I saw this post by Ted Ernst(*) on the Classic Rendezvous list this morning. The discussion topic was fixed gear hubs which lacked lockring threading. I reproduce it here with his kind permission. I thought the rationale for use of fixed gear without lockrings was pretty interesting. Clearly, this is only advisable in an actual velodrome.

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The no locknut hubs always bring up questions. At the ADT velodrome in Carson, all the rental bikes have no lock rings, and people are asked not to use lock rings on their personal machines. The reasoning is that when learning and during training sessions, riders shouldn’t backpedal.

The emphasis is on pedaling forward to keep going and not slow down so you don’t slide down the 45 degree banking and take out the field! If you backpedal, then the close riding and limited response time could have someone climb aboard your bike from behind.

Idea is to pedal forward and maneuver around whatever and ride your way out of trouble! Speed is your friend and there is no stopping so learn to steer and read the riders and what's happening around and about you on the track.

This all works fine in learning and forward training sessions, but when you get into competition, all bets are off and even tho the aforementioned is proper, you do what is necessary to save yourself out there!

When it gets squirrely in team, point, miss & out, etc., type races you better be able to back pedal somewhat to occasionally save yourself.

It’s possible to roll the cog off and then it get’s interesting. On a steel hub, you can bomb the cog tight and probably not roll it, but on alloy hubs sometimes it’s not quite tight enough, and. the roller coaster surprise makes your heart rate double rather quickly!

I wonder if these were made for pursuit riders, or was cheaper and with pro riders in mind, locknut was thought too amateurish. But then I saw too many pursuiters in the ’50’s have SF hubs to save weight.

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(*) Ted is a fount of bike knowledge, having been a professional rider in the 1950s. He started out at his father's bike shop here in Chicago in (I think) the 1940s, as well as founding and running Ted's Manhattan Cycles in 1962.