Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - New to Fixed gear... questions..

I am considering a fixed gear bike for fitness and was wondering what was the hardest part about transitioning from a multi-gear bike to a fixed gear? Or anything to a fixed gear...

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area so the hills scare me!

Thanks for your help!

Being called a hipster.

Seriously, the lack of gears will probably be frustrating at first, especially in such a hilly city.

The hardest part about the transition is having to be called a hipster by hipsters.

Haha, weird.

training yourself not to stop pedaling. go for a spin about 5 miles for the first day. recuperate (your legs may be sore) ride again, and again, and again. get a brake and just take your time. measure your coners too because turning can a scary thing. you'll have to make wider turns (if your BB is low) or when you learn to skid you can do a skid turn which is very useful and fun when you dont have the space to make a wide turn or when you have to turn sharply.

Cool, thanks for the tips! Yeah, not being able to coast will get some getting used to. BUt then again, i like to pedal going downhill. mostly to build up speed to carry me back up the next hill.

So would a Bianchi Pista be a good first SS bike to try out? I see them at my LBS and they just look nice and the Bianchi quality seems to be good. Plus they are relatively cheap (read: I may just be able to talk my wife into letting me get one since it's waaayy cheaper than the Cervelo or Look 585 I've been looking at! haha!

honestly i have no idea since i ride old time steel. they seem to be a solid bike and alot of ppl rock them. They look like a very good start but you will prob want to switch things up once/if (but most likely once) you get addicted. yea your wife would def. appreciate you getting it over the others:)

new wardrobe

Assuming you're mature enough to ignore the labels, stereotypes and pre-conceived notions that flood this board (and young minds alike) surrounding Pistas and fixed riding in general...

The Pista is a great start. It is affordable and of sufficient quality and appeal that resale would be no problem if it isn't for you.

Don't over think it. My advice would be to go ride one around the block. You'll likely end up buying it, enjoying it and figuring out the rest on your own time.

-James

I have told people trying it for the first time to drop your seat 1/2 inch more than standard. This will keep your legs bent so if you forget and try to coast you won't be ejected from the bike.

I'd also recommend opening that resource thread that's stickied at the top of the page. It's got links to threads we've had on here before FILLED with answers to almost every question you have right now.

don't try to coast.

your legs will hurt for a few weeks, and then you'll have muscles you didn't know existed.

when you hit a hill, just hit it. you've got no other choice. just muscle your way up it. stuff like that is really inspiring about fixed gear...sometimes you're just drained and you hit a hill and you hammer up it and just push past where you thought you could go and unleash potential you didn't even know you had.

you may tire out from spinning all the time. same stuff applies here. just spin.

speaking of which, make sure you're spinning correctly, or you may get some pain from it.

have fun.

I have a Pista and I love it. It's a great bike for the money.

I'd also try building a conversion from an old road bike. I've done that 4 or 5 times, and it's really a lot of fun.

oh, yeah...my work bike is a pista frame and fork. i'm satisfied. it's an older one, i hear the tubing is better, but i don't know what the current tubing is. it's pretty decent.

About 3 hours of riding is enough to get over the instinct to coast. Its not really that hard to make the adjustment. If you are fairly serious about riding fast, the most challenging thing is finding the right gear. You'll get stronger and at some point find your self wanting to modify your gear ratio.

I think everyone tries to coast once... and only once.
In hilly terrain, it's going to take a little bit of time to get the strength and stamina needed to make it up big climbs, but you get the feeling of progress when you notice that you're a little winded after a hill that almost killed you a month ago.
If it's your first fixed and you're relatively knowledgeable about parts and fit, why not go for something used? Esp. if you're looking at something like a Pista that's pretty easy to find on craigslist or whatever...

I've been riding a fixie for maybe 6 months (it's a converted schwinn, it's red...), mostly because my other bike was stolen and someone gave this one to me. I had no idea it was so fashionable:) But now that I'm totally in love with it, can one of you boyz explain how to skid? What fun!

To answer the original question, the hardest part for me was learning to use my legs and not my hands to brake.

its a combo of leaning forward and pulling up on the toe clip with one foot and pushing down with the other foot. it takes a bit of coordination and getting used to but once you have it, its alota fun. after you get good with that and your legs become coordinated, you'll be able to do a seatseat skid/skip stop. check out this vid to see it done. its the kid with the Bianchi pista in the beginning at 15 sec.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZZdTgwT0rX8
also here for skids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZpQOlGmBpI&mode=related&search=

learning to stop the bike without a brake assuming you are going all out

o yea when you get the bike (whatever it may be) gear it so that it is in the high 60's range and then work your way up from there. have a bike shop change cogs and rings around for you and make sure you get a gearing that has one odd # in it to maximze your skid patches.
www.basementfreaks.com/members/karl/gearing/index.php

your legs will hurt for a few weeks, and then you'll have muscles you didn't know existed.


Assuming he would actually have made use of the R3 or 585 I doubt he is the type of rider that is going to have this problem. People who do are generally those who would hurt after any 20mile ride while those looking at 585s(even if not in peak physical condition) are more likely comfortable with 60+.

The pista is a decent track bike which means it's not ideal for as a road FG.
No rear brake mount(if you decide you want to switch to ss for more hilly climbs.)
No fender mounts(might as well make your rain bike the easiest to clean).
Track geometry.

There are plenty of road specific fgs that don't have these limitations now and may serve you purposes a bit better. If you think you want to start riding on the track soon as well the pista is probably your best bet though.

depends on the year of the pista(which predates the year of the monkey and the chicken)

ive seen some with the rear hole, and some without.

the trickiest part of converting my brain to fixed was not coasting when hopping up curbs.

depends on the year of the pista(which predates the year of the monkey and the chicken)

ive seen some with the rear hole, and some without.

since he is talking about them at his LBS in that green color I think it's safe to assume he is looking at 06 or 07s.

Thanks Gyeswho. I'munna try that right now. Cool vid.

getting on the bike, seriously, riding a fixed gear isnt hard.

getting on the bike, seriously, riding a fixed gear isnt hard.

not at 1st. fixed is very hard in the beginning cuz of transition. once you get the hang it becomes almost second nature

The hardest part about the transition is having to be called a hipster by hipsters.

Word.

http://www.mariachiaguilareal.com/images/1.jpg

^^^
for the win

not at 1st. fixed is very hard in the beginning cuz of transition. once you get the hang it becomes almost second nature


step one, get on bike

step two, ride bike, do not stop pedaling

step three, do not corner so hard

step four, resist pedals to stop

...this is not hard to me I guess as much as it is slightly awkward, but it is not "difficult"

The first time I rode it was easy, I thought it'd be a big pain to stop coasting but now I couldn't imagine coasting for no reason at all.

The 48x16 Pistas come with is a bit of a bear on hills at about 80 gear inches. I'd drop it to a 48x17 at least or switch the chainring to something like a 45/46/47 to get more skid patches near 70 inches. I tried riding the 48x16 for a week and it was murderous on hills-- I lived in Potrero Hill at the time. Other than that, they're pretty good bikes to start out with. I ended up replacing everything save the headset and frame with aftermarket parts and it's a dream to ride.

My bareknuckle should be ready to roll in a few days assuming it gets back from paint-- if you want a '06 Pista with a 36h/Pro Max wheelset, Sugino 75s, and other good stuff, send me a PM, I'll let it go for a fair price.

I have yet to find a good technical resource for assembling a fixed gear bike, I find this to be hard

I have yet to find a good technical resource for assembling a fixed gear bike, I find this to be hard
hmm, sheldonbrown, the effing search function, google, the resource thread...wtf dude

At the risk of sound like somebody's mom, since it hasn't been stated explicitly in this thread, be sure to run a front brake. You'll learn to brake with your legs, but that takes some practice, and SF is not the place to go brakeless when you start. Get comfy before deciding whether you're adventurous enough to skip the brake with those hills.

This might sound stupid, but the hardest thing I found about riding fixes was not the coasting thing - it was getting my second foot into the freaking pedal! It turns out I lock in with the left foot, push off and then COAST to get the right foot locked in. This IS NOT an option on a fixed gear, so I had to play a game of tag with the right pedal (while trying not to fall down or hit something) until I got secured. It was d@mn humiliating when I started, but I got better over time and can now ride the simplest bike out there. Realizing the stopping is different can be scary as well, but it only took me one time to figure that out.

This might sound stupid, but the hardest thing I found about riding fixes was not the coasting thing - it was getting my second foot into the freaking pedal! It turns out I lock in with the left foot, push off and then COAST to get the right foot locked in. This IS NOT an option on a fixed gear, so I had to play a game of tag with the right pedal (while trying not to fall down or hit something) until I got secured.

i had a bit of trouble with this at first, but oddly now I have more trouble locking in on a freewheel bike because I expect the pedal to be moving and have the right resistance and its all floppy

I have been riding fixed for about a month now. Maybe a dozen times so far I have forgotten about not coasting, but the bike reminds me real quick that I have to keep pedaling.
Today I started to try to coast as I went to shoot an outward snot rocket.

This might sound stupid, but the hardest thing I found about riding fixes was not the coasting thing - it was getting my second foot into the freaking pedal!

This took awhile for me to get comfortable. I find it easiest to start with my lead foot a quarter turn past 12 o'clock. Pedal rotation is predictably slow, allowing a more graceful flip of the other pedal to insert your other foot. Or, and this is my preferred way, if I'm wearing my favorite walking shoes, there's the perfect area of the tread on my shoes that meets with that little extension on the underside of the pedal; I pedal with the foot on the underside for awhile and get to a certain cadence where my foot naturally and easily just flips the pedal over, placing my shoe perfectly in the cage. It happens without a break in the cadence, and it's become instinctual.

I feel, however, that I will never master trackstands.