Bike Messengers Relish ‘Braking’ Rules

David Dungan dashes through midday downtown traffic, changing lanes and blowing through red lights at speeds up to 35 mph. As a bicycle messenger, he does this five days a week in the sun, wind, snow and rain. And he does it all without brakes.

“My first month, I must have run into a dozen things,” the 23-year-old said. “But right now, I’d feel uncomfortable riding anything else.”

Dungan is one of a growing cadre of so-called “groovy” riders who have stormed onto the bike messenger scene everywhere from Manhattan to San Francisco.

“It’s really taking off,” says Erek Hancock, a six-year veteran of the Boston-based Quicksilver Messenger Service Inc., who estimates that half of the riders in Boston now use track bikes, compared with about 20% five years ago. “It’s the cool thing to do.”

Purists say the bikes, which also lack multiple gears, are lighter and faster. Also, maintenance costs are lower because there are fewer parts.

The bikes are becoming more and more visible in cities like Chicago, Boston and New York, where winter temperatures can freeze brakes and snap cables.

Dungan’s bike has a shorter wheelbase than ordinary bikes for making tight turns and uses a fixed gear instead of a derailleur. That means it has only one gear and the pedals move when the bike moves.

The only way to slow a track bike down is to pedal more slowly. A good rider can stop pedaling altogether, sending the bike into a kind of controlled skid. “I can switch three lanes while I’m sliding,” Dungan said. “

The bikes were originally built for the velodrome, an oval track with steeply banked turns that features high speeds and crowded fields, according to Dale Hughes of the Walden School of Cycling in Rochester, Mich.

Hughes designed the velodrome in Atlanta and said brakes were omitted from track bikes long ago for safety reasons.

“You’ve got 30 guys all elbow to elbow going 30 mph and nobody can stop in front of you,” because nobody has brakes, he said.

He said speeds are adjusted slowly by pedaling either faster or slower. “It’s that control that makes it a safe race,” he said.

But whether track bikes are a good idea on the street, where quick stops for pedestrians, cars and other things are necessary, is another question.

Hughes says yes, and argues that because messengers know they can’t stop fast, they’re more likely to choose a route that doesn’t get them into trouble. He suggests they are taking root among bike messengers specifically because of the risk.

“It’s more of a cavalier attitude, the Pony Express ‘get there at all costs’ sort of thing,” he said.

By their nature, bike messengers are an independent group, and many work as independent contractors. There are no national records kept on what type of bicycle each messenger rides. But a movement in Boston is trying to bring some order to the business.

The city took action in July after an accident in which a 62-year-old Federal Reserve Bank vice president was put into a coma after being hit by a bike messenger. A licensing system took effect on Jan. 1 for the messengers.

Riders in Boston have to carry picture ID and license plates behind their seats and have liability insurance. The idea is to create accountability, according to Boston Police Lt. James Curran.

“We’re not trying to knock them out of business,” he said. “We’re trying to bring them into compliance. Track bikes are something we’re going to have to look into.”

There’s another benefit for track bike riders. Boston messenger Nelson George says his bike gets stolen at least once every six months. But the thieves never get far. “They only get about two blocks before they crash,” he said.