Originally Posted by TeleJohn
Elitism?
Just because someone, through interest, hard work, and love, is able to do something difficult and rewarding? Be it riding fixed gear, telemark skiing, sailing, or using Linux. Being an expert with math, science, writing. Being an artist.
Folks who use the term 'elitist' negatively are probably envious.
Positively used, "Fixed gear riders are the elite of bicycling."
Umm... I'm sure you have point in there somewhere, but I haven't found it yet.
I've heard a bunch of nonsense from fixed gear riders about all sorts of stuff (including oddball Star Wars references) and after a mere 374 miles of fixed riding (about a third of which were in one day) I have yet to have a spirtual experience at the hand of my fixie. I'm not saying I don't like riding it, I'm not saying they're a bad idea, I'm just saying fixed feels a lot more like riding a bike than not---it's not that different, we're not even a little bit special compared to any other group of cyclists, and all us fixies should get over ourselves and join the larger community of cyclists regardless of gears.
Flame away!