Road Rim Brake for a fixed gear

timothyarnold85 said:

I recently bought a fixed gear bike and would like to add a single front brake. I have looked around and briefly asked at a local bike shop and was wondering what insights anyone had, specifically,

when making such a purchase, is the actual brake nearly always sold separately from the cable/housing/lever? that seems to be what I'm discovering

any suggestions on the best place to find what I need? (eBay, certain online stores, local bike shop?)

is there anything else I should know when making the purchase (e.g. I noticed that brake reach is generally listed, I see 39-49 mm a lot; will almost any caliper/road brake work or do I need to keep specifics about my bike in mind?)

Thanks for any help.

In case it helps, my bike: http://www.windsorbicycles.com/thehour2.html

Unless you know exactly what you need, I would recommend going with the LBS. That way if it doesn't quite fit, you can exchange more easily. Online savings are quickly eroded by having to pay shipping on returns. Find a local shop that does singlespeeds on a regular basis. If you don't have a good local source, you could try Harris Cyclery:

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/fixed.html

Yes, these days brake calipers are almost always sold separately from the levers. Cables/housing may come with the lever, but may not.

You need to select a brake with sufficient reach to get to the rims. Newer bikes almost all use short reach, but that may not be true for that track frame. Is the fork drilled already? If so, you can measure the reach from the center of the hole in the fork crown to the center of the rim braking surface and select a brake with sufficient reach:

http://sheldonbrown.com/images/forkreach400.jpg

1. You need to have a mounting hole in your fork. For most modern brakes the hole in the back of the fork has to be bigger to acommodate a recessed allen nut.
2. Judging from the picture, you will need a short reach brake and even that might not be short enough. You need to measure the vertical distance from the brake mounting hole to the center of the rim's brake surface. Good luck.

3. Brakes are sold just about any way that you can imagine. The best prices (if you can find them for sale) are OEM lever, caliper, cable and housing sets in a plastic bag. J&B, a wholesale only outlet, sometimes has those for sale. The most common aftermarket sales are the caliper and the lever sold separately.

4. I'm in the process of building a fixed gear bike for myself so, in a month or so, I might have some different, smarter answers to your questions.