How many of you ride both fixed and geared?
 

I do. I've been riding my fixed almost exclusively for the past few weeks, but last night I went on a pretty heavy duty geared ride with one of my co-workers. I found that at the top of my pedal rotation, I was expecting to be carried through; so for the first few minutes there was an awkward pseudo-pause as my legs remembered they had to move themselves through that area. Not only that, but the first few times I coasted were a little awkward as well.

Anyone else see similar issues going back and forth from fixed to geared?

yup, I usually have thatmoment of weirdness when I get on the geared bike.

Yeah, i get it too, i ride fixed quite often but still ride a geared road bike a bit, but I usally forget that i can change gears and coast son a road bike imply because thats options are not availible on fixed gear.

I'm not only dual, I'm triple...Fixed, SS MTB, and geared road. I commute fixed and ride fixed some on the weekends, almost exclusively during winter and during rainy times. Lately though, the weekends have been more and more about long distance geared road biking plus some SS MTBing.

This winter I rode pretty much exclusively fixed, and when I finally got on my freewheeled machines, it was really odd for a couple of rides, but now I shift back and forth regularly from fixed to freewheel without needing an adjustment period. The first couple of big hills I rode with my geared bike, I found myself mashing to the top..forgetting that I had gears, but boy, its sure fun to blast downhill with 100+ gear inches!

Being thrown into coasting is always scary. Either by forgetting and applying backpressure, or pedalling over a bump and losing your spin and coasting for a little bit. Also for a good while I felt less stable on cornering on my geared bike. The other way happens too, after a long ride on the coastie I started to use the brake on the fixed almost exclusively for a while.

Now that I've been switching between them more often I don't really get surprised by the different drivetrain anymore. I can go for a long geared ride and be completely comfortable coasting and shifting and using only hand brakes to slow down, then I can get on my fixed and skid and skip and stop just fine without touching my front brake.

The only geared bike I have is a 3-speed, my primary ride is a fixie, and I also sometimes ride a SS MTB with a coaster brake. I definitely run into funny moments when switching back and forth. On the 3-speed, I always have an instant where I want to slow down and forget that I have to use the hand brakes. On both freewheeling bikes, it takes me about 20 minutes before I remember that I can stop pedalling if I want to.

I noticed that this was causing me trouble yesterday on a SS offroad ride. I realized that I was topping out on climbs when I was at the top of my stroke, I would just stop cranking. Once I conciously worked on pedaling circles, I was climbing a LOT better.

After about a month of riding fixed I got on my road bike and had the problem you were talking about. However after spending all fall/winter riding fixed, I got on my road bike and was absolutely fine. The reason was that I had learned how to pedal properly. I try to pedal in circles as much as possible no matter what I ride, and I found that made the transition much easier.

I sold my old geared bike a while ago and ride fixed exclusively right now, but am looking for a decent geared bike for long weekend rides. There are a few rides I want to do, but isn't possible fixed because they're straight up for a long time and then straight down......brakeless=hospital.

(2) fixed, (2) SS, (2) 3-speed/coaster brake, (1) 2x10, (1) 2x7, (1) 3x9.

I like all kinds o' bikes.

I love my fixie, and I love my geared bike. Finding, though, that I'm riding my fixed gear almost exclusively these days. (I did hop on the geared bike today, and almost ate it when I backpedaled & expected to slow down! I reached the brake just in time, and felt ********.)

I now ride them all in equal frequency so there are no surprises....

I'm gear and looking forward to my track/fixed purchase.
You can get used to anything with a bit of practice.

I killed my shoes and had to go back to kicks and straps, that took a few days to get used to even.

My touring hub scared the living **** out of me after going fixed for a while. It was awesome.

But got two fixed machines and two geared, probably another geared after summer.

i only ride fixed right now cause i don't see much need for gears in NYC. however, being out in San Fran made me really want a geared bike to hit the mountains in Marin.

the transition between geared and fixed is not that big for me. i do it multiple times a week. my road bike is purely for training and racing, though. if i am going somewhere to do something i always ride my fixed. i want to take the fixed on longer rides but i haven't figured out how to work fixed riding in. the transition period between bikes is not that bad, but i have been using my brake a lot more out of laziness. i just got clipless for my track bike which makes it a lot easier for me, personally, to control.

i'd be interested in the relationship between riding excessively large gear fixed and a crappy pedal stroke on a geared bike.

Sore knees? A good stroke is a good stroke regardless of the setup. IMO

I ride both. If you make an effort to have a well rounded pedal stroke, switching back and forth should not be a problem. The fact that I worked on spinning before I started riding fixed might have made a difference though.

When I first started riding fixed it was a little funky going back, but not any more. The main difference when I ride gears now is I have a much higher cadence than I used to.

The weirdest thing I noticed when I first started riding fixed is that when I was riding in a car my legs would twitch when slowing to a stop.

aw man i switch back and forth all the time and last night something horrible happened.
my right crank was in the 11o'clock position and usualy when im on my fixie i push off the ground with my left foot while i put a little pressure on the right pedal while it gets carried around to the front. but this time i was on my geared bike and when i put that pressure on right pedal it just spun the other way and i cracked my nuts on the toptube. it was horrible painful and public. i hope i dont make that mistake again.

what tripped me out last night was riding an iro that had been set up with a coaster brake. old school style. that was fun.

Been commuting, and training for the most part on my fixed gear. Did the Houston to Austin MS150 last weekend on my geared roadbike. No problems remembering to use handbrakes. Of course riding amongst 12,999 other riders, not wanting to wreck,and the want to finish were my inspiration. It started shifting like crap, and I wished I had my fixed. No surprise I rode through most of it in the same gear ratio I have on my fixed.

Now that its all over, the geared will be collecting dust. Its back to commuting and such on my fixed, and weekend trail rides on my SS MTB.

Spor..... Now that ride sounds fun!!!!!

yikes, sorry to hear that. when i was starting out riding fixed i had a couple close calls when i get on my fix after riding the road bike all day and accidentally locked my knee at the bottom of the pedal stroke (not a great idea on any bike really). the effect of course is that the pedal lifts your butt out of the saddle and throws your weight forward. never went over the bars, but i easily could have. paying attention is fun :o