All the talk of fixed gear bikes on the road reminds me of a series of training articles written in the 1970's by Audrey McElmory (1969 woman's world road champion). Audrey was a strong proponent of useing a fixed gear bike for off season training. She did however strongly recommend equiping the bike with a front brake. She said that if you didn't think you needed a brake, put one on anyway, then ride toward a brick wall at 20 MPH and stop within the last 100 feet. If after this ypu still didn't think you needed the brake, repeat the experment without the brake. I think she was trying to remove the idiots from the gene pool.
Yes, I ride a fixed gear on the road, but I have brakes on both wheels.
Steven Snider
Denver, Colorado
steve.snider@comcast.net