• riccardo
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    63 years ago

    It looks absolutely gorgeous, but I will never understand how people can use brakes-less bikes. I used one for my work commute for two months before buying my own, and I nearly killed myself three times lol

    I remember when I was in high school that this kind of bikes became very popular among “the cool kids” from the inner city where I live, so I imagine it’s just a matter of time and experience. Still I haven’t been able to get used to them in 30+ days. How do you manage hard braking without twisting your ankle? Genuinely asking

    • @k_o_tOP
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      43 years ago

      thanks 🤗

      well, the first like 3-5 days i couldn’t skid for more than a metre, and after each skid my legs, ankles, wrists would really hurt, so I couldn’t stop without using a brake more than a couple of times per ride; a lot of that was due to only riding regular flat and non-clipless pedals before, so the muscles that you use to pull the pedals up hurt a ton when breaking, and my drop bars are waay too narrow

      but over time it sort of clicked, but in a gradual way, that is, i gradually found myself being able to skid relatively easily for long distances with minimal effort and actually enjoying it, or, if I had to break more quickly i could shift more weight towards to back in order to increase traction

      i asked some of my friends about their experience, and they all said that they had multiple muscles in their body that hurt very badly in the beginning

      the majority of the progress was due to shifting my weight more forward to the front wheel and having the cranks at the correct angle in order to have maximum lever

      very quickly skidding became addictive, and I burnt through multiple tires relatively quickly :)

      as for the safety concern due to the much much longer breaking distance compared to a regular brake, i just have to live with that, i just look waaay in front of me and try to predict what other riders, automobiles and pedestrians will do

      in addition to that i practice breaking methods in case of emergency situations, like pushing your shoe on the back wheel

    • DessalinesA
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      43 years ago

      I didn’t even know these existed. Sounds pretty terrifying lol, but I’m gonna have to watch a video on how ppl do it.

    • krolden
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      13 years ago

      track bikes make hard legs.