San Marcos news story about fixed gear legality

Yeah, it's open to interpretation.

I checked the statutes, and there isn't anything that defines what a "brake" is. Sec 547 lays out a lot of definitions and requirement, but it also specifically excludes bicycles.

But sec 551 does say "equipped with a brake". That implies that you should be able to point to a physical mechanism attached to the bike. I'll leave that to the lawyers to decide.

... does your leg, shoe and/or pedal qualify as a brake? The law does not define the term. Looking the term up, from an engineering standpoint it tends to be a `device' or `invention' which could exclude your leg, but your pedals ought to qualify. Jamming your shoe in the front wheel ought to qualify too, though I don't suggest it. (Bent my fork and frame, tore some spokes, sprained both my wrists, got some road rash when I involuntarily did that!)

A coaster brake absolutely must qualify -- a cop can't just visually look at your bike and say `no brakes', unless he's perceptive enough to realize that coaster brakes generally have another thing attached to the frame to increase the leverage.

In any event, it's not really up to the sergeant to decide what qualifies as a brake -- that would be up to a judge, perhaps a jury. It would be interesting if somebody seriously protested one of these tickets, got a good lawyer, etc. It would be very cost ineffective (I doubt you even get points for equipment violations) but it could be an interesting precedent if one won -- but it could certainly go either way, it just depends on the judge/jury.

The sergeant also seems confused about what `fixed gear' means. It means a bike that can't coast (and in theory, it could even have multiple gears, though I've never seen that done.) Brakes are a totally different issue, and the only reason people often skip them on fixies is because they're not absolutely essential.

Though personally, I'd put a standard brake on the front. If you don't want to use it, don't use it. But if you do need it, it'll stop you 3-5 times faster than your back wheel could alone, and it'll keep the man off your back. Though I guess if you wanted to be a smart ass, you could add a spoon brake to your fixie.

Taken to the extreme, what about a unicycle? You could add a brake, but using it would mean an immediate crash. Though a unicycle isn't a bike (and Texas law does define a bicycle, quite narrowly), so it's not subject to the rules regarding bikes. Same goes for a tricycle, even an adult or recumbent one. Though if your vehicle isn't legally a bicycle, the law may very well claim that it doesn't belong on the road at all ...

And taken to the other extreme, many road bikes (with worn pads and rims) don't have brakes effective enough to lock either wheel. They'll still stop the bike plenty quickly, but can't actually lock either wheel on dry pavement. Though I guess you could make most qualify by leaning far forward and cranking down on that back brake hard.