What do the Emo kids ride?
 

Hello,

I was wondering what I see all these Emo kids riding. You know the kids with the really tight pants and the dark bangs in their faces. I don't have anything against them. I'm just curious what they ride. It seems they all ride the same type of bike. I think its a road bike, but it doesn't seem to have any gears. I'm assuming it doesn't have gears or it has internal gears of some kind. Also I see that they only have one brake handle. I've never gotten a good look at their bikes, but I'm guessing they either have only one brake (front or back) or they have one brake handle operating both front and back brakes at the same time. I just built a mountain bike out of used parts at a bicycle co-op and I was wondering if I could use the same kind of internal gears and single brake handle setup on my bike. I'm using my bike for commuting to school, as my main form of transport in conjunction with buses and all around smiles. :) Can anyone shed some light on these observations? Thanks

Fixies or Single Speeds.

Yep, those pretty little fixies, which I dig but would never ride myself.

In Oregon they tended to ride either refurbished Good Will road bikes or three-speed cruisers. I actually made pretty good money refurbishing Good Will bikes and flipping them for around $100.

I believe the term is "fixed gear hipster". Google offers this image in response:

http://static.flickr.com/112/272319594_8342204303.jpg

Please note the following:

Dark clothes. Odd shoes not for cycling. Spoke card. Messenger bag. Still angry at my parents body art/hair/personal styling. Total absence of any lighting or safety equipment. Not in view: mini U-lock in the left rear pocket.

Bike Snob conveniently had the answer:
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008...r-lemonds.html

Apparently you take a Lemond and cover up the L and nd.

i'm curious why you seem to want to emulate them - i.e., why would you want to change your mountain bike to be the same?

i'm currently building an IRO for commuting (one of the popular modern brands that the hipsters around here ride), but i'm doing it so i don't have to take my nice (geared) bikes into the city and pound the crap out of them. if your mountain bike works for you, ride it and enjoy it!

there's really no benefit to the way many of them have their bikes set up - they're riding track-style bikes on the road. which is dumb, really. track bikes are great for nice, smooth velodromes - and crap for broken, nasty pavement. many of the equipment choices these folks are making are entirely style-based. i like style, but not that much. many of them are aping the "messenger" style - again, it's a style-driven choice rather than function-driven.

of course, if you want a SS/FG, get one! simplicity is good. but please don't go too insane with it.

Because I'm not actually satisfied with my mountain bike. I went to the co-op with the purpose of making a functioning bike. That's what I did. Now i want to customize it to satisfy me. Thank you for your philosophies and assumptions about my riding life, I'll try not to do the same to you.

Most of them around here ride the bus.

I'll give him/her (can't really tell from this angle) style points for the Campy aero seat post and white Selle Italia Flite. Che bella!

And deduct eleventy million style points for everything else.

is that a girl or guy? It's hard like telling the genders of chicks (baby chickens).
From that picture though, the bike is more of a pista on the road than poser classic conversion. -1 for style because they usually ride conversions with hacked off everything.

Around here I usually pass them on straights, but get passed at red lights and stop signs.

definitely girl arms.


note the shaved legs.

A lot of the fixed gear bikes have no brakes. The riders slow the bike down by resisting the turning of the pedals or doing that skid-stop thing.

In my opinion its asking for a Darwin Award riding without at least one mechanical brake, but its their lives.

sheesh. touchy much?

i don't think i made any assumptions about your riding life. i made lots, based on observation, of the folks i see everyday.

that's kind of why i asked why you wanted to change your mountain bike. and why i expressed the opinion you should get a different bike if you wanted one.

Ouch. I guess I was coming off as grouchy. It's been a very bad experience getting back into biking. I didn't realize there were so many bike snobs at bike shops. "Oh you can't 'afford' a new bike? [scoff]" "Oh you can't 'afford' the best bike? [scoff]" "Why are you asking questions that everyone should know the answers to? [piff]" Now anytime someone expresses their opinion about bikes to me all my defenses go up. It's hard to tell especially on the internet. Snobs at bike shops make it difficult for people to get into biking or back into it.

Hey, the fixie folks around here all use Knog frogs, so they're cool.

If you dig them, why wouldn't you ride one? I've got two of 'em and I had one before that got stolen, and I ride my fixed gears more than any of my other bikes. Actually, getting into fixed gear riding two years ago got me totally reinterested in riding. I'd gotten back into bikes in 95 and my interest was waneing until I got into fixed gear. Fixed bikes are one hell of a lot of fun to ride and they are really easy to maintain. My legs are carved from wood after a season of riding fixed. Also, I smoke my non fixed buddies when we go MTN biking because of the stamina I build up on the fixed gear.

The hipsters, well, what can you say about the hipsters? Every style of cycling has its uniform, for example, roadies and the tri-geeks. Hell, I'm more of a Fred and future retro-grouch than I am a hipster.

Congratuatlions forum, you have just been trolled. Man you guys are gullible:

http://www.salagir.com/gfx/troll-web.jpg

This thread makes me roffle.

Jealous?

The NJS parts are also not in view. Don't forget about the missing top tube pad, deep V anodized rims, cigarettes. This image is obviously outdated by at least six months since she uses drop bars (with what BSNYC calls the "dog erection tape job") instead of hacked off shorty bars.

Props to enter_narne for the nice troll.

I always thought emos were too depressed to ride a bike.

I don't understand how I'm a troll or did something a troll would do. I asked what a certain type of bike was. If you are a person of emo category and are offended please tell me how I offended you and I'll make sure not to do it again.

Who you callin' Emo?

http://www.emophilips.com/content/em...hday_party.jpg

Here's the Flickr site for that pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chainsa...n/photostream/

and for interest here's a view of her mess bag:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chainsa...n/photostream/

It's a cute bag!