jan nikolajsen 

I just spent 4 days in the bicycle capital of the West Coast: Seattle.

I rode 200 miles on bike paths, city streets and county roads. It was great weather and the riders were out in droves. Recreational, commuters, Sunday riders, dread locks, mini skirts, students, pros, all of them were out there racing in the streets. Must have seen upwards of 1000 bikers. At least.

But seriously, I spotted less than 5 fixies/SS hipsters. That's it. Where are they all hiding? Is it just C&V paranoia, or what?

Also interesting was the amount of vintage steel on the roads, from rust heaps to immaculate. Almost outnumbered carbon.

On a different note: This morning while mashing up a steep hill in the U-district, at what I thought to be a pretty decent clip, I was unceremoniously passed by a skinny guy on a Grand Bois Porteur bike, complete with hammered SS fenders, cantilevers, trailer hitch and a huge load on the front rack. I mustered up a litttle extra oomph and caught up with him. After a few miles of talking I learned it was Jan Heine, author of The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles.

Jan

onetwentyeight 

id say portland was the bike capital on the west coast. I havent spent much time traveling out of my area (san francisco) in several years but I cant swing a dead cat without hitting a fixed gear, from the dunk wearing hip hop kids, to punky messenger poseurs, to actual messengers, to suits, to high school kids, to crusty old timers...

BFW

The key here is "Fad". The hipsters were trying to emulate a street savvy messenger image. On either end of the country, it's probably fading, fickle tastes of fashion. Here in the middle of the country it's still building, but will probably ebb soon enough. We're always a bit behind the fashion curve.

I enjoy riding with a fixed cog sometimes, but find that a freewheel is a nice thing to have most of the time. Recently I witnessed something that made me laugh out loud and may explain why the fad will probably be short lived. I watched a guy try to hop a small curb onto a sidewalk. Front wheel went up ok, but the pedal strike almost put him OTB. I think he may have grievously injured one of his testes when he landed on the top tube.

I continuously marvel at the people who decide to get on a bike for the first time in a while and insist that they don't need a brake. Live and learn, if you live.

Mike Mills

I think it's a style more than it is a bio-mechanical reality. Wait until those hipsters get a few years on those legs and lower backs,...

Sangetsu

Fixies are all over Tokyo. A large percentage are hipsters, while an equally large amount are actually messengers. I don't belong to either group, I just find riding a fixie to be fun.

I have two bikes that I commute on in town, the fixie, and a repro Schwinn Phantom. I use the Phantom for grocery getting, rides with the gf, and all around fun. I use the fixie for medium to long rides, especially if I'm going to be riding in traffic. In Japan the lanes are narrow, leaving little room to maneuver, the narrow bar on my fixie allows me to get through gaps which wouldn't be passable with my other bikes.

At my apartment in the country I have only my old Gios. I need the gears for the hills, both up and down. The roads are still narrow in the country, but there is little to no traffic, so it doesn't matter.

nlerner

Hah! There's no shame in being passed by Jan Heine, I'd say.

Neal

miamijim

It real. Here in the Tampa/St. Pete area they get together for group rides and play bike polo at a local park.

wahoonc

SOME of us were riding fixed before it became a fad/hip/cool/whatever Back in the mid 70's when I was a Jr Class rider, I was blown by in an out and back TT by a 70 year old guy on a fixed gear track frame. He was kind enough to help several of us younger riders learn how to ride and teach us the advantages of training on fixed gear. Several of us did build up our own fixed bikes for training purposes. I still ride fixie on occasion, but it is very carefully camouflaged with fenders, racks and brakes

There are always going to be people that just have to be with the in crowd, whether it be with the most expensive toy or the coolest whatever of the day. Good for them.

Aaron

mishmashmusic

The other day I saw a nervous-looking hipster on a fixie with no brakes (or helmet) about to pull out into traffic on one of the busiest roads in our area. I almost pulled over to watch, LOL.

MrCjolsen

I like fixed because if you can't coast, you don't coast and when you don't coast you go faster.

If I only have one gear, I prefer it be fixed to my cog rather than freewheel.

If I have the ability to coast, I prefer to have 27 gears to return to when I resume pedaling again.

treebound 

A nice short article by Jan and some details in a link about his 1962 Rando bike


https://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/400kstory.html

Yep, a nice guy to be passed by.

I see fixies and a few hipsters in Milwaukee here but not so much outside of the urban area.

sekaijin

Think hipster college students ... Madison, Wisconsin is a college town, and we see the fixie hipsters on State Street.

In Milwaukee I walked past the design school on South Broadway, and the bike rack looked like a fixie magnet.

Lots of old steel around here too, in all conditions. The college towns probably helped fuel the bike boom.

nlerner

Here in Boston in the winter, there are far fewer bikes on the road overall, but back in the fall, I still saw plenty of fixed-gear riders of all sorts, not just college students. Several of my friends and fellow bike commuters swear by fixed gear bikes for winter commuting and the control one gains. I'm a dedicated single-speed, freewheeling commuter myself!

Neal

orange-toei

I moved to Japan in July 2008 and I've never seen that many fixed gear poseur in my life. There is a fixed gear in the store window of every fashion shop in Japan.
It is a real fashion object in the land that makes some of the most beautiful bike I have seen.

jfmckenna

I live in a college town and starting about 5 years ago they got really popular. I used to be the only fixed gear rider in town it seamed. They make great commuter bikes and are fun to ride and that helps with there popularity. There is a small local bike coop that helps people build up bikes on the cheap so most of those are fixed or SS. One of our local pro riders will come out on his old Raleigh fixed conversion on training rides. He left the dérailleurs and chainrings hanging on the bike. IT's pretty funny after doing a 60 mile ride when some one new notices that the guy has been riding fixed the whole time and keeping up with all of us

USAZorro

Well done Jan. If I had "mustered up a little extra oomph", it would have only served to slow the rate of separation.

USAZorro

p.s. - it's reality. All one has to do is price fixed gear cogs, single ring chain bolts, lockrings, or cranksets of less than 170mm, and you'll instantly recognize you're facing "what the market will bear" pricing.

ldmataya 

And there is nothing wrong with style - in fact we need more of it to promote cycling. I live on the Ironman Wisconsin bike route, a block from where riders make their half-way pit stop at a local convenience mart. Talk about a fad! "Let me guess what you are riding - without looking. You're under 30? Ok, you have an aluminum frame aero bike with Bontrager wheels. You're over 35? Ok, you have a carbon frame aero bike with Zipp wheels." Was I right?

So I mosey down on a Saturday to get my newspaper and coffee with my fixie, or my SS city bike, or my wife's cruiser, and we have wonderful conversations as everyone huddles around the only unique bike in the lawn.

- a 50+ rider who loves his fixed gear, and knows how to bunny hop curbs to prevent pedal strike

StanSeven

They are just a fun thing and the fad will pass. Except for being simple and requiring little maintenance, there's no advantage to them. They are more dangerous than a geared bike. Old timers said they are good for race training but that's was not proven. You can learn to spin better and get stronger better with other things like specific drills.

JohnDThompson 

My son works at UW and lives quite close to the U district. I've always seen plenty of fixed gears when visiting him.

Re: Jan Heine -- no shame in being passed by him! He had a great time in the 2007 Paris-Brest-Paris, after all: Paris-Brest-Paris 2007: The View From The Front

jan nikolajsen 

Fun & interesting responses.

See, I live out in the sticks, where cows outnumber cars, and bikes are merely a childhood pastime before you can get your first truck. Going to Seattle is a big thing for us. 4 hrs distant, it is the nearest place to check in with what's going on.

Judging by the talk here and on various other bike related sites, I simply expected more, fixie-vise, in there in the big city. Got a little disappointed in fact. Saw no curb-hopping or balancing at the lights, no knickers or extendo cargo bikes. And as mentioned, hardly a fixie itself. I was even staying in the University District, the living, breathing hub of hipster poseur-dom.

We don't need a for-or-against debate. It is all about bicycles, and that's good. I rode a SS in Copenhagen 25 years ago, and if I was back in the city, especially a rainy, dirty one, like Copenhagen or Seattle, I would have one again.

jan nikolajsen 

That's good to hear, pheww!! Confidence restored.

BTW, that link sends me to cyclomondo's Ebay store.

JohnDThompson 

In group rides up here in Appleton, I'm usually the only person with a steel bike. They always send me up front to trigger the traffic sensors.

Prudy

I live in Seattle and ride a fixed-gear bike and a 70's Italian 7 speed bike. All are welcome and appreciated here in Seattle, of course.

Portland may have a seemingly more vibrant bike culture than Seattle but that is relative to it's size - Seattle definitely has more bikes and bikers all around.

Going to certain neighborhoods you will see plenty if not mostly fixed-gear bikes - not usually on the trails but at the hippest bars, etc. on Capital Hill.

It is a fad but it is also enjoyable so there is definitely some substance there...

treebound 

John,
that link puts me into an ebay store, did you mean to link to this instead?:
https://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/PBP2007.html