Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Check out the Carnage

At this years little Indy:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/trackphotos.php?id=photos/2005/apr05/little500_05/gallery-little500_05

Cinders - your friends for life.
One of the guys I work with raced the Little 500 and spoke of what crashing on a cinder track will do...yeouch!

note: I also dig the hover bike.

I like the guys in the green shirts that are cheering.

Yay. New wallpaper. There's some interesting diving action happening in there. All the cameras going after the crash started makes you wonder if there'll be video available.

is this race done on singlespeeds as in the movie "breaking away" or are they fixed? i can't tell from looking at the pix.

what model of bikes are those schwinn's? would they be good on the street?

the bikes are single speeds w/ coaster brakes. I am thinking the frames are made for the event (not 100% sure on this though). About 2 years ago, I saw a Chicago messer riding one of the frames around. Mongoose frame if I remember correctly

I watched both the women's and the men's little 500. Very strange. I couldn't get over the coaster brake. And the crashing. It is very strange. No thank you to cinders.

coaster brakes eh? that explains the flat pedals I guess..... they seem to have a really high BB.
I'd like to try one, they look like they would be a lot of fun on the street...

*edit* you can buy the bikes it looks like, from the university? (see page 5)
http://iusf.bloomington.com/alumni/2005_alumni_race_packet.pdf
if you belong to the alumni it looks like you can get one for $150.... damn

Very strange.

Seconded. Cinders... Ashtabula cranks... platform pedals... running shoes... frats...

All very strange.

I like how in one of the pictures, ther is a woman in the stands in a red shirt, cheering with her arms in the air. This is serveral photos into the crash sequence. Then she realizes there is this awful pileup. She puts her arms down.

i love this bicycle in midair!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/trackphotos.php?id=photos/2005/apr05/little500_05/B85F9343

and the one upside down
http://www.cyclingnews.com/trackphotos.php?id=photos/2005/apr05/little500_05/B85F9342

and, of course, bruised frat boys
http://www.cyclingnews.com/trackphotos.php?id=photos/2005/apr05/little500_05/B85F9351

Everyone is drunk the week leading up to the race. Everyone stays drunk and goes to the race. Everyone after the race gets even drunker(is that even a word). Then someone steals your fixed gear bicycle and comes to the realisation that it is in fact not a Little 5 bike and gets bucked ruining your seat and leaving the bike in front of the bar you frequent for 5 cent beers. Other than that Little 5 is amazing. The bikes are made specifically for the race and have very slack geometry and BMX bottom brackets for one piece cranks. The university had Schwinn produce the bikes this year rather than Mongoose and they do look alot better, but the ride is the same. After the race you can buy these bikes for something like 50 bucks. There are two sizes a womens and a mens, I have a couple friends that have converted then to fixed gears using BMX three piece cranks and bottom brackets. Hey they have track ends, what more can you ask for.

Best team ever, CUTTERS: http://www.cyclingnews.com/trackphotos.php?id=photos/2005/apr05/little500_05/B85F9442

Yeah, I guess they wiped out and couldn't come back to win. It is an amusing time, but too many frats!

good grief! look at the legs on the guy who's running to get his bike! http://www.cyclingnews.com/trackphotos.php?id=photos/2005/apr05/little500_05/B85F9343

You'd think that picture was from the local Northern Virginia/DC/Maryland racing scene. We've had crashes in the beginner cateGOREies in almost every race. Bike rending, flesh tearing, short sheering wrecks.

good grief! look at the legs on the guy who's running to get his bike! http://www.cyclingnews.com/trackphotos.php?id=photos/2005/apr05/little500_05/B85F9343

Lol. I'm trying to determine if that's an optical illusion or something.

I like how in one of the pictures, ther is a woman in the stands in a red shirt, cheering with her arms in the air. This is serveral photos into the crash sequence. Then she realizes there is this awful pileup. She puts her arms down.
Then there's the guy in green at the back cheering through the whole thing. Can't get too close a look at his face but from what I can see this is the most exciting day of his young life.

Saw it this weekend in HD on HDNet. Pretty cool.