Really? I had to file the inside tabs of my Gippiemmes. What part didn't clear, just curious.

i did the file the tabs off thing...but the bolts stick out a bit still, so i only gained a very small amount of clearance.
The pista cranks have the bolts countersunk into the spider.
On my bike i'm stuck using track specific cranks.

Dutret sure uses the word "you" a lot.

He can't mean me when he says "you."

He must mean himself.

=====

Y'know, when we don't know something, we don't know we don't know it.

We think we know everything.

At one time I thought I knew everything about sex.

Gosh, I had that wrong.

So, when I think I know everything, and someone comes along who knows something I don't know, I could easily figure the thing that person thinks he knows doesn't even exist, because it doesn't exist in my experience.

With all respect, dutret might consider telling us more about what HE can't do with a fixed gear bike, and how a fixed gear bike limits HIM.

If you think you are anywhere close to as agile fixed in a situation where agility is actually testes(like a moderate xc trail) you are completely ****ing clueless about what agility on a bike is. You are right I am talking about myself here. I am not as good fixed and freewheeled offroad. Noone is though, it's just too limiting. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise they are either lying or don't know how to ride for ****.

Got it. Kind of a bummer, but now you have a valid reason when the fashion/function police interrogate you.

Oh yeah, take it outside fellas.

As a guest here, I shouldn't need to take it anywhere.

Dutret:

In the future, please do not address me or comment about me, my bike, my preferences, or my opinions.

Just participate in the various threads as if I don't exist.

I will return the favor.

I suggest you add him to your ignore list.

Why? He's right. If fixed were more agile, then trials and BMX stunt riders would use fixed, as they require the most agility of any discipline. Fixed provides more direct feedback from the rear wheel to the cranks (and may feel more agile on flat ground), but at a substantial cost in the rider's ability to apply force when/where they want (which hoses anything in 3-d space, like MTB).

Yeah, those European fixed dancers are cool, but they glide on perfect gymnasium floors. Let's see what tricks a fixed can pull on a BMX stunt course...

Why does everyone insist on using MTB or BMX analogies to measure agility. It's an irrelevant comparison. Whether I agree with the point or not, the comparison is still irrelevant.

The word agility as applied to mountain and road riding has entirely different meanings. Until you can find an arugment not centered around a dirt analogy you've made no point.

Why? How is it a different standard of agility? I am not trying to be confrontational, I am just genuinely curious.

moving in and out of heavy traffic at high speeds requires a lot of agility, especially in terms of throwing your weight laterally with your hips, and the amount of deceleration you require is always gonna be different and easier to calculate intuitively with your legs (and a little front brake maybe?) than just brake levers alone. at least it is for me. come ride down broadway at 5pm every day of the week with me. that'll do the agility argument more justice than listening to me.

oh, wait! wrong thread. i thought this was fixed/ss, i didn't realize i wound up in mtb/cyclo.

*don't take any of my experiences to heart, i only post here when i'm drunk anyway. : )

yeah
 

riding brakeless in NYC (200 miles in 3 days) last summer was way less sketchy than when I converted my SS MTB (which I race/train on and am very familiar with) to fixed for a week in the Wasatch (SLC, UT) singletrack.

Just sayin.

Granted, 7 years of my 10 as a messenger have been of fixed......... but bombing trails is a whole different game (read: takes bigger nuts than my parents gave me)

If you refrain from posting bad(often dangerous) advice and solely post about stuff like your plans to ride to portland I would never address you again. You probably won't so I won't.

If by road riding you mean the lycra clad adventure out of town I am about to embark on then agility doesn't really matter. The standards for measuring it are still the same though. If you want to talk about city or street riding whatever the term of the day is then not only should it have the same meaning as when mtbing but you run into the exact same problems albeit slightly less frequently.

-pedal strike while upright.(you aren't going to slam your pedal on a curb with a freewheel)
-the inability to corner as fast.
-a narrower range of speeds you can comfortably ride.
-IT IS HARD TO BUNNYHOP.(this is an essential skill that most fixed riders simply can barely pull off and hardly any are comfortable enough to use it as regularly as a freewheeled rider)
-poorer control over the pressure you apply to the rear wheel.(especially important in the wet)
etc.

Sure maybe you can live with these limitations but that does not change the fact that fg riding reduces agility in any meaningful sense of the word.

ANYWAY, to bring this back on topic, I upgraded from S75s to Gran Mighty cranks. They do, in fact, address these points:
-they automatically shorten when cornering low enough to risk pedal strike.
-they go as fast as they can, as comfortably as you can. robotically.
-they bunnyhop for you!
-all you have to do is put ONE FOOT on the pedals, activating the cranks, which do all the work. they put perfect control on the rear wheel.

get the GMs.

****, now I'm stuck with these Sugino RDs

which have certain manufacturing flaws. they lengthen as you corner, and they run on stroke power that should be pushing your bike forward. they also are subscribers of early pseudogravitational theories, and because they are made up of earth matter, seek reunion with the earth, making it VERY DIFFICULT to bunnyhop. plus they're epileptic.