Fixed Yet?
 

All,

I enjoy riding my Fixed Gear bicycle; it is simple and uncompromised by multiple gears or the slacker’s ability to coast. You pedal it and it pedals you right back, fair is fair.

Being both old and out of touch, as well as living in a rural cultural backwater, I have little to no contact with younger people other than to shout “Get off my lawn!” at them.

This spring I was riding my old fixed gear road bike on a favorite route when I chanced upon the start of a Serious Group Ride. I could tell just how serious by the sparkling pile of plastic aerodynamic wunder-bikes and the fact that they were waiting for one of their number to finish droning on and on about his hydraulic shifting system and electric brakes so they could all start off in the wrong gear, un-clip and fall down in a $$$$$$$ heap of bloody scratched plastic.

Here’s a snippet of conversation overheard as I turned onto Chip Seal Loop:

A)“Dude, check out the Fixie!”
B)“Yo, I Totally remember those.”

Two things here to think about:

1) I assumed that speaker A) was a mentally challenged person whose linguistic abilities were permanently frozen in the Infantile mode of a toddler. By referring to my Fixed Gear as a “Fixie” I assumed that if asked to describe a bowel movement he would refer to it as a “Poopie”.

2) Since speaker B) was of an age to be chewing on a Barney plush toy in his crib when I converted my road bike to fixed gear he must possess the rare gift of Photographic Memory.

“How wonderful that two young men of such disparate abilities can enjoy the camaraderie of cycling together.” I mused.

In assuming that these young folk were Idiot Savants I was only partially correct.

-Bandera

:)

ok...

NICE looking "FIXED GEAR BICYCLE"! I have not even considered FIXING a road bike, though I am toying with making a SS (Single Speed) out of one project. Had an interesting experience as I was enveloped by a Club Ride...MOSTLY on their plastic rockets, as I was riding my 70's Torpado-12 speed with chrome fenders and rack....One called out "Nice Ride". I latched onto the back of a group of 8 who got spit off the back by the pace (which was about 20mph) and rode with them for a few miles. Chatted a bit with tail-end-charlie who kept calling me PROFESSOR....then turned right when they turned left. BOY those cassettes BUZZING were annoying!!!! My old Suntour was silent by comparison.

go on

I like fixies and have to take a poopie.

Everyone knows that fixies are over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOXsmNhvPEU

What?

Early onset Alzheimers?

I still announce when it's "poopy time" to anyone present.

I really like that Trek. It looks like a fun bike!

We have a couple serious trackies who come out to the local hammerfest on track bikes. They have brakes of course, but I don't think they ever use them. Man, those guys can spin.

Thanks! I've owned it since new, built it up from a bare frameset.
It was a great road bike in the day and has performed yeoman service fixed gear for a long time.

-Bandera

What gear ratio?

Hey man nice Fixie.

Snob much?

Seriously, I still believe >40 years on that my 1st coach was correct. Riding a fixed gear road bike is the best way to develop an efficient & fluid pedaling style.

-Bandera

48X18 for a 70.1" gear running 1/2 X 3/32 chain.

-Bandera

So....a lot has changed since March....I mean...street cred and all......ahhh...errr.....fixie fixed fixie thing there?

Velognome,

????

Not so much has changed for the last couple of decades fixed gear bike wise, thanks for kinda asking.
The pic you reference is my avatar, the International town bike is as it is: AW 1956 hub and all.

My Trek has been ridden as pic attached in #1 since '92, a fixed gear road bike. See pic below, or see it live and in the wild on TX roads. I've been riding fixed gear on the road for >40 years, this one is my favorite.

Oh, and thanks so much for commemorating my forum join date! We all have them but you make mine Special, I guess.

-Bandera

ha, funny how they refer to FG's as yesterday's trend. It's still picking up speed here in Euroland.

I've been riding my FG all summer, it has been a lot of fun, but with the autumn rains, it's time to replace it with something fenders and fat tires. 23 mm tires and wet tram tracks are a recipe for disaster and arriving at work with a mud butt is too.

Hopefully not over just quite yet. I am building one right now. I just could not resist. Got a nice set of FG/SS wheels at a garage sale (at an incredibly low price) last week off a guy that just had to have white rims on his Bianchi Pista. Putting together a pretty interesting one with left over parts from prior projects.

I still see plenty of them here, despite all the hills.

wrk,

Flip/Flop is so much better than Wishy/Washy.

Your World Voyager would be a very fine fixed gear project, nice to have a resilient and supple frameset when getting butt-off-saddle isn't always an option.

-Bandera

I just had a good Poopie after getting home by riding my Fixie.

Feel good.

What's the problem?

You got that right.

At a certain point in life a fixed-gear bicycle ride, a proper bowl movement, a few fingers of Wild Turkey and the company of the retired librarian next door are all you need, and "Gunsmoke" re-runs on the tube.

-Bandera

I'm more of a tequila and Rockford Files type, but I hear ya.

When not over-imbibing the product of the Aguave plant what fixed gear ratio do you run, and have you considered Mescal?

-Bandera

47/17

Yes. But I prefer tequila.

I have a fixie, as well as more than a dozen geared bikes. My geographical location dictates serious hills unless I want to limit myself to about eight miles of mostly flat waterfront trail. My 4 mile commute home, for example, nets me more than 1100 ft elevation gain.

It ain't the Texas plains, lets put it that way.

My fixed gear bicycle is basically a toy, like every other fixed gear bicycle in town (there aren't very many, for obvious reasons). It's pretty fun on that one stretch of 8 miles, though.

I might have to ride one of the "fixies" tomorrow... I currently have 3 of them down from a high of 6.

Btw, I run a 39/17, way too low, but I'm cheap.