New school BMX question

[Zmass]

Back in the day I had a pk ripper with 3 brakes (front,rear and coaster). Also front chain ring was something like 42T and rear was 16 I think.

Anyway, just wondering why and when BMX lost their brakes and got those tiny front chain rings? Anyone enlighten me?

[allegro]

Brakes dont look cool apparently and the small chainrings are for clearance on rails, halfpipes etc (stil the same ratios though)

[cheesyblob]

I believe people go brakeless for lightness and to be able to barspin without the complication of a Gyro (Detangler). Stil doesn't seem worth it IMO though. And why would a bike have a Coaster brake and a cable rear brake?

[splodge s4]

cheesyblob said:

And why would a bike have a Coaster brake and a cable rear brake?

Theres a few reasons, a coaster makes some tricks much easier, kick turns etc & also for roll backs it means your pedals stay still in stead of pedalling back like with a free wheel. A coaster is also a lot more secure than a caliper brake.

You could then say why have a rear caliper brake, again some tricks you need a hand operated rear brake as sometimes your feet arnt on the pedals.

Its personnel choice & depends on what type of riding you do. I always used to have 3 brakes back in the day.

[raceboy]

The small front rings....togther with a small rear gog, a 24/9 is pretty much the same as a 43/16 are a BMX Park/street thing and clearance is the main issue, along with left hand drive.
For BMX racing we're still turning the big rings as it helps with faster acceleration.

The whole brakeless thing really started in Vert riding, Hoffman and Tabron both ditched the brakes as they where catching t-shirts on levers.
The whole brakeless thing for park, street and flatland is pretty much all about the spinning bars, and whip tricks, but it really is just a fashion thing, although in flatland it can be used to make everything thats already stupidly hard even harder!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgxJn7an8yo