I noticed in many of the pictures of peoples fixed gear bikes none have speedometers

whats the deal? i like knowing how fast im going and how many miles i put on the bike, so if i put a speedometer on the fixie im building would that be considered lame?

asking if you are lame is lame

i just count my RPM so if i have 12052 that means i've gone 10 miles.

skidding adds a multiplyer of .0143x

+1.

If you like something, do it. That's a pretty good rule for life in general.

also see: if you like something, hump it.

i dont care what others think and will more than likely put a speedometer on the bike im building im just curious why many others dont

i don't because i don't want to know how many miles i've gone and how slow i am.

Angst.

It's all about aesthetics in the scene.

You could keep a fairly clean look if you used a wireless sensor and mounted the head unit under your saddle. Also, Bontrager now makes carbon forks with an integrated sensor called the "Speed Trap".

we don't need speedometers because like, the whole zen thing, we're so in tune with the streets, we just know how fast we're going. Speed is like, relative, man. The only speed that matters is speed relative to mother earth's rotation, just feel it man.

If you're going a fixed speed, then why would you need a speedometer?

holy ****

zing!

+1 to not wanting to know how slow i'm riding.

I have one on one of my fixed gears. It's now the one I race because of that. Also, I like to know when I am speeding.

I normally don't use a computer on my bikes, even on geared bikes, unless I'm doing long distance events where I must follow route slips.....the odometer comes in handy there...

wouldnt knowing how fast your going make riding a fixed gear a little safer ?

ive ridden my motorcycle as my primary source of transportation for many years and riding on the streets with no mirror or even a speedometer feels unnatural to me i guess.

its not the hipster thing to do. Unless the speedometer was made by Toshi and cost $10,000, then you would see the jerkazz hipster fixies extolling the virtues of owning one, hell they would preen and fawn over it and basically say anything other that it was crap.

I have a computer and I go in and out of using it, only on my road bikes though. It's nice to know your distance on a long ride which is the only times I actually want it. Otherwise it's just in the way.

Get a Vespa, you'll be cured of that in a week! I've owned three vintage scooters and never had a mirror or working speedo. I actually prefer not having a mirror cause it forces me to look good and hard before I change lanes instead of being lazy and just using the mirror, which I would sometimes do on my other bike.

Do you guys think that maybe those old school speedometers that they used to put on cruisers could come back, with the spinning cable thing that mounts to the side of your tires? are those impractical and vintage enough to be cool yet?

I doubt it makes any difference one way or another. How fast can you go on your fixie? Most riders have good sense of speed under most particular road conditions and their surroundings. They don't need a speedometer to tell them they're overspeeding....especially on a bicycle...
Besides, before bike computers became popular some 20 years ago most bikes didn't even have those mechanical speedometers....even on race bikes....

and every time you look at the speedo is time you could be using to evaluate surroundings and watch for cars/road surface changes.

I have one of those. It's an odometer, not a speedometer.

^ they also made combo speedo / odo's too...my dad has one on his cruiser. I might have to "borrow' it.

I've seen a few that measure speed as well, also ones that use the same method for powering a small seatpost mounted light. Just odd little accessories that got made during the schwinn cruiser heyday I think. Seems like they'd have to create a noticeable amount of drag, wouldn't it? I tried spinning the end of the cable with my fingers and it wasn't exactly smooth.