kbarch

51, and picked up first SS/FG bike a couple of weeks ago.

So, I see recent comments about how 30's+ isn't too late to start riding track. Maybe it was mentioned before (I skipped over most of the middle of this thread), but what about learning to do tricks like riding backwards then flipping around, or hopping off the back? Should probably learn to do track stands first....

habilis

Can't say I've managed a real track stand yet, but I see it in my near future. Let's say I'm creeping up behind a car that's about to make a turn. Rather than stop and put my foot down, I go r-e-a-l slow and wait for the car to move. I'm still rolling but just barely. Someday soon it'll be a track stand. The other stuff (riding backwards, for example) doesn't really appeal to me. What I DO want to learn is using my toe-clips. Haven't gotten up the nerve yet, since I usually ride in traffic. Also, I would need to add flip-tabs to my pedals. (I always use the clips on my geared bike.)

Bandera

Proper foot retention is critical for riding FG on the road.
Having the pedals get away from you in a Cuisinart of uncontrolled pain is probably not what you want.

Before setting off get your dominant foot in the clips and tighten the toe strap on that side, that will be the side to always start with.
It will take a few miles but getting the off foot in the clips will be 2nd nature, that's foot you set down at stops as necessary.
Both straps need to be firmly applied when out of traffic.
The ease and positive retention of clipless pedals have largely replaced fiddling about with toeclips/straps for experienced FG road riders.

-Bandera

habilis

The wisdom of this advice is inarguable. I'll be looking at clipless systems real soon.

IAmSam

The exact gearing that I run, until now never met anyone else using it...

Don't take going to bigger gear inches as any big accomplishment - remember...spin to win

TenSpeedV2

I cannot agree more with it.

habilis

I experienced a mild cuisinart episode early on. Nothing too serious, but it reminded me of the old Cheech & Chong joke - Q: What's red and green and goes 90 mph? A: A frog in a blender.

TimothyH

51 year old here. Lived on Long Island for 44 of those and now in Kennesaw Georgia. Rode geared road bikes for decades.

Hopefully going to the LBS tomorrow to see about ordering my first FG/SS. Just felt like saying that.


-Tim-

jlafitte 

^ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of Heaven.

bmwjoe

Tim,

Good luck on your quest. I am sure you will like 1-Speed.

Ride Safe,

Joe

TimothyH

I bought a Bianchi Pista today. I can feel my quads getting bigger already.

This is going to be either a watershed moment or a spectacular disaster. Stay tuned...


-Tim-

Noli Timere

Wow. 44 years on L.I. to Georgia has got to be quite the adjustment.

(My wife is from Massapequa Park)

prooftheory

I'm in.

corwin1968

47 years old and Friday I built up a single-speed Karate Monkey. I weigh 400 lbs so I chose gearing (36:18) that would allow me to climb the small hills on my normal rides around the subdivision. If I ever decide to actually ride to a destination, I'm sure I'll regret that gearing choice.

catgita

Just shy of 50 and T-2 months or so till my first single speed since my BMX racing days as a kid. I am converting my old 700c rando bike to a town SS, stripping it down to the essentials. Love my new full featured 650b rando bike, but want something minimal that I don't have to change clothes or shoes to ride. It won't be pretty. Parts are mostly on order.

Mambo Dave

45 year old here.

Bought my first fixed gear about two weeks ago, and the enthusiasm for having a new bike has me out there sort of regularly.

I ride it for exercise in Florida, and in the back of my mind sort of wonder if I'm going into it too slowly - I haven't been on any of my bikes in years though, and only recently got into walking a 4.5 mile loop a few times a week.

The first two fixed-gear runs around the loop were ~3.5 miles (flat tire), then 4.5 miles the next day, then about three ten-milers, and then a 15-mile ride yesterday. This is all on the 46 / 16 tooth drive-train, and my legs have been feeling awkward (a more unusual post-workout weakness/slow-to-react-time) all day.

For the most part I'm spinning and can keep it in a good range, but we've had a couple of days with moderate wind that, riding a loop, eventually I had to contend with each time. That into-the-wind wasn't quite spinning at all. Still, I am having trouble imagining the slower speeds of gearing it lower just to account for wind that may or may not be there on a given day. I would rather push it to get stronger in the gearing I have, then just stick with it.

I'll probably back off back down to two to three 9 mile rides each week and maybe do a 13.5-mile (3 loops) once every two weeks as further training. The loop itself is actually more like three sides of a square, so 90-degree corners that cause a slow-down then spin back up, plus some extra turns through another section.



I know this goes against all the advice, but I've felt so planted and relaxed in cross-country running shoes and these huge wonking aluminum pedals (with dowels or spikes in them) that I'm just not feeling the desire to go with straps, nor to put my LOOK road pedals on it and be forced to have to use my roadie shoes. Nothing against roadie shoes for my road bike, but I like the ability to walk normally if the fixie breaks, flats, or if something else is going on. In fact, the airport ride is right next to a questionable area where we absolutely have questionable people who use it as a sidewalk to get places - or just some homeless to sit/stand/sleep/walk-with-one-shoe/etc. - so the safety advantage of flat pedals and shoes I can kick ass (or run away) in are the right choice. Too, this county has the highest number of Flakka incidents and users, so it's basically a random zombie-land at times (my buddy had his face messed up by a flakka user, posted it on facebook in the morning... and it just so happened that that evening I had a 99% naked guy in my back yard who the police said was probably on it after I described the incident).

Anyway... fixed gear riding in south Florida: it isn't only about the bikes.

IAmSam

Pompano airport loop, hmmm?

Ft Laudy here (and not all that far from qualifying for the other age thread, but that's another story) so done that one a few times myself. I primarily ride up and down A1A and yeah, headwinds can be brutal. Where else do you get to ride into the wind heading both directions on the same ride?

If you need help with your bike or an occasional ride companion - feel free to contact me.

Ride safe...

Mambo Dave

Thank you, but I never seem to know when I'm going to have the time to ride.

A1A is hilarious/arduous sometimes, but I've only ever ridden it with the geared road bike. Trying to make a good distance on it either into the sea breeze or, worse, into the sea breeze on the way back with a fixie sounds like pain (at least it does with the 46/16 I'm riding).

franswa

I'm going crazy over here.....it's been a week now without any sort of riding due to a sprained ankle. It's finally starting to feel normal and swelling has gone down. I don't want to push it though, as it could further delay any possibility of riding.

wsgts

42 year old, got a 2011 Raleigh One Way brand new for my 42nd Birthday in June 2015. Seen here outfitted with Rivendell Sackville Bags.

Cyril 

Replace the 16 tooth cog with an 18. You'll thank me later...
And get proper foot retention, you'll be glad you did...srsly...fer reelz...honest.

Mambo Dave

Thanks for the advice. I did read it when you posted it.

Well I decided to test this theory everyone has been posting about foot retention. Here now eight months later, give or take, I have done just fine all along with the pedals that I had on the bike - no foot straps, no retention.

I may eventually put the road-bike's pedals on, but then those make me use road bike shoes ... and with the nature of the fixed-gear not having quick releases on the wheels for repairs of tubes and such, I actually think the use of regular exercise shoes is nice just in case I have to walk back to the parking lot like I did the one other time.

---

16 tooth cog is fine for exercising and up to three loops around the airpark. If I wanted to really go longer distance then, yes, a larger rear cog would be relaxing and easier. But the point of me riding is solely exercise/strength/training, and being forced to roll the 16t gear - and being forced to keep the revolutions high - is the not-too-tough challenge that I bought the bike for.

Ky_Rider

Great thread. I converted my mountain bike to single speed last year and loved it. Bought a Fairdale coaster single speed this year. Now 2 of 3 bikes are single speed. I still enjoy my geared Surly Trucker for the hills around here, but sometimes I don't want to think about gears. I'm looking to purchase another single speed I saw in the bike shop the other day. It's a Charge Plug 0 with bullhorns. I took it for a test ride and loved it. It's only $349. Why not?

Sweetpo

Started riding in 2013-had to lose weight-started commuting to work. A Fuji 2009 sunfire 1.0--Moved recently and my commute more than doubled. I have 40 minutes to ride 13 miles, ride to school with my daughter in the morning then off to work. So I converted the sunfire to electric. It is very heavy, but very fast. I wanted a bike that was cheap, light, fast and fun so picked up a 2016 Fuji track bike. Put some Sram s100 1.1 cranks on it and converted the pedals to clipless. Rode 55 miles yesterday thru san diego what a blast. Im 45.

drlogik 

Bought this Wabi Special back in March just before my 58th birthday. Since then I've dropped 50 lbs. I average between 70 and 120 miles per week. I ride everywhere I possibly can, even just to go around the corner to the drugstore.

Bebopped around town today both on my Kona and the Wabi. This was taken in the Southend area where I live. Love my Challenge Strada Bianca 30 m tires with latex tubes! Fast a smmmooooth.