That's what it was about in the first place.

Most people responding feel it has merits.

LOCK IT! I haven't been on the forum in two months and the first thing I see is this trollery. This has been discussed to death and everyone always seems to agree that, like many things, the rightousness of a conversion is contextual.

Frankensteinian fun! And no, there is no such thing as a Schwinn Tour! It's a Varsity/BMX/MTB missmatch Single speed. I think I'll ask $500 for it ... well maybe $50.

As I just posted elsewhere, the surest way to drive a stake through the heart of the fad is to get every Fred on a fixie.

Guaranteed the fad will be dead within a year.

I am thinking of making a fixed gear bike with a old Schwinn I have. But I'm gonna keep the the front freewheel system on it just in case!

What happens when a jackass trend-follower just has to jump on the bandwagon:

The only problem i have with the fixie riders are the type who ridicule me because my 12 speed looks "ugly" with all that gear on it. Fixed gears have several good uses (track racing, flat areas, etc.) . I've ridden fixed gears, I enjoy them sometimes, but I think a bike must be suited for the terrain it rides in. And no bike is better than another

Lock it? Good God Batman, without controversy life would be boring. Why try to shut down beating a dead horse with a word like "contextual".

As we say in the South "that dog can hunt!". Methinks you should should ask $800 on SF Craigslist for this masterpiece. Of course if you rattle canned it bright pink you might even get $900.

jamesl, you don't ride fixed without foot retention, do you?

I do... just cause I am waiting in 1/2 inch road pedals.



So I just saved this from becoming another fixed gear... 'cause gears are definitely not evil.



A fellow was looking it over at the co-op and when I told him it was a unique and one of a kind frame he said there was no way it should become a "beater fixed gear".

The only reason I could see turning a bike into a single-speed is because the person dis-trusts their self-control and wants to keep their speed down in and amongst high traffic and heavily-populated areas. In this case, I think it a stroke of brilliance and moderation.
I ride a 12-speed road bike, and have, every once in a blue traffic light, found myself going too fast to stop in the split-second moment that is sometimes required, here, in Boston and Cambridge.

No. The bike's a single speed -- the rear cog is a BMX freewheel.

By the way, I bought this bike as a frame only. I assembled it from parts I had in the storage shed -- the front fork was from a taller bike and I section the steerer tube to fit and welded it back together. It's definitely a Frankenstein creation. I would never turn a rideable classic -- even a Varsity -- into a single speed or fixed gear.

THAT is hilarious!!!

That reminds me, I had once considered the FFS as a cheap stoker crankset for a lazy tandem rider.

-Kurt

As long as they don't shave off the derailleur hanger or do it to a PX-10 (or PY10cp) it is fine in my book.

Why should a fixed gear be more maneuverable in traffic than a road bike with gears? Most fixed are made from road bikes, or from frames with road geometry and track ends. Now with a true track frame I could see added maneuverability, and from a lighter bike as well. But at the same time, many fixie conversions are based on any old steel, not necessarily track frames or even double-butted road frames.

Sorry, but it's amazing what kind of drivel can be created by the imagination of the uninformed mind.

I think ironically enough that there are people in the crowd who actually enjoy the angry response that sometimes comes up when someone turns a classic into a fixed gear. Those are people who would actually laugh and get a real rise out of the angry discussion going on here. They're out there... I guess I just wouldn't want to give them the satisfaction of throwing a fit over it and giving them that laugh.

As a matter of personal preference I just can't enjoy a fixed gear; I guess I'm too set in my ways. However I very much enjoy single speed coaster brake bicycles-- this is what I learned to ride on and have regularly ridden for many years now. I do think it would be an interesting conversion for a lower-end 10 speed bike boom bike. I actually might do that to my Samurai someday (the epitome of a lower end bike boom machine). I might do it in the form of as interpretation of a 1920s single speed straight bar bicycle.

I wouldn't do it to a high end classic because of the money value at stake in a higher end bike. I also tend to prefer heavier bikes to the lightweights. I don't mind that my bike handles like a '47 Cadillac-- I actually enjoy that approach. But for some reason I am drawn to single speed coaster brake machines because of the pure simplicity of them (especially the old New Departure hubs). I guess I just don't see a problem with converting lower end stuff to fixed gear or single speed.

I said "more control," not "more maneuverable." You're just looking for something to argue with. My statement had nothing to do with the geometry--or weight--of the frame. Having constant control over the drivetrain with the legs makes for the ability to stop/start/accelerate far more responsively than when on a freewheeled bike just using hand brakes. You can easily tell fixed riders in a city/car environment just by how the bike and rider move, everything being controlled from the drivetrain and legs. But I've been sucked into the argument over semantics. You want to come up with a reason why it's a bad idea, you will. If you like it, you'll argue it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have come to appreciate bikes of all types. Personally, I find it just as off when someone believes it's crucial to have indexed gearing, 9-speed freewheels and carbon fiber or aluminum frames to get them from home to the store a few blocks away.

Back to the basic point: Who cares about what other people do with their things?

Oddly, this entire thread is turning into the kind of thread that turned me off to the fg/ss forum back when I first signed on to BF. Ironic that the fixie-haters are as vehemently intolerant as the people against whom they direct their vitriol.

There's something to be said for this-- there is indeed a fair bit of fixed gear snobbery out there, but I don't think it's right to engage in anti-fixed snobbery in response. Yeah, it's a shame when someone messed up a classic, but you're right that it's someone else's property and hence their call. I suppose you just have to move on at some point.

I think you have to try to appreciate the merits of each type of system in general. Each has its strong and weak points. I don't like fixed gears and don't ride them, but they do have their advantages and disadvantages like anything else.

The only reason fixed gear became fashionable is because a generation of gameboy raised kids with no mechanical abilities couldn't work out the derailleur, either how to adjust it, or how to use it. This is a process called involution, as opposed to evolution, which is generally acepted as "moving forward". Sure, we can debate whether involution is a part of evolution and whether evolution precedes involution, but the facts are there: fixed gears were introduced by accident. Doesn't mean they're not fun of course. If you like walking hills, or spinning out at 10 mph.

Correction: Fixed gears were reinvented by accident.

-Kurt

This is utter BS.

People, all you are talking about is a bunch of old bikes. There are infinitely more important things to be concerned about.

The fail continues...

Every time this topic comes up I want to ask people if they actually ride a fixed gear or just like to make uninformed observations.

Kurt - Weren't you in the process of building up a fixed gear ?

I agree that hacking up and powder coating classic frames is a sin and that risers on track bikes look ridiculous and are not functional for the way I ride but I don't have to ride those kinds of bikes.

I am so far from being fashionable and am the anti-hipster but I do like riding mty fg bikes just as much as I like riding the geared bikes.

And I tour, commute, race, work, and even do utilitarian stuff with my fixed gear bikes which is what I do with the rest of them.