Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - track bikes on street, new york.

Hi BFers, I was wondering :

Did the whole 'riding track bikes on the street' thing start in New York City?

If so, when?

and when did it start getting popular?

If so, when?

and when did it start getting popular?

Some people will tell you it did. Riding fixed gear bikes on the street has been around
since there were bikes. Riding track bikes on the street. . .I've heard rumors
that it did start in NYC. Can't verify.

Why would anyone be stupid enough to ride a track bike on the street? I dont beleve you. Nobody would ever do that.

Messengers in Toronto have been using them for ages, therefore I have deduced that it must have started here. Last April.

The story I've heard:

Some people always rode fixed on the street.

Many people rode them in Jamaica and other islands in the area for various reasons (track racing, broken freewheel, inavailability of freewheels...)

Jamaicans and other islanders immigrate to NYC and other major cities, bringing the bikes with them.

These people added to the origonal group and generally took riding fixed from an elite roadie crowd to more of a general, just riding around crowd.

After a while, messengers started picking up on their simpliciy, cheapness and overall coolnes.

Messengers talk to each other, fixies start to spread more quickly. (by now we're in the early 80's I think)

Quickilver blah blah blah alleycats, CMWC, Monster Track... today we have attained worldwide domination.

I think NYC was a hub just because it was so big and if only .003% of a population rides fixed, there's still going to be more in NYC than anywhere else.

I have heard arguments that Japan had it's own street fix culture as far back as the 70's due to availability of used Keirin frames, but I don't know much about it. Ask Tommity.

Chances are, everything above is wrong.

But thinking about it now, it would be interesting to see a study correlating the spread of the fixie with the spread of ska.

But thinking about it now, it would be interesting to see a study correlating the spread of the fixie with the spread of ska.

Oooh, I can just picture some early mod/ska kids riding around london on fixies when their lambrettas didn't work.

Oooh, I can just picture some early mod/ska kids riding around london on fixies when their lambrettas didn't work.

So most of the time then?

Who Cares

I care.

I was thinking about it the other day, and if this whole thing DID start in New York, then I see the resemblance with Hip Hop : It started in New York, and gradually spread to other cities like SF and LA.

Couriers riding track bikes on the street indeed seems to have started in NY.

Obviously there was always individuals doing it on their own, too.

Old School Track website (http://www.oldskooltrack.com/) seems to the where lot of these stories about Jamaican and West Indies immmigrants to NYC riding fixed bikes are originating. I also remember reading something somewhere about a group of guys from Queens riding track bikes on the streets very early on but like Andre said above, probably there were always some guys somewhere who were racing on the track but rode their bikes on the street as well.

And roadies training with fixed gear bikes during the winter seems to be pretty old and known thing too.

Couple of months ago I was coming to work at Uni and locking up my track bike outside the building and this older professor, who's about 60 or something, comes out and checks out my bike and is like, "oh, you got a track bike, nice. I used to train on those too when I was into road cycling in 1970s...".

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n276/squidly_01/1896photo.jpg
1896 30th St. at Broadway

photo bt Alice Austen

Nice Spats

Hipsters...circa 1896....it's be around for a while

Hi BFers, I was wondering :

Did the whole 'riding track bikes on the street' thing start in New York City?

messengers have been using FG bikes in NYC for at least 20 years (at least that's when I first noticed them).

messengers have been using FG bikes in NYC for at least 20 years (at least that's when I first noticed them).

So, 2007 - 20 = 1987

Like one year after Quicksilver hit the silver screen in 1986? Kevin Bacon was so rad. :mad:

an interview with Fast Eddie Williams supports the "track bikes in NYC started with immigrants from the islands" theory.

http://www.thebrooklynrail.org/archives/nov05/STREETS/bikemessengers.html

Oooh, I can just picture some early mod/ska kids riding around london on fixies when their lambrettas didn't work.

rude boys all cruising from venue to venue in a pack of party crashing goodness.

http://xraymusic.co.uk/pictures/toots/Comp/dance_crasher.jpg

http://xraymusic.co.uk/pictures/toots/Comp/dance_crasher.jpg

Hey, I had that compilation copied to a tape and listened to it on my Walkman until it the flexed to ****. Aaah!

seems to the where lot of these stories about Jamaican and West Indies immmigrants to NYC riding fixed bikes are originating.

So if those guys brought it to NYC then it started where they came from, not NYC.
Ive heard about the 70s track bike street riders in Tokyo too so thats worth looking into. Keirin has been huge in Japan since the late 1940s so its highly likely there were riders on the street. If nothing else inspired by the racers training on their race bikes on the street or racers themselves riding around T-town.

Seems it either came out of Jamaican and West Indies or Tokyo or both.

Hipsters...circa 1896....it's be around for a while

is there a high res pic of this anywhere, thats pretty bad ass

go to the old photos redux post em if you got em thread

Hipsters...circa 1896....it's be around for a whileI could see hipsters dressing like that today.

Hi BFers, I was wondering :

Did the whole 'riding track bikes on the street' thing start in New York City?

For the most part yes, among messengers definitely. As some other folks have stated it was started by west indians. A lot of messengers were, and are west indian, though I've heard it was more from T&T than Jamaica. The white messengers picked up on it in the late 80s somewhat, but much more in the early to mid nineties.

I was under the impression that the bike messengers rode track bikes because there are virtually no parts to steal from the bike.

Riding a fixed in traffic is much less annoying than having to deal with a freewheel.

I care.

I was thinking about it the other day, and if this whole thing DID start in New York, then I see the resemblance with Hip Hop : It started in New York, and gradually spread to other cities like SF and LA.


It's close. The first, or at least the first recognized graffiti writer in ny was a messenger(though I think he was a walker). There's mention of riding fixed in old BDP stuff. Futura 2000 rode a track bike. Etc...

There's mention of riding fixed in old BDP stuff.

Which song?

I care.

I was thinking about it the other day, and if this whole thing DID start in New York, then I see the resemblance with Hip Hop : It started in New York, and gradually spread to other cities like SF and LA.

And it didn't hit SF until the CMWC there(in '95 or '96, i'm getting old...), when the NY crew came out. I don't know about LA but imagine it was sometime after SF.

an interview with Fast Eddie Williams supports the "track bikes in NYC started with immigrants from the islands" theory.

http://www.thebrooklynrail.org/archives/nov05/STREETS/bikemessengers.html


I love that Eddie is being used as a reference... That said, his Frejus definitely had an impact on my own love of track bikes.

messengers have been using FG bikes in NYC for at least 20 years (at least that's when I first noticed them).

I was going to HS in Manhattan in 1970 and they were riding them then.

Which song?

"the p is free" from criminal minded.

So if those guys brought it to NYC then it started where they came from, not NYC.
Ive heard about the 70s track bike street riders in Tokyo too so thats worth looking into. Keirin has been huge in Japan since the late 1940s so its highly likely there were riders on the street. If nothing else inspired by the racers training on their race bikes on the street or racers themselves riding around T-town.

Seems it either came out of Jamaican and West Indies or Tokyo or both.

Why the chip on your shoulder about the city? Track racing has been big in NY since the turn of the century. The original Madison Square Garden was built for it. One of my favorite things while riding a track in the city back in the day was the old ass guys that would flag me down and tell me about their ****.

It's not exactly a huge logical leap to ride a track bike on the street. I'm sure 1,000 people did it independently at different times.

Why the chip on your shoulder about the city? Track racing has been big in NY since the turn of the century. The original Madison Square Garden was built for it. One of my favorite things while riding a track in the city back in the day was the old ass guys that would flag me down and tell me about their ****.

I have no chip.
Track racing in NY is and was never like Japan.

Just saying it seems to be a fact that riding track bikes on the street didnt start in NYC...so we can move forward from there. Messengers riding them...maybe so. But that's irrelevant because that wasnt what the OP was interested in anyway. Me neither. The messenger thing is OT in here.

Riding a fixed in traffic is much less annoying than having to deal with a freewheel.Huh? You mean coasting once in a while? I rode a single sped mtb for years before I got my first fixie, and when I rode through traffic to the trails it was never an issue.

My neighbors father rode 100+ miles a week on a fixed gear bike in the San Jose California area and in Mexico until the day he died. This guy went strong into his late seventies (started riding fixed on the street and track in the 1940's) and he had a old guy fixed gear crew too. He was one of the people instrumental in having hellyer velodrome built.

My point is this, people have been riding fixed gear bikes on the street all over the world as long as fixed gear bikes have been around, especially anywhere there is a track. New York gets so much hype over it because as usual they are the loudest, proudest, and most aggressive. New York also has a huge population which means they have more fixed riders but not necessarily more fixed riders per capita compared to other places. I'm not hating on New York or its riders. I'm just saying that fixed riding on the street has been around way longer than the New York fixed fad.

"the p is free" from criminal minded.

Wow! I can't believe I never noticed that.

And it didn't hit SF until the CMWC there(in '95 or '96, i'm getting old...), when the NY crew came out. I don't know about LA but imagine it was sometime after SF.

This is crazy talk. I was wrenching in SF from '90 - '94, and my shop was building fixed wheels for sale by '92. I built my first one in '91 or so, when erik zo showed up at the shop with a bunch of hubs.

Sure, maybe NYC was deeper into track bikes, and maybe y'all had the majority while our dudes were still riding mtbs with slicks, but fixed gears were around as far as I can remember.

"I first met Erik at the 1993 Cycle Messenger Championships in Berlin. I was riding a fixed-wheel, and so was Erik. There were less than 10 people out of 350 on fixies at the CMC, and Erik reckons that they are all in this pic." http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/messenger-heroes-number-5-erik-zo

So most of the time then?

Haha... I ride my Lambretta when I don't want to look like I'm going to work.

I'm from SF, and I was born in 1959,...I can remember messengers (or at least one) on fixed gear bikes in SF as early as the seventies. I remember I would go to work sometimes with my mom downtown when I was a kid (she worked for an ad agency) and I remember one bike courier's bike was a fixed gear bike, and when I asked him about it he called it his "circus bike" because he could do tricks on it, like in the circus.

you remember weird **** when your 12

It's close. The first, or at least the first recognized graffiti writer in ny was a messenger(though I think he was a walker). There's mention of riding fixed in old BDP stuff. Futura 2000 rode a track bike. Etc...

Taki 183 was a foot messenger. Though he was the first graffiti writer to gain real publicity (but not necessarily the first to do it in NY).

"Ridin one day on my freestyle fix
Jammin to a tape scott larock had mixed
I said to myself this tape sound funky
Ridin past the 116th street junkie"

BDP: "The P Is Free"

I met a fiftyish guy in Vancouver BC Canada who used to ride a brakeless track bike around Vancouver in the 70s. He picked up the habit from his dad, an Englishman. Which leads me to speculate: The English have historically been into track riding; and more significantly, choosing fg over derailers for winter training, time trialing, and general ****ing about on the road; and they certainly would have spread some of this interest around the Commonwealth.

This is crazy talk. I was wrenching in SF from '90 - '94, and my shop was building fixed wheels for sale by '92. I built my first one in '91 or so, when erik zo showed up at the shop with a bunch of hubs.

Sure, maybe NYC was deeper into track bikes, and maybe y'all had the majority while our dudes were still riding mtbs with slicks, but fixed gears were around as far as I can remember.

"I first met Erik at the 1993 Cycle Messenger Championships in Berlin. I was riding a fixed-wheel, and so was Erik. There were less than 10 people out of 350 on fixies at the CMC, and Erik reckons that they are all in this pic." http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/messenger-heroes-number-5-erik-zo

Ok, my bad, I stand corrected... Just going on what I'd seen and heard. I visited SF for a week or so in 97 and hung out with a bunch of messengers(including Erik Zo) downtown and at zeitgeist and so on and the only fixed gear messenger I saw was an ex NY kid who'd stayed after the worlds. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the worlds in SF but from what I'd heard the east coast kids(NY, as well as Boston and DC) were basically laughed at for their track bikes. Maybe this wasn't the case... Hawkwheels, were you out there? I know your brother was...

So if those guys brought it to NYC then it started where they came from, not NYC.
Ive heard about the 70s track bike street riders in Tokyo too so thats worth looking into. Keirin has been huge in Japan since the late 1940s so its highly likely there were riders on the street. If nothing else inspired by the racers training on their race bikes on the street or racers themselves riding around T-town.

Seems it either came out of Jamaican and West Indies or Tokyo or both.

no, because see, things don't count as being 'started' until america, and specifically new york, does it. then the trend has officially started, and everyone else is a biter.

Oh, yeah.
I forgot we were talking about NYC.

Ok, my bad, I stand corrected... Just going on what I'd seen and heard. I visited SF for a week or so in 97 and hung out with a bunch of messengers(including Erik Zo) downtown and at zeitgeist and so on and the only fixed gear messenger I saw was an ex NY kid who'd stayed after the worlds. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the worlds in SF but from what I'd heard the east coast kids(NY, as well as Boston and DC) were basically laughed at for their track bikes. Maybe this wasn't the case... Hawkwheels, were you out there? I know your brother was...

I was at the San Francisco CMWC in 97, there was a fix gear only alleycat and the sprints winner was on a fix.

My first messenger worlds was Toronto 95 and there were a lot of fix gears, mostly east coast but some from pretty much everywhere.

I think the CMWC which started in Berlin 93 is one of the reasons why track bikes on the street are common today.

Haha... I ride my Lambretta when I don't want to look like I'm going to work.

...or if you don't really want to get there? ;)