Cycling without brakes? You're breaking the law

Common sense would suggest you'd be mad to cycle without brakes, but it can be done by skilled riders – although not legally
bike blog: fixed-gear bike
The rider of a brakeless fixed-gear bike can slow down by resisting the rotation of the pedals on the rear wheel, but 1983 legislation states that you need a brake on the front wheel too. Photograph: Ty Milford/Getty Images

The odd emergency stop is an inescapable fact of life for the cyclist, which is why it seems odd to me that there are thousands of riders in the UK merrily cruising along without brakes. And they are breaking the law.

There are BMXs, often fitted with a freewheel and stopped with a trainer to the tyre, the braver subsection of fixed-gear riders and those whose bike is badly maintained to the point where there are no working brakes to speak of.

The most common, and probably the fastest, are brakeless fixed-gear ("fixie") riders. At least their fixed wheel can act as a rear brake, if they resist the rotation of the pedals.

They often claim that riding brakeless provides a heightened sense of awareness and demands a great deal of foresight and affinity with traffic, which they suggest is enough to keep them safe. The practice has gone on for decades, as this article in the New York Times from 1987 shows.

I've ridden fixed for several years and while lots of people I ride with do go brakeless, I have a front calliper. I may not reach for that lever often, but I'm glad of it when I do.

Lots of people argue that a skilled brakeless rider can stop faster than an inexperienced commuter with brakes, which I've always found rather disingenuous. Others claim that adding a brake in any scenario will improve the likelihood of a safe outcome should the worst happen.

But arguments over safety aside, the fact is that brakeless riders are strictly breaking the law in the UK.

Chris Juden is technical officer at the national cyclists' organisation CTC, and an expert on what is legal and illegal when it comes to cycling. He maintains a thorough and very accessible summary of cycling law online.

He explained that there are two relevant chunks of legislation; one which sets out what can be legally sold as a new bicycle, and the other that mandates what a bicycle needs to be legal on the road.

The second one, or Pedal Cycle Construction and Use Regulations 1983, says you need two brakes: one on the rear wheel and one on the front. A fixed wheel counts as a rear brake, but you still need a calliper on the front.

"A front brake is necessary on a bicycle," he said. "If you're trying to stop a bicycle, or any vehicle, as quickly as you can there will be hardly any weight on the back wheel.

"If you're slowing down gradually the back wheel's fine, but if you're slowing down in an emergency forget about the back brake.

"It takes a great deal of skill to brake with a fixed wheel like that but some people can do that," added Mr Juden. "A skilled rider with a front brake will stop in half the distance. You need a front brake to be safe."

The Berlin police tend to agree. They have been busily confiscating any bicycles they see without two brakes, and in Australia it was recently announced that manufacturers could face fines of up to A$1.1m (£630,000) for supplying fixies new.

In the US the law varies from state to state, but in most places it says you need to have brakes fitted which allow you to skid on a dry pavement. That would suggest that just a fixed wheel would be enough, as long as the rider can learn to skid.

There have been instances of people being charged anyway, because of the vague wording, leading some advocacy groups to fight for explicit wording to allow fixed gears without brakes.

I asked the Metropolitan Police for their views and they told me that although technically illegal, brakeless riders were "not an issue that our traffic branch have come across".

However, they went on to say that if a rider was caught then they would be summonsed to court rather than being issued with a fixed penalty notice, as you might get for jumping a red light.

What the outcome would be then is unclear, as there's no record at all of it happening. Considering the Met's response it seems unlikely that anyone will find out soon, either. I've certainly never heard of anyone being pulled over for having no front brake.

The real problem for brakeless riders in the UK could come after an accident. If your bike is not legally roadworthy then any insurance you have could be invalidated, and you could possibly be left open to legal action by any injured parties.