trackhub

I don't have kids, so I'm not up on my "cool lingo". What on earth is an "urban hipster"? Are they the same dodos who, when someone orders spaghetti in an Italian restaurant, states, with an air of high mucky-muck authority, that "that's not real Italian!". Or am I confusing it with something else? I can easily see why one would not want to be mistaken for one of this species.

As I mentioned before, everything is relative. If you don't "get" riding a fixed gear, that's fine by me. But there are some things I don't "get". Frames made of alien spaceship material? No, don't get it. Cycling computers? Nope, never used one. Cycling is about freedom, among other things. A cycling computer would remind of or work. I got one as an Xmas stocking stuffer some years back. It's still in the box, stuffed in the back of my underwear drawer. I also don't get all these wild, borderline psychedelic color schemes that are being used to paint frames these days. Some of these hurt my 52 year old eyes. Seriously, what was wrong with red, blue, white, or that color I refer to as "70's orange"? (You just don't see it anymore.)

You should really give it an honest try, before you blow it off. And I mean an honest try. There is a learning curve, and it varies from person to person. I was hooked within he first few miles, but I stuck with quiet roads the first few rides, just to build up handling skills. You have to train you legs, and your mind as well. This will come if you give it enough time. "Patience, my young apprentice."

All that aside, it has occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, some are afraid they might like it, and they're worried what their buddies with the full team kits and the spaceship bikes might think.

Artmo 

I don't have problem with people who don't want to ride FG, but I do with those who have never ridden one and criticize/mock.

marmot

I'm curious, not critical. Just wondered if there's any practical advantage that was not apparent to me. I still don't quite get it, I'm afraid.

Artmo 

Admittedly I don't ride my Pista as much as I do my geared bikes - I don't know why, really - but when I do I feel like part of the bike (sounds silly, I know). It's a whole different experience. In a paceline, I have better speed control and quicker acceleration and riding alone, it's a great way of improving pedalling style and spinning. Of course, we have few hills (bridges) here, which makes it all the more enjoyable. Try it. You might like it

PaulH

It's clear that the maintenance workload goes way down. Some riders in very cold climates like them because there is no freewheel mechanism to lock up and fail to engage. There's no derailleur to have to fiddle with and get clogged with ice and snow. There is a claim that fixed gear gives better tactile feedback in slippery conditions.

Paul

jdon

I have tried my friends on several occaisions and sit clearly in the "don't" camp. Mind you, I live and ride in a hilly area and don't like having to dismount to climb the 14-18% grades on some roads. If I lived in Florida, I may feel differently.

I also don't mind those who have opinions not having tried it. I know I don't like bull fighting and have never done it. I know I don't like BMX or Downhill but have never done either. Just my opinions.

As to the early TdF races being ridden on fixed gear, well, it was the best technology and resistance to change of the day. F1 cars today don't resemble their predecessors either. Things change.

If Geraldchan couldn't keep up to a fixed gear on a century, then you have to look at the motor. The gear ratio used by the fixed was available to him which removes fault from the Madone.

In my opinion, fixed gear is a niche or novelty ride. Nothing more and nothing less. You like them, or you don't.

BluesDawg

"...don't criticize what you can't understand" - Robert Zimmerman (aka Bob Dylan) The Times They Are a Changing

marmot

Thanks, Paul & Artmo. That's the kind of answer I was hoping for. The winter advantages actually make sense to me here in the frozen north. But I don't think I've got the legs for the ups or the guts for the downs.

trackhub

That will come with time. I'm running a 75" (42 x 15) gear on my street dog. This gets me up the hills I encounter on a regular basis, including the Commonwealth have hills, just before Boston College. How it works: You start going uphill. The gear is too high, so you do what comes naturally: You stand, and apply some more muscle to it, working your Gluteus maximus into it. Cause and effect works quite well: It almost feels as t hough something is giving you a push.

Going downhill: I have brakes on both wheels. That's one of the greatest things about being over 50. You don't have to care what the 20-somethings think. Just apply some braking force, if you feel yourself picking up a little too much momentum. Aside from that, applying some muscle going downhill starts to feel good after some time.

Now, in all fairness, the answer is yes: Unless you live in a very flat area of the country, you will encounter some hills that will make you resort to what a local fellow fixed gear rider (female, late 20's)
refers to as "the two foot gear". No shame in this either. It happens to the most powerful fixed gear riders. Summit Avenue in Brookline, MA comes to mind.

You may get sore in places you have never noticed. This passes with time, and you'll find yourself getting in better shape. You may wonder if the riders of the 1890's had it right all along.

oldbobcat

As I started reading your post I wondered if you were going to mention Summit Avenue. Thanks for jogging my memory. That hill was hard enough on a 42-20.

roccobike

I bought a fixie earlier this year and tried it. Once. I subsequently sold it for more than I paid for it just in time. Within weeks of selling it, the demand for fixies fell sharply. The true sign that they are not in demand as much as before is the sudden sharp drop in the prices on CL around here. The prices have dropped around 40%.
I'm not knocking fixies, they're just not for me or my riding style. I'm seriously considering changing one of my vintage rides to a single speed as that would be a great way to build up leg muscles for hills.

alicestrong

Are you talking about conversions?

BikeWNC

I like my knees too much to ride my fixed geared bikes here in the mountains. I will ride them on the track, one has no brake, and the other with brakes I'll ride on a relatively flat 4 mile loop. Otherwise, I'll save the fixed gear for the flats of Eastern NC.

I've seen guys riding fixed on mountain centuries and it looks more like a stunt than a practical alternative to a geared bike.

sugarcubed

When its hot, its not

trackhub

I'm assuming that CL means "Craig's List", yes? Some good deals can be had there, just watch out for stolen bikes. Here is a link to a related story.

Single speed (with a freewheel) bikes are fine, if you don't like the "fixed feel". Many people prefer them. Like a fixed gear, they are very simple, easy to maintain, and keep your mind clear. You could build a rear wheel with a flip-flop hub. This would give you the option of going fixed, if you wanted. Most fixed gear bikes used on the road use a flip-flop hub.

Meanwhile, the Fixed Gear Gallery is up to 10,357 bikes as of Friday...

Artkansas 

I was at a bicycle advocacy conference this weekend. One of the leaders was telling me that in Los Angeles the fixie meme has mutated and jumped from the hipster elite to the high schools and that riding fixies is becoming very hot. Bikes are cool now.

So it's possible that as it shows up in media that this may grow rapidly. That rather than the fixie being passe, the demand for fixies has only just begun.

alicestrong

I just saw a big crowd of fixed riders at a local McDonalds here in LA and several of them looked 12 or 13...!!

rwortman

As a returning rider with a big gap in my riding "career" I don't understand why anyone would prefer a fixed gear bike other than just the novelty of it. Like hunting with a muzzleloader. Those that say its so they can look down on the guys on 20 speed road bikes as they pass them, well, having a bike so you can be an arrogant snot hardly seems commendable. Its a track bike. If you like messing with them, fine, but it doesn't confer any moral superiority. I rode an old fashioned penny/farthing bike once. It was kind of fun for about 100 yards. I ought to build one of them and then I can get all uppity with those guys that have to have chains and sprockets to ride.

Barnaby

Well of course those who revert to (what should have been) the long discredited either/or argument are in effect willing to duel with the Japanese sword master mentioned above with aerosol cheese. I mean for comedy Ron James is my choice or the Trailer Park Boys. I can really appreciate almost any 2009 Porches, but to suggest that this means that the mid 80's pop-top Westfalia Synchro's should be dismissed would put money on Sarah Palin in a chess match with Bobby Fischer R.I.P.

The chief criticisims mentioned above that hold water are:

Descents: Yes, it is true, freewheels allow for a real pleasurabled free-fall after an ardurous climb that you cannot have with the fixed. There is no argument there. It is the one major aspect that can be placed in the negative category. The way to adapt is to allow the legs go "noodly". There is no imput to the pedals, so it is really not all that inefficient, but it calls upon concentration to keep from bouncing on the seat, and I find that I still tense up, whereas on the geared bike I would relax more on the longer descents.

Ascents: You already live in the area where you ride most of the time. Fixed riders soon choose a gear that works for the hills in their area. Cruel ascents in the 14% category etc. are on the extreme that would require a gear too low to be practical on the flat. If you live in this area, fixed gear evangelicals are going to have trouble getting you in the tent. But should this surprise anyone? I live in a somewhat hilly area in a prairie province and can honesty say that not only do I ascend more quickly the hills on my daily ride on the fixed gear, but I find more enjoyment in doing it. One of the most surprising things is that you soon realise that the chief rationalisation for multiple gears-that cadence has to be modified for climbing-is not wrong, just overplayed. On moderate to medium ascents fixed has an advantage over geared bikes. The adjustment you make is to work on technique. You attach the hill starting on the descent prior to it. I climb most of the local hill, then when the hill starts to bite more, I slide back on the saddle to employ the bum muscles more, and on rare occasions, stand up to finish the hill. The standing up part is looked forward to since in fixed gear riding your rear end in almost always in contact with the saddle-less air time provided by supporting yourself on parallel pedals on the geared bike.

Wind: At the end of a long run, you may turn around and encounter a head wind and long for a lower gear to adjust to your flagging energy. Most of the time though, fixed gear riding, having improved technique by making coasting an impossibility, seems to make wind less of an obstacle. When I used to flatland coast, the energy needed to reclaim the lost momentum in the wind, was a large expenditure.

Leg Speed Fatigue: One thing I really appreciate about geared bikes, is the abiltity to shift to a higher gear to provide a different longer "stide" over a shallow crest. Somethimes that variation is really welcomed.

Some pluses of the fixed gear:

Winter riding in snowy/icy conditions. I don't think this is debatable. My fixed Miyata 1000 with studded tires is a tractor. The ability to brake and temper speed while using brakes less frequently has kept me off the pavement much more. I have tried winter riding in icy conditions on my Downtube internal hub. The brakes are very sharp, but on ice, you touch the front brake and down you go. Of course, sinching up the drive train to get it further away from slush, only makes sense.

Strength building: Sometimes I come back from a solo geared bike ride and feel dissatisfied by not having achieved a workout. Fixed riding, although in many respects more efficent, virtually guarantees a workout in a mixed hill/flat area. If that is not desirable for this reason, then the logical extension is to avoid effort alltogher and get an electric bike, a Segway or the dumbest invention of all time-The Smart Car.

Thanks for indulging me if you read this long post. In conclusion, I believe that if we were all riding fixed gears until 2009 and the freewheel was just invented, it would be acclaimed as a wonderful invention. I will always ride a geared bike, but that does not mean that I would shed the two fixed that I own. Otherwise I would have a stable of very similiar riding lugged steel geared rides that are in reality not that distinct. Oh-I love that analogy that fixed gear riding is comparable to building a fire in a kitchen while there is a stove nearby-return to the primitive has some allure, but I am not sure my wife would go along.

bcoppola

To Barnaby's excellent exegesis above, let me add that one think I like about my FG conversion is the way the fixed drivetrain pushes your legs through the stroke. It seems to eliminate the "dead spot" at the bottom of the stroke that you otherwise have to work at minimizing. On flats and even moderate rollers it seems less fatiguing than riding my geared bike over the same route. As I said on a post some time ago, you can seemingly be loafing along and then look at your computer and hey presto, you're clipping along at 18-20 mph (at least with my current 40/15 setup).

I too wondered why any sane person would ride fixed anywhere but the track. I built mine mosty out of boredom for the sake of tinkering, and some curiosity sparked by Joe Friel's and Sheldon Brown's writings on fixed gears. Rather than just being the biking equivalent of eating your spinach, it has turned out to be a pleasurable addition to my cycling. Which 'sword' I use on a given day comes down to what I'm in the mood for.

Another thing: given that my FG began as a $12 thrift shop find, the fun to dollar ratio is way up there!

Haven't tried winter riding, fixed or otherwise. When there's snow on the ground that means XC skis for me!

rwortman

"Fixed riding, although in many respects more efficent, virtually guarantees a workout in a mixed hill/flat area. If that is not desirable for this reason, then the logical extension is to avoid effort alltogher and get an electric bike, a Segway or the dumbest invention of all time-The Smart Car."

This seems to be evidence of the "arrogant snot" reason. If you don't want to ride an antediluvian Fred Flintstone bike like me than you shouldn't ride at all. It also shows a predilection towards ignoring the warnings of the spell checker. This thread seems to indicate the fixed gear riders are almost as self promoting as Harley Davidson owners are in the motorcycle world. Sorry, it makes me want to stay as far away from that club as possible.

Barnaby

Hey Wortman a little early in the eve to put on a flame suite. If you read the entire thing, and I don't necessarily blame you if you didn't, you would find that the theme of what I wrote is to accept both the geared and the fixed riding styles. It attacks the "either/or" groups in both camps. The comparison that I made to geared bikes was a 2009 Porsche (which I love) and for fixed rides to a 80's Westfailia Synchro ( which I love as well.) I was trying to make the point that to advocate one over the other or rather to the exclusion of the other is silly. I mention that I would not be without my geared bikes, it mentions that in many ways geared bikes are more desirable, it mentions that if the freewheel were invented today we would herald it as a wonderful invention. You sort through all of the above to come to the one paragraph were you can infer arrogance, when my point was that fixed riding in the way that it requires at times more effort is not to be discounted for that reason since to follow the "ease" route would put us back in cars. Sorry if you missed all that, but perhaps Spell Checker, being a modern contrivance, does not aide in reading comprehension. You probably woudn't have much trouble staying away from alot of the fixed gear riders that I know of..... I'm not sure that they would be willing to wait for you.

rwortman

I did read the whole post and I still think the tone is a bit elitist. You mentioned that fixed gear riding is in many respects more efficient. I don't think that is really supportable. With the right gear, on unchanging terrain perhaps, but that is one respect, not many. I was taught that everyone has a cadence that is most efficient for them. A fixed gear bike is simply a guarantee that you will be in the wrong gear most of the time. If it was more efficient, road racers wouldn't be messing about with all that extra gear shifting hardware. I just started riding again a month ago after a 25 year absence from the scene. I bet everyone here can ride faster than me. I also ride a motorcycle. I could put my motorcycle in third gear, take the shifter off and ride it everywhere I needed to go too, but that would hardly make the most efficient use of the engine. I get sick of all the bragging about who is faster by some motorcycle riders I know and I have no desire to ride with most of them. Instead of having fun ,they all have something to prove. All I want out of riding a bike is to have some fun, and get some conditioning. I have no desire to hang with bicyclists that have something to prove either. If you find riding a fixed gear bike enjoyable, have at it. In the hilly terrain where I live, I doubt that it will ever be a viable option for me.

oldbobcat

This thread is beginning to sound like a meeting of cranky old men. I never imagined the lack of a freewheel could stir up so much indignity and sanctimoniousness.

Here's what I like--people getting exercise, getting around without cars, making friends, having fun, and expressing themselves. Doing these things is not always compatible with finding your optimum cadence.

It's like guitar players using vintage tube amps, keyboardists playing Hammond B-3s with Leslie cabinets, Baroque orchestras performing on period instruments, artists making their own tempera paints from egg yolks and pigment, photographers working with mechanical cameras and silver-based emulsions instead of pixels.

rwortman

Absolutely. Do it because you like to. Because it makes you feel good. Or for no reason at all just on a whim. It isn't necessary to justify it to anyone or to act like someone who chooses a different path is missing something or less of an enthusiast. This reminds me a bit of the vinyl vs digital wars amongst my fellow audio enthusiasts. I personally enjoy both and find the arguments on both sides to be mostly baloney.