There might be some racing sleds that don’t have any type of breaks but most have these spiky thingys held up by springs on the back of the runners or simply drag a section of snowmobile track in the middle so you can stand on it as a break. I also know a guy with a lever on the handle that flips down claws on either side of his sled. The claws and spikes are pretty much useless though if in fresh snow. Oldschool sleds were probably mostly breakless so I guess you are mostly right there.
Can you do trials on that?
You can do trials on just about any bike that’s rigid and has a good back brake, I can pedal kick a BMX pretty far.
That’s not very hardcore,chainsaws have brakes on them!
this is so not true…you can do extremely WEAK trials on a lot of bikes, but to really perform, you need a real set up…and a free ride bike SUCKS for trials…too heavy, wierd geometry, high gearing, too much suspension.
By that logic any kind of trials done on a unicycle is also not real trials because unicycles can’t go as big as or perform as well as pure trials bikes.
You can certainly do trials moves on a freeride bike. I find it quite impressive to see freeride bikes negotiating tricky skinnies and other trail obstacles that require trials skills. So what if a freeride bike can’t pedal kick as high as a true trials bike. There are things that a freeride bike can do that a trials bike could not.
My view is that anyone with good bicycle handling skills in their chosen style of bicycling is an inspiration. Whether it be road racing, cyclocross, BMX, freeride, trials, XC, urban messengering, or any other form. Why bag on freeride just because they can’t pedal kick as far? What they do still requires trials skills if they want to do it well. Conversely, trials skills alone won’t get you down a freeride trail.