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Comment by spacecowboy_lon | Hacker News Reader

You mean suicide brakes? count me out!

No. Only racing bikes have those, occasionally. In Amsterdam 99% of people ride a normal bike, not a racing bike. This is the essential difference between the bike cultures. Car drivers in the netherlands also do not like like bike racers, but only a small fraction of cyclists are racers.

I though a lot of dutch bikes had the pedal backwards to Brake?

It's common, and I like them a lot.

Not when you are used to proper brakes it doesn't as you unconsciously move the peddles to the best position to start peddling after coasting.

They are in all aspects proper brakes, in practice better in many ways than rim brakes.

They do take some getting used to, but then so does everything else about bicycling.

"Coaster brake" is probably the more common term for this setup. It makes for a more complicated rear hub, but works better than calipers in rain and snow and gunk.

They're highly reliable and rarely wear out - no cables, no pads, and as you mentioned, no issues with water/mud which is a real concern in the NL.

The only thing you're sacrificing is stopping power - but it fits the riding style over there perfectly. Its flat, and nobody is in that big of a hurry.

No you just buy a bike with proper V brakes and alloy wheels - will stop you dead in a torrential downpour our just go for disk brakes if your doing off road.

They do (but this is different from a suicide break). I'd say most people use the pedal for breaking, the exception are mostly people who are a bit older and benefit a lot from gears, and somewhat wealthier people (as the pedal break bikes are usually a bit cheaper and often second hand), but even then I'd say I still see most people wearing suits who cycle, cycle on pedal break bikes.

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