1. What influenced you to ride fixed (friend, professionals, seeing others, messengers)?
Saw them around (usually messenger bikes), did some reading on the subject and saw their merits, and decided to build myself a fixed gear as there really was no way to find out any other way. I also appreciated the efficiency, simplicity and the aesthetic of running a single speed bike with no deraileurs to clutter things up.
Building my first fixed gear and already fielding questions... lol.
2. Is your bike (or was your first bike) a conversion?
My first bike was a conversion and I have ridden it more than 5000 km without a spec of trouble... coming from riding ss bikes there really was no big learning curve, my legs were well readied, and from day 1 it felt pretty natural. I was doing skip stops and track stands pretty much right off the get go.
3. Where do you live (city and state for US, city and province/country for outside of the US)?
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - There is an ever growing number of fixed gear riders here and on any given day I can usually spot a bike that I built or had a hand in building
4. NA
Since building up my first fixed gear I have built 4 more for myself, purchased a vintage fixed gear road bike and built so many fixed gear and single speed bikes for people at our shop that I have lost track.
I am now looked to as the fg/ss guy at our shop as well as being the guy who knows everything about old and vintage bikes, especially 3 speeds and coaster bikes, and have written a few articles on fixed gears and single speeds for our co-op's newsletter.
I am also the shop's senior mechanic and came into this with a great deal of knowledge on bikes, wheel building, and proper set up of single geared bikes.
I have only been riding fixed since last summer but have really immersed myself in learning everything I can about what has become my ride of choice and could sometimes borders on obsession. I am now planning on building a fixed folder with a Phillip's Twenty and am hoping to ride across Canada on a fixed gear as well.
Build 1 - My baby... "Bridgette"
1962 Peugeot fg conversion
Build 2
1987 Kuwahara Cascade fg conversion
Build 3
1973 Raleigh/Carlton Gran Sports fg conversion
Build 4
1940 CCM fg conversion
My vintage fixed gear
1955 Raleigh Lenton Sports, Reg Harris road model - factory original fixed gear with a double stepped rear hub.