Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - best city in the u.s. for fixed?

i am thinking about leaving nyc next summer (probably to portland, or) and was wondering what do you think the best city for fixed is and why. here's what's good about nyc 1)lots of riders and shops 2)flat 3)its fun to ride in traffic. what's bad? 1)thieves 2)attitude/hipsters 3)its not fun to get hit by cars.

I likey boston. Flat, etc.

S.F. lots of bueatiful views, challenging hills, fun to ride in traffic and not to ride in traffic (you have a choice) Fewer thieves, still have hipsters, fewer cars then NY.


Oh yeah... lots of bike freindly routes, Zeitgeist, cool LBS', nice weather for riding (you can decided how you want to ride, cool and foggy or nice and sunny, sometimes you dont get a choice) T-mobile international once a year,

great burrritos, hmm

The greater PDX area is not all THAT hilly. For cycling in general PDX is considered a premier city.

Then again....people out on the East Coast call the Appalachians "mountains"....then they see the Rockies and the Cascades and are like "Oh....."

when i lived in chicago i didn't ride fixed, but i do miss riding my singlespeed around there. lots of cars, but it's extremely flat, has lots of great shops/bike culture, and seemed pretty unpretentious. seems like i did get in lots of shouting matches with suvs while riding from pilsen to the loop on my way to school, but i sort of chalk that up to me dealing with a lot of personal demons at the time...

and, you know, suv drivers tend to be kind of daft.

The Twin Cities aren't too hilly, nor are they too flat. Not too big, not too small. While there are thieves and hipsters, they're not too abundant. You get the opportunity to bike in all seasons, from hot summer days so thick with humidity that you can chew 'em to winters so cold your spit will freeze before it hits the ground, and everything in between.

i think the pros and cons are pretty much the same in any city, aside from weather and geography. Go somewhere for the food.

i've lived in Boston, NYC, and SF.
hands down my fave is Boston for riding.

so... many... options... to get anywhere and everywhere in Boston/Cambridge. the layout of the city is so messed up that you always have advantage over cars. public alleys. flatness. dick drivers that don't give a **** about you (as opposed to SF, if you ride in between lanes these drivers don't know what the hell to do with themselves). riding along the river. over the bridges.. etc etc etc...

i think the pros and cons are pretty much the same in any city, aside from weather and geography. Go somewhere for the food.

I take in you're not in Corvallis for the food though.....I spent 5 years in that town.....can't say I'd go back for the food. Have they even gotten an Olive Garden yet?

i just moved from portland to brooklyn a year or so ago. i would say that you pretty much have all of the "good" things you are looking for in portland, and most of the bad too. some really cool bike shops, and lots of fixie riders. at least as many hipsters, just as many thieves...drivers are much less aggressive, though. all in all it's cool. i'll be back in a few years, probably. there are a lot of people who have done the new york-portland thing, or vice-versa. it's a cool city. go to vincente's pizza and tell em jonathan sent ya.

I was a courier in boston for a few months: excellent city to ride in. I live in chicago now which is still a great biking city, but overall, not as good. The streets here are wider, the cars are bigger, and the traffic is faster. Being on a bike in boston rules because your advantage over cars is so extreme that you can fly around the city while laughing at the poor suckers stuck in traffic. In chicago you have to be more careful about not becoming roadkill.

Ive been to most large cities in the states. NYC is hands down the best for track bikes. Ive been to Boston,DC,LA,Miami . It test your skills to the "T".

S/F,
CEYA!

I'm biased of course but Chicago's nice. It's big enough that you can still get lost or see new neighbourhoods even after 6 years and yet you can get a good grip on the city. Living in the city itself is affordable and you can survive on a decent slave wage. It's a working class city.

Plus Mayor Daley is behind the biking and there's a lot of that here.

Never been to Boston so I can't compare but I don't find Chicago traffic all that bad.

I like it right here in the hub of the Universe. The city doesn't give a damn about cyclists which is unfortunate (and I'm not talking about bike lanes or sidepaths because I hate those--we're talking things like bike racks or posts) and Bicycling Magazine awarded Boston 1999's worst place to cycle title. The IFBMA also bestowed its inaugural Hall of Shame award as the worst city to mess in. Not much has changed since then.

Boston was also #6 a few years back (I don't know what it is now) for bike theft right behind NYC, Chi, MIA, SF & DC. There are hipsters. It still sucks to get hit by cars. It's also an expensive place to live, #2 behind NYC in fact. It's a pretty small city sometimes too. I love riding in NY because you can spend so much time just swallowed up in Manhattan.

However, had said all that, I'll say what everyone else has said: it's a nice compact East Coast city. The streets are so messed up that it's always fun to try and figure out how to get from A to B. If you're anywhere near downtown you're going to be able to make better time than anybody parking...err...driving. So if your thing is to tear it up in traffic, it's a great place to ride.

What you should do is buy yourself a Greyhound ticket some weekend. You can bring your bike for free, you don't even need to box it if you don't want to. Maybe some of us Bostonians could get together and ride with you or some junk.

San Francisco has the best weather of any of the more popular cities; although when it rains it really fooking rains. The funny thing is Californias turn into sugar when it's wet; instant pudding, total wussies, so if you don't mind rain you have a big advantage, and the rainy season is only 1 to 2 months long. Portland is the emerging hipster/artist/vegetarian capitalist/trendy/progressive city and there are scores of fixies, sspeeds and just bicycles on the road. There is no traffic anywhere compared to NYC, Oregon may put you to sleep. If you are riding for a living don't look to the west coast, I don't know about Seattle but most messengers don't make much compared to Chicago, Boston or NYC messengers. I don't know about Minneapolis. In SF I made 100 a day on average and that's lousy pay when rent is 500 plus bills and temps make 15 an hour under the table. Although if you dedicate 5 years to one company you are bound to make twice that a day. And Portland messengers make hourly, yeesh.

what's all this talk about hipsters and how in the world do they affect your fixed gear cycling? seriously.

gainesville is dinky and there are a lot of kids in SUVs but we also have 4 bike shops within a mile and half of each other and decent culture.

They got nothing to do with my cycling, everything to do with my loser upstairs neighbors and calling 911 at 1am because there's caustic white powder filling the front hallway and everyone claiming to know nothing about it. Except the guy who ran off drunk and high.

Oh, and the same neighbor wondering if I need all those bikes (one track frame, one road frame which shares a wheelset, and a single speed mtb) because he'd like to buy one off me. Now keep in mind I gave the guy an old Raleigh this Summer and he lost it...

Boston Trevor, i will do that. It will be cool. Just like we did with DC couriers we started going there and vice versa.

S/F,
CEYA!

Another vote for Minneapolis. Same reasons as Gilby, but she forgot to mention the Saturday Night Rides. They're enough of a reason to move out here on their own...

i gotta put in a good word for Philly. Flat, City Environment (more like a lot of small towns though), and not as dangerous as NYC. Its like NYC with half the calories!

S.F. lots of bueatiful views, challenging hills, fun to ride in traffic and not to ride in traffic (you have a choice) Fewer thieves, still have hipsters, fewer cars then NY.


Oh yeah... lots of bike freindly routes, Zeitgeist, cool LBS', nice weather for riding (you can decided how you want to ride, cool and foggy or nice and sunny, sometimes you dont get a choice) T-mobile international once a year,

great burrritos, hmm





for real, man i went to new york for a summer and damn they have a **** load of cars everywhere!!!! but man i've seen some of the most creative and magnificent fixies of all time there!!! nice place

Scranton, PA. Every other place can go to hell.

Another vote for Minneapolis. Same reasons as Gilby, but she forgot to mention the Saturday Night Rides. They're enough of a reason to move out here on their own...

Another plus for Minneapolis is that it takes nothing to ride out into the country. Chicago there is no escaping.

playing in traffic is what boston is for. i love blasting past people stuck in their metal boxes. i haven't ridden much in any other cities though, but still, boston is a good time.

I second what bostontrevor said: Boston is weird (crooked streets) and fun (heavy traffic) and relatively small and full of stuff to see. But my native New York is huge and inviting and every time you go ride you're bound to see something new and wild and there's always another place or route or who-knows-what to discover.

scratch up another vote for philly. it's flat... massive land area... (although most of it is dangerous)... traffic is pretty savvy about bikes... lots of courier companies... and if bike lanes are your thing, we got em.

Savannah, Georgia: Very Flat, nice downtown area, low theft, a small fixed gear 'scene', not many busy intersections...mostly squares (aka round abouts). i really like it here.

wouldnt that be a 'square about'?

Personally, love philapa.

i gotta put in a good word for Philly. Flat, City Environment (more like a lot of small towns though), and not as dangerous as NYC. Its like NYC with half the calories!

half the calories until you eat your first cheesesteak.

has anybody seen that commercial (I think it is for an airline) about philly where this jacka*s says "It's like a baby NY!"

oh yeah, and I am sorry but SF burritos have the edge on philly cheesesteaks. If you want some good burritos in boston go to el pelon.

has anybody seen that commercial (I think it is for an airline) about philly where this jacka*s says "It's like a baby NY!"

that's funny!

i was in the park one day and this dude was like "this town is like a smaller, ****** new york"

i actually got offended.

i was in the park one day and this dude was like "this town is like a smaller, ****** new york"

i actually got offended.

I guess one draw back of SF, is that it is only 7x7 (49square miles) and 150 plus hills.

you can cover the entire city and then some in a day. But the greater bay area has lots to offer too.

i have not been yet so i dont really know the scene. but a friend of mine is wanting me to visit denver. he and his wife bike all over the downtown area, and when they feel adventurous they can attack the mountains surrounding. sounds really ideal to me: 1) flat urban area 2) metropolitan in feel 3)average age is late twenties
4)music 5)mountains on call to make me puke...

Pelon is where it's at (they're veggie too) and Boston is a fun place to ride. Just don't going flying down newbury because you're likely to get burberry fabric stuck in your spokes. I run over socialites for business and pleasure.

i've lived in Boston, NYC, and SF.
(as opposed to SF, if you ride in between lanes these drivers don't know what the hell to do with themselves)

nothing wrong with a little authority

I live in Portland and I think its a great place to ride a track bike or any kind of bike. Most drivers are not aggresive, when they see bikes they just kinda take there foot off the pedal and slowly brake. The hills arn't bad, in fact they are good! Even if your in NW portland with a fairly high gear ratio; it just makes it more fun going up and down the hills. SE portland is a blast, and really fun to ride out to Milwaukie or Oregon City (go down SE 18th and get on River Road). NE and N isn't that cool cuz lots of people who wear gold necklesses and drive SUV's like to throw glass on the road.
Just my opinion, anways.
Happy Spinning.

-Brady

p.s.
Skyline is ****ing hardcore and one of my favorite places to ride even on a fixie! Though i have had to take my feet out of the pedals and pray because the hills are STEEP! Don't be stupid like me, put a front brake on!

i was in the park one day and this dude was like "this town is like a smaller, ****** new york"

i actually got offended.

you should get offended. philly is actually the OG nyc. if I am not mistaken it was the capital 1st.

Actually NYC was capitol from the first year and then Philly the next ten years. It then relocated to DC in 1800.

Yeah Portland.

Where else can you go to every bike shop and find a fixed part? Where else can be considered the "Most Cycle-Friendly City" in the U.S.?

Where else can one drink a different microbrew from a different brewery every day of the week, and have them all be good? Where is it flat-ish, mild climated, bike lanes galore, there are bike-aware drivers, Bohemian culture, fantabulous coffee, a handful of small framebuilders (and some big ones too), a dozen small theatres with $2 & $3 movies, 10 different, excellent shows playing every night, big city amenities with small town friendliness, great eating, good public transportation, good bike laws and legal provisions, sh!tty critical mass, the worlds largest book store, the ocean just under two hours away, the mountains less than an hour away, and the list goes on.....

But seriously, I love this town. There is a bit of "sceney" ness amongst the hipsters, but fixed culture is strong as well as bike culture in general. We have Chunk 666 the chopper bike gang, the Zoo Bombers (imagine 30+ adults on children's 12" bicycles flying down 5-10% grades, then taking the bus back up the hill and doing it all night long!) A ton of cycle commuters, places to lock your bike, and general bike friendliness.

I have turned down several jobs, some paying twice my current rate, because I love living here. Taxes can be high, unemployment currently is also, and it rains, but those are minor IMO.

Move to Bremerton, er Portland.

-Pete

biking in portland was pretty sweet. we drove down last weekend, parked downtown, and rode around all day (mostly west of the river). much flatter than seattle! hit up powells, checked out the saturday market, and ate some good food. a great day.

i think portland gets my vote, too. i like seattle, but the hills discourage some people (at least from going brakeless).



Yeah Portland.

Where else can you go to every bike shop and find a fixed part? Where else can be considered the "Most Cycle-Friendly City" in the U.S.?

Where else can one drink a different microbrew from a different brewery every day of the week, and have them all be good? Where is it flat-ish, mild climated, bike lanes galore, there are bike-aware drivers, Bohemian culture, fantabulous coffee, a handful of small framebuilders (and some big ones too), a dozen small theatres with $2 & $3 movies, 10 different, excellent shows playing every night, big city amenities with small town friendliness, great eating, good public transportation, good bike laws and legal provisions, sh!tty critical mass, the worlds largest book store, the ocean just under two hours away, the mountains less than an hour away, and the list goes on.....

But seriously, I love this town. There is a bit of "sceney" ness amongst the hipsters, but fixed culture is strong as well as bike culture in general. We have Chunk 666 the chopper bike gang, the Zoo Bombers (imagine 30+ adults on children's 12" bicycles flying down 5-10% grades, then taking the bus back up the hill and doing it all night long!) A ton of cycle commuters, places to lock your bike, and general bike friendliness.

I have turned down several jobs, some paying twice my current rate, because I love living here. Taxes can be high, unemployment currently is also, and it rains, but those are minor IMO.

Move to Bremerton, er Portland.

-Pete

i have not been yet so i dont really know the scene. but a friend of mine is wanting me to visit denver. he and his wife bike all over the downtown area, and when they feel adventurous they can attack the mountains surrounding. sounds really ideal to me: 1) flat urban area 2) metropolitan in feel 3)average age is late twenties
4)music 5)mountains on call to make me puke...

Yes, Denver - the East side specifically - strikes me as good fixie territory. Very flat, with an old-school street grid that allows you to get away from the traffic without a distance penalty. Urban, yet not too much decay or poverty. Funky urban type people live in the pretty Capitol Hill, Congress Park, Park Hill, etc neighborhoods. (Or Highland Park(?) NW of downtown) Decent public transportation. Very dry predictable bicycle-friendly weather. Most importantly there are some decent coffee shops scattered around. Most of Lakewood/Arvada/Denver/Boulder/Aurora is crap suburban trash, but the East side from Capitol Hill through Park Hill and down to DU is a nice oasis amid the suburban wasteland, and for the most part you can forget the outskirts of the metro area even exist.

Can't forget the tremendous abundance of strip bars in the Portland area, throw a rock, you've hit one.

Any East-coasters here know anything about Hartford, CT?

My in-laws live south of there and I've only seen it from the highway. Hows the riding there? Any fixie "scene"? (I'm heading there for Xmas so I was just wondering since it's a big city but not a mega-city like Boston).

Hartford, CT. is in bad shape. It used to be a booming city full of insurance companies (no joke), but now most people have moved out to the suburbs, although there are still a few nice parts of Hartford. Some areas of the downtown are completely deserted; empty factories and shady ass crack den abandoned houses. Its a shame, was once a really cool city. I don't know much about a fixie scene, but I doubt that there would be many people riding fixed, although you never know..

Los Angeles. There aren't many of us. Tons of mountain bikers and roadies, but not many fixed, to be honest the only other fixed rider I've seen is vomitron, and well he lives fifteen feet from me in the other room. LA is hilly as **** though, sometimes I want to cry...but its good excercise.

I thought I was going to be the first to say Los Angeles. My only gripe is that I live on top of a pretty big hill, so every ride ends with an uphill battle.

...a friend of mine is wanting me to visit denver. he and his wife bike all over the downtown area, and when they feel adventurous they can attack the mountains surrounding. sounds really ideal to me:
1) flat urban area
2) metropolitan in feel
3)average age is late twenties
4)music
5)mountains on call to make me puke....



Yes, Denver - the East side specifically - strikes me as good fixie territory. Very flat, with an old-school street grid that allows you to get away from the traffic without a distance penalty. Urban, yet not too much decay or poverty. Funky urban type people live in the pretty Capitol Hill, Congress Park, Park Hill, etc neighborhoods. (Or Highland Park(?) NW of downtown) Decent public transportation. Very dry predictable bicycle-friendly weather. Most importantly there are some decent coffee shops scattered around. Most of Lakewood/Arvada/Denver/Boulder/Aurora is crap suburban trash, but the East side from Capitol Hill through Park Hill and down to DU is a nice oasis amid the suburban wasteland, and for the most part you can forget the outskirts of the metro area even exist.


I'll put a good word in for Denver. Both of the above assessments are pretty much right on, plus I would add that there are a lot of bike paths to take you way out of the urban core if that's your thing, and there's the velodrome in Co. Springs which I plan on taking some spins around this spring with Isotopesope. And there is a large community of urban riders, in addition to the spandex monkeys and MTBers you'd expect.

Here's the icing: I'm paying less than 500/mo for a large 1 bedroom in a nice 1920s apartment building two blocks from the state capitol and Denver's "Cultural Campus" of museums, etc, on the edge of downtown. My job, grocery, cafes, bars, etc are all within a 20 minute ride. Yeah, Denver: half the city of SF or Chi at a third of the price.

Actually NYC was capitol from the first year and then Philly the next ten years. It then relocated to DC in 1800.

Thanks Trevor. Since you seem like a history buff, can you answer this unbiased. I always got into arguments with my boston friends about which was the real birthplace of america. Boston or Philly? It probably was Boston though. Boston put in real work, where as philly was just were the ceremonial thinks happened for the most part.