Rear brakes, really any need ?

[Tampon]

I ride motorbikes and generally you don't use the rear brake for much unless you are either tanking it along ( tighten your line on a corner ) or can't be arse to use front brake in very slow traffic.

Are the necessary on a commuter bike ? reason i ask is I have been offered a decent commuter bike very cheap on the basis that the rear brake run because of the bracket being welded too close. I was thinking, buy the bike, disable the rear brake and use it as is.

Or you you think that is a stupid idea ? Bike will be mainly used just to potter around on.

[lingus75]

If its wet and you are pushed onto a whiteline or drain the last thing you want to use is the front brake in my experience, especially on a corner.

[Nick_F]

Essential on a commuter - otherwise you can only signal one way and slow down at the same time.

[SystemParanoia]

im planning on removing my rear brake on my road bike to reduce weight due to me upgrading the front brakes to a disk.

[mchammer89]

SystemParanoia said:

im planning on removing my rear brake on my road bike to reduce weight due to me upgrading the front brakes to a disk.

Surely keeping the bike as it is would be better than having one stronger brake, and to be honest, i'd rather have a rear brake and a little extra weight, won't make that much of a performace difference.

[omega man]

Nick_F said:

Essential on a commuter - otherwise you can only signal one way and slow down at the same time.

That is a very good point!
Also your rear brake can be usefull in emergency stops and as a warning if you dont have a bell!

[mk1fan]

Yeah, you don't have the 'luxury' of blinking lights.

[pdV6]

You see lots of courier-style bikes with no rear brake, but those are probably fixed-gear so you can slow the rear with your legs.

[mk1fan]

Not always though!

[pdV6]

mchammer89 said:

SystemParanoia said:

im planning on removing my rear brake on my road bike to reduce weight due to me upgrading the front brakes to a disk.

Surely keeping the bike as it is would be better than having one stronger brake, and to be honest, i'd rather have a rear brake and a little extra weight, won't make that much of a performace difference.

What's the betting that the removal of the rear brake just makes up for some of the weight gain from adding a disc setup to the front?

[GHW]

My commuter has no rear brake (because I haven't got around to buying the correct adapter for mounting the caliper on the rear) - and to be honest I don't really miss it. My commute is flat, and mostly off-road on tow paths and fields, so signalling and avoiding traffic isn't something I have to do very often!

[Hard-Drive]

pdV6 said:

mchammer89 said:

SystemParanoia said:

im planning on removing my rear brake on my road bike to reduce weight due to me upgrading the front brakes to a disk.

Surely keeping the bike as it is would be better than having one stronger brake, and to be honest, i'd rather have a rear brake and a little extra weight, won't make that much of a performace difference.

What's the betting that the removal of the rear brake just makes up for some of the weight gain from adding a disc setup to the front?

Eh? Do you really need the stopping power of a disc on a road bike? Why? And why go from fairly matched and controllable braking power at each end to a totally mismatched setup?

Have you tried a measured stop using two rim brakes compared to the same stop using just one disc brake? You might be in for a surprise!

[SystemParanoia]

main reason is that i pull a trailer with my kids in, and the brake fade from the calipers is horrendous unless i creep along at walking pace.

the disk means ill have better braking power and i never use the rears anyway.

[ewenm]

SystemParanoia said:

main reason is that i pull a trailer with my kids in, and the brake fade from the calipers is horrendous unless i creep along at walking pace.

the disk means ill have better braking power and i never use the rears anyway.

I'd recommend having a rear there anyway, just for when the front cable snaps / hydraulic seal fails.

[SystemParanoia]

why not... its not like it will save any meaningfull ammount of weight with the kids plus all their kit plus they bikes on tow lol.

i use both brakes when towing.. or id never stop. i just never use both when on my own.

[rhinochopig]

SystemParanoia said:

im planning on removing my rear brake on my road bike to reduce weight due to me upgrading the front brakes to a disk.

Don't, especially if your towing your kids. Disks do fail - hoses can come off, cables snap, pads de-laminate - so you should keep the back brake for emergency use.

In one touring trip we had three disk brakes fail on three different bikes. A hose came off my Brother-in-law's bike due to overheating. The pad de-laminated on mine on a long decent. This resulted in the piston getting so hot that it melted through the copper pad backing.

[jerwatt]

SystemParanoia said:

main reason is that i pull a trailer with my kids in, and the brake fade from the calipers is horrendous unless i creep along at walking pace.

the disk means ill have better braking power and i never use the rears anyway.

In addition to the risk of having no brakes if the front fails and such a small weight gain there's another problem.

Disc brakes will make a difference on mountain bikes with wider tyres. However on narrow road tyres they won't have more braking power as the extra braking won't be any use due to the reduced rubber contact and so you'd just skid with it.

[SystemParanoia]

im not after extra braking power.

i just want to eliminate the dangerous brake fade i get when i've got a fully loaded trailer on tow.

with the calipers i have now, almost every time i stop the braking power is reduced to almost nothing by the time i come to a halt... i believe the disks will keep a consistent level of braking unlike the calipers.

[jerwatt]

Yeah they will do that, unless they're really cheap ones. I'd put the disc on the front but still keep the rear one just in case they're needed. I've got discs on both front and back and they work great on both road and mtb tyres if you want to buy another disc.

[SystemParanoia]

my frame can only be modified for 1 disk... will have to break out the alu welder to fit a rear one.... umm no! lol.

ill be getting cyclo X forks, so ill just be googling for a while and see which name seems to be most popular, as ill probbably have to buy a new wheels to fit the disk to anyway.