Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - do people often ask you about your bike

people not on bikes?

everytime i lock my bike out front of work (which i avoid) people ask about it

when i go out for a smoke i often catch people looking at it

On my trek one day I had a little boy (probably maybe 8 or so) come up and say "Is that a mountain bike?" "Something like that, sure" "WOW! COOL!" I've never seen someone so excited as to see a bike...then he started asking questions and tried to rip off my derailuer to look at it...I wish I had known about fixies then...that was a day I couldn't work...

Locking up before going into Wendy's:

shady guy by the payphone: Is that some sort of racin' bike?
me: Something like that.
shady guy: You win any races on it?
me: I haven't raced it yet...
shady guy: Did you buy it like that or make it?
me: I put it together myself. Don't let anyone steal it, okay?
shady guy: alright.

get used to hearing "where are your brakes?" and "where are the gears?" on a daily basis.

no. fixies are everywhere in chicago.

they're everywhere in NYC too, but so many people "aks" about 'em.

'dang, is that a track bike?!'

from older people usually

A lifespanily-challenged woman, one of those hip types in black clothes and a beret, came up to me while I was waiting for a friend near Grand Army Plaza one day this summer. Like literally changed direction to come over to me to ask me about my bike.

"It's so basic. No wires or anything." (Meaning gear/brake cables, I imagine.)
"Yes. No gears, no brakes, no clangin' around. Very smooth, very quiet. I love riding this thing."
"I woke up this morning and thought, 'Simplicity!' I come outside to go to the greenmarket and your bike caught my eye. Very minimalist."
"Thank you." (I think.)

Maybe she was just trying to pick me up.

We get "them is some racin' bikes" all the time.

One time I saw this toothless old drunk outside a bar in Cambridge watching me unlock. Obviously I was expecting the usual "How do you stop with no brakes?" question, but to my total surprise he said, "Fixed gear, eh?" I nodded. "What's your gear ratio?" he then asked. Astonished, I told him, then rode off vowing never to return to that freaky bar ever again. (A vow I broke about a week later.)

The security guard at the daily show asked me about my bike and to my surpise called me a wimp because he runs 52-13 and I only run 48-16. I couldn't decide if I was proud to have caught his eye or sad because he was right.

When on the trails there are two factions. Mind I'm riding SS and rigid.
"Wouldn't catch me dead on that thing" - usually the 45+ people
and the "Wow, you nuts" - 40 and under.
Favorite was, "Saw your friend riding here last week on a SS 29er." I have yet to meet another SS trail rider in Houston.

On the roads, its usually "You crazy?, and one gear too?"
There is a group of regulars at one bar that keep telling me "I'm going to call you up to show me how to convert my bike to SS"

The security guard at the daily show asked me about my bike and to my surpise called me a wimp because he runs 52-13 and I only run 48-16. I couldn't decide if I was proud to have caught his eye or sad because he was right.

Was he hobbling around?

it always bugs me a bit when they ask if it costs a lot or "how much do those things cost?" all the while eyeing my bike up and down then eye me up and down, as if trying to decide if they can rob me later. This usually happens on fulton when I stop in the pseudo chinese food joints late at night.

nah, he was a big middle aged black dude who looked like he could harm me

"One time I saw this toothless old drunk outside a bar in Cambridge watching me unlock... to my total surprise he said, "Fixed gear, eh?"

In 17 years, the ONLY time i've been asked was when I was being passed by an elderly woman (mustve been nearing 80) who shouted back 'nice to see a fixed gear again!"

Dude, obviously a 1940's OG hipster

I feel like I spent more time talking about my bike than riding it.

I usually got (before it broke): "Is that a racing bike?" or "is it fast?" "why is the front wheel so small?" "what is that made of (rear wheel, carbon)" "is it light?" "how much did it cost?" "that's one gear, that's a racer thing, right?" "it's expensive, huh."

Primarily, I got "is it fast?" which is by far my favorite question, insofar as it let me **** with people.

not too many comments from pedestrians (yes fixies are fairly commonplace here) but other cyclists often ask "is that a pista".... i ride a vintage chrome carlton catalina... i'm considering making a little custom sticker for the back of the seat tube:

N
O
T

A

P
I
S
T
A

I get people asking if they can pick up my bike to see how heavy it is.

I love the random people you run into sometimes. My friend Hans and I were riding around in the Sunset District and we stopped at some random gas station for a soda. Well it turns out one of the mechanics there used to race track in Russia. So you have this big solid guy, Ben Davis jumpsuit and boots, doing no handed trackstands while hes talking to us "Yeah I was more of a sprinter, you needed the bulky muscle to power through the short distances." Sweet.

no. they don't.

no. they don't.
what kind of bike do you ride?

Only the Vello Kombi Spesial gets questions asked about it.

what kind of bike do you ride?

a trek 1982 510 conversion.

a trek 1982 510 conversion.

You need to get freakier.

Or fancier, but freaky's cheaper.

You need to get freakier.

Or fancier, but freaky's cheaper.
freaky enough for ya? (http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/haro1.jpg)

freaky enough for ya? (http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/haro1.jpg)

I dig.

i'm a little freaked out

You need to get freakier.

Or fancier, but freaky's cheaper.

Or I need to get back on my dahon folder, which I can even talk about here cuz I have converted it to SS. Jeezus, people used to ask me about that one while they passed me in their cars.

however, i was just answering the OP's question. I don't actually want people to ask me about my bike. Or get freaky. Or fancy.

W/all due respect.

I get people asking if they can pick up my bike to see how heavy it is.
i get that at work

also at work some french canadian tourist came up to it and spun the pedal, "iz gud, ya? i didnt bring my bike here, i miss it!"

I was at a stoplight at the end of the off ramp with my fixie conversion on the bike rack on my trunk (yes, I said on my trunk as I work an hour and a half from home and use my bike for my "I'm a messer" lunch breaks). Anyways... there's a car behind me and once we turn onto the main road, the guy pulls up beside me, honks his horn and gives me the thumbs up and yells "nice bike!".

Or I need to get back on my dahon folder, which I can even talk about here cuz I have converted it to SS. Jeezus, people used to ask me about that one while they passed me in their cars.

however, i was just answering the OP's question. I don't actually want people to ask me about my bike. Or get freaky. Or fancy.

W/all due respect.


Ha! I just converted a dahon classic 3 to SS. Rediculously low gear, but great for coasting downhill to bart, and I get more comments on that bike than all the others put together. Thanks for the message, btw, the wedding went off great. (without a hitch, as they say)

"Cool bike.....is that one of those messenger bikes?"

me: "Yeah, I guess you can say that.."

"Are you a messenger?"

me: "Nope, just pretending to look like one..."

How do you go backwards on that thing?

i've gotten to the point that i lock my bike up a couple of storefronts away from the coffeeshop. i've gotten sick of the same three 17 year old anarchists talking to me every time i go there about the fixie they've been building for the last year and a half. don't get me wrong, i love talking to people about my bike. but when people constantly say that they're going to do something and never actually do it, i get really annoyed.

One time I saw this toothless old drunk outside a bar in Cambridge watching me unlock. Obviously I was expecting the usual "How do you stop with no brakes?" question, but to my total surprise he said, "Fixed gear, eh?" I nodded. "What's your gear ratio?" he then asked. Astonished, I told him, then rode off vowing never to return to that freaky bar ever again. (A vow I broke about a week later.)

i hope this was the cambridge port or all asia...

I usually get most of the same questions asked, but there's so many bikers here it seems like I run into people out of the woodwork asking me crazy stuff, yep I feed off it. What gets me here is that most other cats I see ridin' fixies are too cool to stop and chat. Maybe I look weird with my smelly dreads.

This afternoon I took my partner's car into the shop for service. I had some errands to run, so I put a bike on the rack to ride while it was being worked on. As I pulled it off the rack, a shop employee who was probably about 60 years old with a british accent ran up and said, "A fixed-wheel with a chopped Brooks saddle, now that takes me back..." Then he just walked away, but he had already made my day.

The two times people have interacted with me about my bike, besides people I know saying i'm crazy i am for riding track bikes...

One time while riding up Park Ave on the upper east side as I past some rich guy with his daughter he goes "look darling - that guy has no brakes, how do you think he stops?" I yelled back "LEGS"

Annother time I was locking my bike up, and when I got back there was an Ambulance with the driver standing infront of my bike, eyes glazed. He was asking me about how I rode without brakes, how he really liked my bike and started chatting about his road bike and how much nashbar ruled. I think he really was impressed when he lifted up the bike and I told him it was made out of steel.

Just yesterday morning I'm sitting out in the patio next to my brown Steamroller at Starbux and this guy comes up, stares at my bike and gently carresses his fingers over my Brooks saddle (my avatar pictured at left) and says to me "wow, sooo hippie".........whatever that meant.

I get random questions all the time, but my favorite has to be the confused stare i get when some middle aged woman pulls up next to me trackstanding at a red light. Priceless...

I don't get too many comments here (Columbia, MO), but sometimes people are interested. There are a couple other people here who ride fixed - as far as I can tell maybe half a dozen people out of the 100,000 who live here. Most of the interest seems to be from other customers when I stop by my LBS, including from the owner, who used to race tandem track and own at it.

What strikes me is funny is that, while I don't get as many comments on my bike here as I did in Chicago, I get pretty common comments on my big Krypto chain. Just about every time I lock up, someone says something like, "Hell, ain't nobody gettin' that bike."

In SF if anyone askes I just snear at them or look away.

If I am outside the city I give detailed explanations and answer with a friendly smile.

Seriously though, the best questions are usually from older guys that used to or still ride these bicycles. Had some great conversations with the old schoolers, they can often tell you things that you can only learn with years of experience. "Unfortunately", questions about "why fixed" and "how do you go up hills" or "nice bike" are a lot more common. Still flatering (mostly) - just not quite as interesting.

my favorite was the comment about my puch conversion by the kid at the local Bianchi dealer, "hey thats a sweet pissta" yes he actually said pissta, and the way he said it made me cringe.

The security guard at the daily show asked me about my bike and to my surpise called me a wimp because he runs 52-13 and I only run 48-16. I couldn't decide if I was proud to have caught his eye or sad because he was right.

Damn flatlanders.

constantly asked about both of my bikes

by far was last weekend when i took my khs aero track (which is rattlecanned neon pink) to DC...after riding around for 2 days i come out of vegan brunch at Asylum amd some messenger i have never met before stops me a full half block from my bike starts up a conversation with me while introducing me to a few other messenger friends of his...asking if im new to town (no, grew up here, just brought my bike on a visit), who i work for (not a messenger, i work for fdny), and where i got the frame (ebay)...according to him i was the talk of the messenger scene that weekend...a "new" kid on an unforgettable bike...i was baffeled

apparently i also missed an alleycat the day before...DAMMIT!!!!!!

Yes, and its annoying, most of the time.

Ocassionally i get some old 50 yr old dude who says, "hey!, i had one of those when i was your age" and proceeds to ride up next to me to talk about gearing and components

Most of the time i get "hey, where's your brakes?" I actually had a cop on an MUP stop me to ask me this.

Then there are the times when people see me skidding and ask why i have a coaster brake on a road bike.

My favorite is the roadie who comes up next to me on a hill and "aks" why I don't drop a gear.

I get amused at the little kids: "Daddy, what kind of bike is that?"

such as "mmmh... Mind if I grab one?"

Don't Stop Moving!