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That's a charming story. It reminds me of skid-patch calculations on fixed gear bikes. If you have ride a brakeless track bike and "stop" or slowdown the bike

That's a charming story. It reminds me of skid-patch calculations on fixed gear bikes. If you have ride a brakeless track bike and "stop" or slowdown the bike by skidding, there's certain gear ratios that you'll want to avoid. Basically, in skidding, you unweight the rear wheel by moving your body forward and lock the position of your cranks. The rear wheel will then skid and you can end up with a flat spot of wear on your tire (assuming your don't face-plant yourself when you do it wrong). The fewer the number of skid patches for your gear-ratio, the more rapid the wear-down on the tire will be. There's even a calculator for this... https://www.bikecalc.com/skid_patch_calculator https://www.bikecalc.com/skid_patch_calculator If you're over 35, please, just use brakes and keep the track bike on the track! (stupid dangerous examples of skidding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9xQcMniV84 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9xQcMniV84, don't do it).

phiiiillll 4y ago
That's funny, I'm 41 and planning on setting up my brakeless track bike for the road again this afternoon (changing the gearing to 42-17 and switching from drops to a wide riser bar). If it goes badly I'll think of your warning.
zh3 4y ago
Even if you don't do skiddy tricks (but do a lot of miles) knowing the arithmetic leads into all sorts of interesting thinking about prime numbers - and, indeed, figuring out optimum gears ratios for (personal perference for) particular gear inches. Added to which, to minimise chain wear how big can we go at the front without hitting the chainstays/still making kerb jumps plus we want the number of links in the chain to be relatively prime as well. Agreed re brakes, on a bike having a decent front brake is all that matters (irrespective of age)- if stopping quickly, the back wheel is generally waving about in the air anyway so whether its leg-braked or other makes no difference (except fixed riders will still be pedalling, force of habit and all that).

phiiiillll 4y ago

That's funny, I'm 41 and planning on setting up my brakeless track bike for the road again this afternoon (changing the gearing to 42-17 and switching from drops to a wide riser bar). If it goes badly I'll think of your warning.

zh3 4y ago

Even if you don't do skiddy tricks (but do a lot of miles) knowing the arithmetic leads into all sorts of interesting thinking about prime numbers - and, indeed, figuring out optimum gears ratios for (personal perference for) particular gear inches. Added to which, to minimise chain wear how big can we go at the front without hitting the chainstays/still making kerb jumps plus we want the number of links in the chain to be relatively prime as well. Agreed re brakes, on a bike having a decent front brake is all that matters (irrespective of age)- if stopping quickly, the back wheel is generally waving about in the air anyway so whether its leg-braked or other makes no difference (except fixed riders will still be pedalling, force of habit and all that).