FixedDriveJess

What do you guys think about riding a track bike for 40+ miles? I do it all the time and was wanting to get a roadies take on it.

krobinson103

No brakes in traffic? Not for me.

pdedes

Fixed geared riding used to be the preferred winter training method for professionals

ultraman6970

Spent years in the road in a track bike when i started racing at age 12. Dunno... ride 60 miles and tell everybody.

wheelreason

As long as you wear the skinny jeans, and have no clue how you are going to come up with your share of the rent...

mihlbach

I sometimes commute on a track bike and often grab it for solo rides...its easier to just grab and go and not really any slower than a road bike as long as you aren't riding mountains on it.

To clarify, its a track frameset built up for road riding. I wouldn't road ride a bike thats specifically set up for track racing.

The whole brake vs brakeless debate is overblown. Brakes are useful a lot of the time....other times it doesn't really matter. Depends on what you are doing with it. Use your common sense.

UMassAm

i've got an iro mark V set up for the road with a front brake. running 48x15. im beating it up as my all-season commuter. going to work is fine, but i live on a steep hill in the city, so half the commute home is a steady climb up the shallow grade side.

its fun bombing down the street, and i can get something like a comfortable sphinx position in the drops, but no bottle cages restrict the distance i can go with it.

ericm979

I like to ride up and down serious hills, and a fixie is poor at both. But why would you care what people here think? If it makes you happy, do it.

big john

BF member Shprung has ridden a fixed gear bike (with brakes) many 1000s of miles, including Paris Brest Paris and the Furnace Creek 508 race

Training.Wheels

It's cool if the roads are flat. I personally would not want to go more than 25 miles on my track bike. Do you even have a road bike though? A lot of hipsters brag about going everywhere on their 'fixie' then you realize it's cuz a fixie is all they have. But if you have a track and road bike of comparable quality and still choose the track bike for long distance, then I can respect that because you actually had to choose a preference.

Brian Ratliff

I've done it. Fun times; great training. The look a person gets when they get beat in a stop line sprint by a guy riding a 70" fixed gear is priceless.

There's no limits on a bike. You turn the cranks, the wheels turn, you do this until you want to stop. If that's 40+ miles, more power to you, whatever bike you ride.

JS1965

I am buying a Raleigh 72 Grand Prix with 40MM rims, 48/16 and drops..(50 bucks)
Its a road frame converted to a fixed, I am excited to ride it but I am also putting brakes on it..

Total investment 85 bucks...
I think for a flat 25 miles trek 1 day a week and 1 10 lap track session it should be fun..We will see, worse case I sell it and just keep riding my roubiax

YOJiMBO20

One of my buddies is trying to get me to join his team for a race in April where the entire (so far 5-person) team is going to be on track bikes.

I've been trying to find either an inexpensive one on CL or a roadie that I don't mind turning into one and going along with it. I will have brakes though, as CA law requires at least a front.

FixedDriveJess

I don't have a road bike. My story is.. I used to have a road bike, rode it everywhere. It was my commuter. Then a buddy told me about this "fixie" thing and I was immediately turned off. One gear? No breaks? What?!

I gave it a try. Converted my roadie and after a week I fell in love. Since then I bought a real track frame and built it up. It's my commuter and I also do long rides with it. Did a century in november. I would get a road bike, but to be honest, I don't think I would ride it nearly as much. My father has a roadie and I rode it a few days ago, really didn't like it.

krobinson103

I'm glad you like it, but I'm curious. How do you stop if some idiot decides to turn in front of you? Happens quite often here and moving at 30-40kmh it would almost certainly end with me on the ground without brakes.

roadwarrior

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGLD1ZSAIGY

I had a track bike, put a single speed fixed/free wheel flip hub on it with a front brake. That's the most brave I will be in this age of self absorption.

FixedDriveJess

Actually, that's happened to me. It sucked, I fell. I also learned from it, and my braking abilities and instincts are much more evolved since then. Would it still happen in that same scenario? Probably, but I would fall less hard.

VA_Esquire

Don't forget to buy an aerospoke or it isn't worth riding.

popeye

I slap a brake on my TK2 and ride street but the toe overlap is wicked. I once managed to trap my foot on the wrong side manuvering at a stop light. Something larger than a 54 might not be so bad.

ahsposo 

I've got a Specialized Langster that I ride SS all the time. I've tried it fixed (these come with a flipflop hub) but a lifetime of having a freewheel is a hard habit to break. My biggest problem with fixed is cornering. I hate the feeling of a pedal strike.

Lew.

I only use my track bike for track and hill events. I commute to the track on it, with front brake and take it off when I get there and put it back on afterwards. I leave the brakes off for the hill climb (unless I don't drive there). Otherwise, I use the road bike for everything else.

Burnette

During one of my many bike searches I came across Serenity bicycles. Not cheap and kinda flashy, they are interesting nonetheless.
Here: https://www.serenitybikes.com/marvel
A blacked out one would be cool though, they look like Specialized's Venge.

JohnDThompson 

No worries provided you have brakes. I've ridden centuries on my fixed gear.

RaleighSport

I wouldn't, but that's just cause I don't ride my fixie long distances.. I have road bikes for that, oh and I'm a fixie heathen, two brakes and a flip flop hub.

Syncmaster

I road fixed gear the whole time I was living in Boston for College commuting. Had a blast. Even road the Boston Marathon route with a big group of roadies and that was doable. 50+ miles on a fixed gear wasn't obviously ideal since it wasn't flat. And not being able to coast sucked.

Now for commuting i still have my fixed gear but I've converted it to a single speed cruiser bike. Coasting is just so much more enjoyable.

I also built up this bad boy for city commuting. Single Speed with 32c tires for the bumps and pot holes. This thing is so much fun.



And I have my road bike for training and racing.