The Cycle Courier. May He Rest In Peace.
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08. 2.06
Come 20-23 October 2006, the 14th Cycle Messenger World Championship will be taking place in Sydney. But the number of competitors might be down on previous years. Particularly those entrants from the host city. Six years ago there were 10 companies employing 250 riders, but now that is down to around seven firms with about 70 two-wheeled daredevils. Seems the rumoured Millennium Bug, (remember that?) had folk hesitant to rely on their computers, so bike messengers flourished. Now though with broadband, PDFs, digital photography and the like being all pervasive, the need for physical documents to criss-cross a city has diminished. (in the past 25 years New York has a witnessed a similar decline from upwards of 7,000 to only about 1,000 die-hards still pedalling around downtown.) Still, it’s thought that 500 freewheeling messengers will find their way from a dozen countries to Australia, in a couple of months time, to demonstrate their prowess in never needing to brake. ::The Age.
In Toronto, a lot of couriers are now riding fixed gear bikes without brakes. No doubt this is contributing to the decline in numbers.
I don't think so. No-one in Toronto has died as a result of riding fixed gear bikes with no front brake.
There's no such thing as a " fixed gear bike without brakes" because the drivetrain of a fixed gear bike acts as a rear brake.