Сообщение от
Sheldon Brown
Braking
Some fixed-gear riders ride on the road without brakes. This is a bad idea. I know, I've tried it. If you do it, and have any sense of self-preservation at all, it will cause you to go much slower than you otherwise could, every time you go through an intersection, or pass a driveway. The need for constant extra vigilance takes a great deal of the fun out of cycling.
You really should have a front brake. A front brake, all by itself, will stop a bicycle as fast as it is possible to stop. This is true because when you are applying the front brake to the maximum, there is no weight on the rear wheel, so it has no traction.
One of the wonderful things about fixed-gear riding is that the direct feel you get for rear-wheel traction teaches you exactly how hard you can apply the front brake without quite lifting the rear wheel off of the ground.
This is a very valuable lesson for any cyclist who likes to go fast; it could save your life.
There is really no need for a rear brake on a fixed-gear bicycle. By applying back-pressure on the pedals, you can supply all the braking that the rear wheel really needs. In fact, it is fairly easy to lock up the rear wheel and make it skid, unless you are running a rather high gear.
Some fixed-gear fans make a point of not using their brake except in an emergency. I am not sure that this is a good idea. Heavy-duty resisting is widely reputed to be bad for your legs, and to be counterproductive for building up muscles and coordination for forward pedaling. Google for "eccentric contraction" for more on this topic. Eccentric contraction is reputed to cause micro-tears to your muscle tissue, so it actually weakens your muscles, unlike other forms of exercise.
This is a lot like car drivers who use their transmission and clutch to slow down, even though the car has a special set of parts made for the exact purpose of slowing down. Brake shoes are cheaper to replace when they wear out than clutches are.
[Exercise physiology is a relatively new science. Micro-tears in muscles are now known to initiate strengthening. Common muscle-building exercises -- weightlifting, pushups, sit-ups, Nautilus and Cybex machines, etc. use eccentric contraction -- you lift the barbell, or your body, or pull on a lever, then lower it down. But the number of repetitions in muscle-building exercises is much smaller than in cycling, typically only 2 or 3 sets of 10 repetitions, rather than thousands per hour of cycling. Hard resisting is probably a bad idea for the same reason as low cadence. High stress repeated too many times leads to overuse injury, and will deplete rather than build muscle. -- John Allen]
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