Winnershcyclist

Am glad to hear the pills are working I am just googly eyed in love the relationship involves buttock touching but otherwise platonic

TejanoTrackie 

Welcome to this thread. The age limit is infinity here, and there are many much older than you. I'm 67, and am just beginning to really enjoy life. Just please at least keep your front brake if and when you decide to try riding fixed. Also, the straps are there to retain your feet on the pedals when you ride fixed.

bowzette

Like TrjanoTrackie I'm 67. Started riding fixed gear last October. Rode 90 miles Sat-my riding buddies think i'm crazy, can't understand why!

Winnershcyclist

That's good to hear hope I am the same when I get older and wiser. I will keep the brakes and maybe even the freewheel don't fancy being in traffic I am known to forget that I have clips less when on my road bikes

postprimepedal 

I started riding fixed at 58, nine years ago. I thought it would be fun for flat rides. Each year since, I have added climbs I didn't think I'd be able to do. Did two century rides this year including one with a hefty climb. Enjoy the challenge and the pleasure of being "one" with the bike.

NedClive

[QUOTE= am going to use the brakes for now but will look to removing[/QUOTE]
Please don't! (unless you're just using it for a track bike). Gear trains (and knees) have not evolved to provide emergency braking and you'll just end up dead or injured. I've got two brakes on my BJ FG and use them both, especially down swooping hills in Norfolk. Keep the brakes and just have fun!
If you don't believe me about the brakes read Sheldon Brown!
Good luck and welcome

europa

If you want to be convinced about brakeless vs brakes, learn how to skid stop, then do a full on emergency stop with both and compare the stopping distances. Consider that 6" is the difference between having an accident and a miss (it's actually less but what the heck). If you're not convinced brakes are a good idea, there's no sense trying to convince you otherwise.

And as similarly other worriers have pointed out, you don't actually have to use your brakes ... not in normal riding anyway. I've found that tired legs and downhill runs are natural enemies.

Winnershcyclist

thats fantastic I did 34 miles 2 days after i got it and havent even thought about centurys or major hills but am getting confident to do soon

Revracer

I am new to the fixed gear crowd at a young 46, but it sure sounded like fun so I took a Miyata 110 I had picked up and installed a fixed/freewheel wheel in the rear, shortened the chain and took of the shifters and derailleurs. I decided to run 42/16 with 3/32" gear/chain because I thought it would work with the rolling hills terrain in Eastern PA. I have logged about 60 miles thus far and commuted twice. I might not be a purist as I have brakes and SPD pedals, but they are keepers for me in this terrain. I need to get the shorter chain ring bolts (or washers) and get rid of the large ring. I should also look at re-spacing the rear wheel just a bit to get the rear brake in better alignment, but the chain line seems good (within 1mm) so I can live with the seldom used rear brake alignment.

Here is a photo from this morning's ride. Reflectors may go. Although I have liked having the "safety" levers while learning this new ride, I don't see much value in the drops just yet and I hope to replace the bar with a wider model and brake levers with hoods.



Awesome weather here this week with temps in mid 40F range for the AM and 60F+ in the afternoon. Fall color is starting which is an added bonus.

mattface 

I'm 42 and I'm here. Not sure if I have any age related issues relating to fixed gear riding. I guess I'm in better shape now than I was when I started riding fixed oh maybe 6 or 8 years ago... I forget now, I'm old. ;-) Rode a 50 mile charity ride on my fixed gear this summer as the founder and captain of Team Bacon. Named for our weekly training ride to Nutty Steph's for Bacon Thursday. I used to post on this board a lot, but have been riding my bike and focusing on other projects and interests lately, so I haven't been around here much. My fixed winter bike project brought me back.


Looking at this picture I realize I am actually the oldest member of Team bacon, but I only beat Jenny out by about a year.

*edit wait David might be older than me. I don't know. He has more grey in his beard.

europa

Good start. I started the same as you, just took the junk off my Europa and went from there. It took about three years to get her 'fully' converted. Just do things as you like/want/afford.

While taking off the big ring does clean things up, some people grind the teeth off (a dud) and turn it into a chain guard.

Even if you don't use your drop bars very often, they are your head wind gear - cop a head wind and just go onto the drops (worth a gear or two on a geared bike).

Let the old girl evolve as she wishes. There's nothing 'purist' about having brakes, it's just stoopid and to be honest, I still like having a rear brake as well, just gives you more options for subtle control of your bike.
The reflectors on the other hand

Revracer

Europa, regarding, "The reflectors on the other hand", I agree for some reason this bike came so original, I had left them on. It is tweaked enough, time for more mods. Bar tape has to go but that will stay with the bars to get stored.

i am starting to miss bombing down hills at 40mph though, may be time to balance with a freewheel ride.

NedClive

Ok.....guess how many bruises and scuffs my wife got after grounding her pedal on a corner. She had just overtaken a guy on a geared bike and didn't want to let the side down!!! The Dawes came off relatively unscathed apart from a nice buckle on the rear wheel.

TejanoTrackie 

Ouch ! Was she riding fixed or freewheel ? If it's fixed, those are the perils of riding a road frame with a low bottom bracket, longer crank arms and wider pedals. All of my fixed gear bikes are now based on track frames with high BBs and short 165mm cranks.

NedClive

She was riding a single speed freewheel and couldn't remember pedalling through the bend but we suspect she must have been as she heard an almighty clunk from the pedal and then hitting the tarmac. 20 bruises and abrasions but luckily no fractures. I'm hoping she stops being so fixated on keeping average speeds high! Thanks for the sympathy!!!
I must admit to never having had a problem with cornering with my fg, but then my averages are lower!

orangeology

turning into 42 in a few days, and this is what i commute on everyday, recently.
addiction started from 10 spd roadies as a usual suspect path, gotta love simplicity of this SS.
not that i lost interest in geard roadies, the number of bikes i possess will just stack up.

carleton

I'm 40 now.

That is all.

Carry on.

europa

Scrod AND Carleton, we're going to have to lift the age limit.

rustystrings61 

I'm 52 now; I got my first dropped-bar bike in 1973 and I started riding fixed in 1997. I've had a bunch of conversions through the years, but my all-time favorite ever is this Mercian Vincitore. When I ordered it in 2002, I was thinking about long-distance rides, everything from day trips to centuries to brevets. I rode MS-150 and several metrics on this bike, and I had a 90-mile day a few years back - if I can ever get back in shape I still want to ride a full century on it. It's also my daily commuter - hence the capacious Carradice Nelson fitted year-round. The Surly/SunTour/MA2 wheels I built up for the bike continue to work nicely, though lots of the other parts have been swapped out to the current configuration. The shellacked cotton handlebar tape is original, but now on its second set of bars after the bike fell over and bent one side in. I think I'll see how long I can keep this particular bit of wab-sabi going ...


My ride buddy Ainsley (another fixed-gear-over-40 guy) and I have a network of narrow backwoods macadam, hard-packed clay and gravel fire roads to pick from down here in South Carolina, where the rolling terrain is great for running the canonical 42x16. We keep threatening to develop a special "One Hundred the Hard Way" ride for fixed and ss featuring the better back of beyond roads in the area.

carleton

Hahaha!

Winnershcyclist

Hi heres an update as you might or might know I got a Fixie last month https://c8bycreate.com/, It has 44T front and 16T 2:7 ratio rear cogs.
I have just paid a deposit on a Cooper Spa purely because its so beautifull https://www.cooperbikes.com/bikes/1/Spa this has a 42T front chainring and 16T rear a 2:6 ratio.
Surely this is going to be slower than my cheapie isnt it what do you all think ?
At present its pretty flat riding but the aim is to ride to Paris which will have inclines .
I also find that sometimes I can pedal faster than the gears can cope I am only using SS for now

dannoh

Nice to see a Mercian. 55 and been riding fixed for only 3 years. Mercian fan my self, have a Vigorelli that is my favorite ride.

europa

Those Coopers are pretty aren't they.
Gearing is so darned personal. I'm not sure what you mean with your comment about pedaling faster than the gears but shifting to fixed will connect you with your bike and so many things will become obvious, one of which being that gears teach you to be mentally as well as physically lazy.

rustystrings61 

My main riding partner in SC also has a Mercian fixed-gear, based on the King of Mercia but with cranked stays and cantilevers to accomodate fatter tires. He runs 39 and 44T rings up front and flips the rear wheel as it pleases him, and has been known to ride his on single-track, fixed.

The oldest Mercian I have ever laid hands on was this one <https://classicrendezvous.com/British...mp_Mercian.htm>, a 1950 Vigorelli owned by an ancient Englishman who brought it to the 2006 Cirque du Cyclisme back when they held it in Greensboro, NC. It was in hardcore vintage display form, complete with steel 27-in rims, a single GB sidepull, Brooks Swallow saddle, etc. My memory is that he also had the sprint carriers for the bike, the setup where you strapped your sewup wheels to your bars and a fitting attached to your forks so that you could ride your everyday wheels to the race, switch out parts as needed, race, then put it back together for the ride home.

dangorange

41 here, been riding fixed for the last month and loving it, my first single speed since I was a kid! My band is playing a gig tomorrow so I brought my rig home from the practice space and had to take this picture. I swear I didn't consciously pick this color scheme for my new bike.....