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| my own brakeless bike |
Evocative title for an article that will say otherwise. Simply, "brakeless is ridiculous" and other variants is THE phrase that recurs most often in the mouth of "real" trialists, who have the truth, who are the truth (at the same time I seek confrontation. I ride on a 24 "double-disc, or brakeless, or on a fixed gear, or to add a layer : on a Enduro-hardtail).
Seriously, I did not create this blog to criticize the criticizers then go, if you please, the "why" ride brakeless.
Above all, the brakeless is something that we have seen, that we know, but that we never try. Very few people who ride brakeless have done it only by choice. Some did not have enough money to buy a pair of brakes (yes, I did not invent it, this anecdote comes from the recent interview published on the excellent CleanZine -wrote by a pioneer of brakeless trial- ), others came because of various brake problems. For my part, my first experience was because snow. I rode on a double HS33 Evo3 and smooth rims. I wanted to ride despite the snow. And a somewhat dumb idea came to me : "because I will not have brake, so remove this dead weight !". I laughed a lot, but quickly recovered my brakes. Basically, the brakeless is really funny. But it is too afraid to really get started.
So why people ride brakeless ? They're crazy?
Absolutely not ! Sure, we don't begin trials in brakeless. It must already have a good (big ?) dose of skills with the bike before trying (8 years of mountain biking including 4 of trials for me). But if we try it, even just a few hours, we discover another way of approaching obstacles. A much more clean and accurate in fact.
It sounds paradoxical, but this practice is extremely favorable to the self-confidence and nutters. Either you ride clean and accurate or you fail.
Simply, we try the brakeless by accident, and you stay on it for a completely different way of riding. And for those who think it is impossible to stabilize in rear wheel, just a few hours (about ten) to begin to feel the beginnings of the beginning of a draft of control. This sentence is complicated ? Yes, it is. But it summarizes that if it is not impossible, it is extremely difficult.
Simply... do not try brakeless or you will become addict !