Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - From our friends in the Commuter forum

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=1857062#post1857062

Check out post #7

:lol:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=1857062#post1857062

Check out post #7

:lol:

Im gonna count to 20 for you to produce some cash - cause I reckon I can shoot you between where you're sitting and the door.


1...2...3...

Im gonna count to 20 for you to produce some cash - cause I reckon I can shoot you between where you're sitting and the door.


1...2...3...

Where's that from, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Chop?


...4...5...6...

Your'e not really gonna shoot 'em, are ya, Chop? The kid's just tryin' ta be hip.Y'know score some points with the old skool...Chopper, you listnen'?


...7...8...9...10....

Can you give us a thread title? The numbers change as folks post.

Post #7 would be my post. And really, deep down, what kid wants to be Lance Armstrong when they can be Kevin Bacon?

pfft.

Sorry kids:
Discussion With Students About Bike Commuting

I do have to agree, Bacon over Lance every time! Six degrees of Lance? No fun.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=1857350#post1857350

" make bike commuting seem cool, not dorky. Bring in cool, hipster bike commuters from a local college. Look at cool bikes on the web...pretty soon some might start trying to outdo each other at the bike shop."

Ha, just what we need... instead of dumb 16yr old drivers thinking they are race car drivers, we'll have dumb 16yr old bikers thinking they are messengers and bombing around town brakeless and killing themselves.... I guess thats still better than them killing people with a car.

" make bike commuting seem cool, not dorky. Bring in cool, hipster bike commuters from a local college. Look at cool bikes on the web...pretty soon some might start trying to outdo each other at the bike shop."

Ha, just what we need... instead of dumb 16yr old drivers thinking they are race car drivers, we'll have dumb 16yr old bikers thinking they are messengers and bombing around town brakeless and killing themselves.... I guess thats still better than them killing people with a car.


What, haven't you seen the SS/FG forum?

Oh, wait..

Fixed gear has been the scapegoat of many trends. Al Capone used to pay the best track racers to win in a certain order, to control the numbers game, etc. So, back then, those bike riders were on the level of a Jordan or Tony Hawk, or whatever.
So, now with the internet, FGG, BF, etc., kids have the exposure to a new outlet for their creative voices. You don't have to teach the kids, they were not only aware of it before you, they probably informed you that it was hip in the first place, validating an art form that goes back to our grandfather's father's grandfather....

I'm just saying that younger kids, especially during high school, have a tendency to be more reckless and do more stupid things to show off and impress people. That's not saying older 'kids' don't too but come on, we were all kids once and knows how dumb we acted and how cool we all thought we were doing stupid sh*t.

I did see a few kids on fixies this summer when pratt had the pre college program. I'm sure the trend's caught on in high schools by now, maybe not as much as others but it's definately noticed.

I did see a few kids on fixies this summer when pratt had the pre college program. I'm sure the trend's caught on in high schools by now, maybe not as much as others but it's definately noticed.

There's a high-schooler at my LBS who rides a newer langster fix. He's totally into the bike thing without any attitude or overt sense of coolness. He's actually kinda quiet and reserved. He just seems really into bikes. He always gushes over my old windsor.

I was there the other day checking some things out, and he's holding sway over a handful of BMX'ers buying flashy new cranks and studded nor-cal trucker hats. Not making any judgements on my part - it was just an interesting dynamic to watch...The "hipster-fixie" and the "hipster-BMX'er".

Hey, whatever gets kids off the couch and into the outdoors is pretty okay by me.

Hey, whatever gets kids off the couch and into the outdoors is pretty okay by me.


very true...

Sorry kids:
Discussion With Students About Bike Commuting

I do have to agree, Bacon over Lance every time! Six degrees of Lance? No fun.

But Sheryl Crow over Kyra Sedgewick.

the bmx thing...all the hardcore kids here in boise ride bmx. i wonder when fixies will catch on with them, too.

I'm just saying that younger kids, especially during high school, have a tendency to be more reckless and do more stupid things to show off and impress people. That's not saying older 'kids' don't too but come on, we were all kids once and knows how dumb we acted and how cool we all thought we were doing stupid sh*t.

I did see a few kids on fixies this summer when pratt had the pre college program. I'm sure the trend's caught on in high schools by now, maybe not as much as others but it's definately noticed.

I rode a fixed gear for my last two years of high school. Granted, I was the only one doing so, aside from a teacher who'd occasionally bring his in, but it's nothing new.

(Data points : It had brakes, I still rode it recklessly, and this was 1991-2.)

I rode a fixed gear for my last two years of high school. Granted, I was the only one doing so, aside from a teacher who'd occasionally bring his in, but it's nothing new.

(Data points : It had brakes, I still rode it recklessly, and this was 1991-2.)


I didn't mean that it was new, just that as a trend, it's not 'yet' a major one. I think it also depends on the area. Biking isn't so big in LA, and I think never will be since you are what you drive there. Coolness, when I was growing up in LA, is what you drove and how early you had your own car. Which meant I was very uncool since I didn't have a car till senior year and even then, it was only using my sisters when she didn't need it which was never.

EDIT: to further my loserness... it was a red(fading) geo prism... yeah baby! go Geo!

I'm just saying that younger kids, especially during high school, have a tendency to be more reckless and do more stupid things to show off and impress people. That's not saying older 'kids' don't too but come on, we were all kids once and knows how dumb we acted and how cool we all thought we were doing stupid sh*t.

Yes the kids...

But these kids are the ones that are going to push it further than us,k do crazier stuff than us up to the point were it just seems normal. We will be learning from them. Go to a skate park - what kids are pulling these days on avarge is way beyond what any of us thought was doable 20 years ago. These kids are no more dangerous than we were and most of us made it through highschool without breaking our necks. If more of them will start riding fix we'll be able to see some very amazing stuff soon. I look forward to that and I will do my best to live up to them! ;)

I haven't seen Miles in a long time.
He's 16, and rides a Pista. He could probably give us some insight into the topic at hand, being a highschooler and all...

Yes the kids...

But these kids are the ones that are going to push it further than us,k do crazier stuff than us up to the point were it just seems normal. We will be learning from them. Go to a skate park - what kids are pulling these days on avarge is way beyond what any of us thought was doable 20 years ago. These kids are no more dangerous than we were and most of us made it through highschool without breaking our necks. If more of them will start riding fix we'll be able to see some very amazing stuff soon. I look forward to that and I will do my best to live up to them! ;)


that's true but I just feel biking is a little different. Sure they'll go faster and longer but I'm talking about alleycats and such where your going through traffic. Its not that they aren't able, I just worried that because they are more willing to take risks and might not understand it. I know I was much more able to take these risks, not so much because I was more able but because I cared less and was much more reckless and didn't understand what was involved. I think in order to be great, you need a degree of understanding. Younger skaters and other 'extreme' sports atheletes are rising, but it's when they mature that they really become truely great.

Uhhhh...so I didn't expect my throw-away comment to spawn a separate thread so lemme 'splain myself. From what I can see reading BF and looking at cyclists around me, I see four quick and easily definable fashion types.

1. Fully lycra'd cyclist on a nice, clean road bike.
2. Messenger on fixie wearing shants or manpris or whatever they're called w/ a big chain around their waist.
3. Freddies w/ geek straps
4. Everyone else

Of the four above fashion categories, I would think most HS aged boys would pick messenger for the coolness factor. I'm not sure what girls would choose cuz I don't understand them at all. But if they're not actually messengers and just adopt the look, then that might classify them as hipsters/posers/wannabes/fans.

But as long as they're on a bike and not on the couch playing Socom 3, I don't care what you call them.

What, No mtn biking HSers?

What, No mtn biking HSers?
I debated on that one, but I don't see too many fully dressed mtb'ers in NYC so I put them in the Everyone else category.