and they've
probably done it because it's macho or they've read it's cool to do
it.
Having looked around a bit, I see there's a fashion inspired by some
well know New York street riders who ride with no brakes.
But there seems to be some doubt as to which brake to remove.
Personally, if any, I'd have preferred him to remove the front. As
he wouldn't then go over the handlebars if trying to stop quickly.
I can't see any logic in it anyway. Some tricks are impossible to do
without brakes. And you don't have to use them. It can't be to save
weight, they weigh almost nothing compared to the weight of the
bike. Maybe you could possibly get squewered by a brake lever, but
how many times has that happened?
He doesn't just use his bmx in a skatepark, he rides to it along a
narrow main road (about five miles). He never wears a crash hat of
course.
I've put new rear brakes on, but I'm not sure how long they're going
to stay there!
How do you stop with no brakes anyway? If you sit on the saddle, if
the ground is very flat and smooth you *might* be able to do it at
slow speeds (I haven't tried it!) by extending your legs right
forward so that only your heels touch the ground (lightly!) but it
probably pretty easy to break legs that way.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Might not using brakes have something to do with the brake lever?
With the stunts that are performed now and the height they get the
riders need to make sure they grap the bars with no interferance. The
brake levers can get in the way on tricks say that superman trick. The
whole bike is in front then, pull it back, go to grap the bars and oh
you hit the lever causing you to miss the bar. CRUNCH!
This is just a though.
Oh Im not young but I knew some brakeless riders way back in the late
70's early 80's too.

[jasee]

Post by QUAKEnSHAKE
Might not using brakes have something to do with the brake lever?
With the stunts that are performed now and the height they get the
riders need to make sure they grap the bars with no interferance. The
brake levers can get in the way on tricks say that superman trick. The
whole bike is in front then, pull it back, go to grap the bars and oh
you hit the lever causing you to miss the bar. CRUNCH!

Quite probably. It seems that there are at least three bmx 'styles' anyway
according to the competitions they are used in and that usually decides what
brakes the professionals use, or don't use. However, to me, it's very
different if riders want to use the same bike on roads.