You are the rider out there that scares me.

lol...alright..lets clarify this...i can ride the bike fine...i think ive just been watching too many fixed gear videos...with people skidding down hills, doing wheelies, 180s and going backwards, trackstands...im guessing that comes naturally after time...which is what i wanted to know...I know how to ride the bike fine...i just want to be really good too fast...i hit the car cause i didnt want to use my breaks...lol...i wanted to skid...and i didnt know how...LOL...and the speed bumps...im sure you have always missed a few of those and did something like what I did...

So stop making fun of me for not knowing how to ride...i can do that...I want to slamon skid, 180 to back pedal, pedal backwards, trackstand...LOL...when can i do that stuff?

you can do tricks and stuff once you can actually ride the bike without having to worry about not being able to stop, falling over, loosing the pedals, basic bike things. Tricks are really the least important part of riding a bike, if you want tricks, I suggest get a bmx bike.

bmx bikes are lame...fixed gear is cooler...lol...Ill work my way up there...Ill just ride for a while..and practice that fun stuff for like 30min or something everyday.

I call B.S. on this whole thread

I wish I could agree. I think this is all too real.

sad this makes me

The saturday before this semester started I got very drunk and rode around campus from 12:30am-4am trying to do tricks. I woke up with many, many cuts and bruises, but I can now do a wheelie! YMMV :)

+1 you/....fail...at...life

I almost had a seizure reading this post. ****ing tits man, learn to type properly and stop saying LOL so much.

hahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahaha

Yeah well, I got really drunk once and spent the whole night trying to ride a skateboard while wearing rollerskates. I got cuts and bruises all over too but still can't do that ****, or do wheelies. The point is if you're trying to do something you aren't co-ordinated enough to pull off, well, just stop.

When I started riding fixed I was already very comfortable with the bike.. It was a SS and I rode it for a good month before I rode it fixed. That definitely helped. I've thought about this some and here is my basic advice to a new fixed rider:

1) ride the bike SS for a few days first if possible; get used to the handling of the bike
2) Make sure you can already use the clips or clipless pedals, and you MUST have these when you start riding fixed. It isn't just for skidding or stopping; your are very likely to "forget to pedal" at a high speed and this will help keep your feet on the pedals and keep the pedals out of your shin/leg. If you can't use your foot fastener SS don't ride fixed until you can.,
3) don't remove the rear brake just because the bike is fixed. a new fixed rider must demonstrate the ability to stop the bike with pedals before taking the rear brake off; IMHO (flame on)
4) under no circumstance remove the front brake unless you have ridden fixed for a significant time.

From then, I don't know. The hardest part for me was learning to start from a stop. Perhaps you want the seat a little lower to start so you can put your foot down on both sides while on the saddle. Do this just long enough until you can start and stop. Of course, as you are riding don't stop pedaling. This will haunt you when you switch from freewheel/fixed but over time your legs become supple when you forget to pedal, at least mine did.. I ride every day for transport, and it took me about 2-3 hours of riding fixed to feel very comfortable on the bike(with front/rear brakes). It took me another week to develop the natural feeling of always pedaling, but at that point if I got up to speed and started to coast my legs would be supple and ready to spin and it wasn't a problem.

Just keep at it, you'll get it

sigh.. I can't believe I actually put thought into my last post..

In a strange way I'm jealous of your tenacity to learn these tricks, and I know it is the type of person who is willing to risk teeth and limb that can do the really sick ****.

I for one can do a mediocre skid and track wobble. Although this thread did just remind me of a dream I had last night where I could ride in a circle backwards.. heh

i want to say troll, partly because of all the LOLing goin on up there. but in the case that you are serious...

did the guy at the bike shop really tell you to try the strapless thing? strapless is for bras, not bikes. and maybe bros. anyway, put them on. if you're going to be trying all these tricks and such this early on, i hope you wear a helmet. if not, get one when you get your straps. don't skid everytime you need to slow down, pay attention to whats ahead of you and resist, most of the time this will be fine. if you really want to do tricks right away, work on trackstands, they are actually useful to riding, unlike a 180 skid to pedal backwards.

don't get me wrong, tricks can be fun but riding is more fun and there is always something about your riding that you can improve. have fun.

edit: i wish i could do a backwards circle. i'm getting there.

I got my Pista 3 years ago with clipless pedals and a brake on it, and had absolutely no problems. It probably helped that I did this while on a huge road trip somewhere in DC, so I learned somewhere perfectly flat, and also that I had many years of serious cycling behind me.

Alright...this was a drunken post. But yes, I did take the recommendations and have started using the straps. They help alot. I think the store guy told me to not use straps for maybe the first 10 minutes but I must have forgotten. If you dont believe me in hitting and falling that much its okay, I did do most of that, like hit a car, flip over the bars on the speed bumps, smash my knees ect.

I just realised that it will take alot longer than a few days to get riding backwards, and wheelies and slalom skids, and 180s and such. Sorry for wasting everyones time, Im just going to practice and see what comes. I am also going to talk to the person who installed my fixed cog and lock ring. He rides 52-13, and has been riding for a while. Maybe he can give me tips.

Thanks again for your recommendations, keep them coming if you wish.

some people pick it up faster than others, I don't see a need to rag on the guy... although I have to admit the guy does seem like the Buster Keaton of fixed-gears. Still, learning to crash well is... uh... a good skill.

Chrysptera's advice seems decent to me. I was aided in riding my first fixed by the fact that it was a bike I'd already spent 40 hours a week on for a year that was supernaturally stable on its own, getting used to the way the bike handles as a singlespeed might be a good plan. Personally I'd probably focus on using the front brake and fixed-drive as your primary means of stopping for now (mostly the front brake, in conjunction with the drivetrain when necessary... done properly it probably won't even be necessary to do any skidding for now).

You might've said this, but what've you got for your chainring and cog on this thing? Gearing makes a huge difference that shouldn't be overlooked... the guys in those videos almost certainly have their ratios down pat for the "tricks" they're doing...

ah, another post in the meantime...

52 x 13? Are you sure about that?

When I was working I ran 45 x 13 with a sissy brake which I found pretty ideal... stopping that thing without the brake got mighty hairy sometimes... it was simpler to go around obstacles and avoid stopping.

wow....this is almost like the fixie bike gymnastics version of tadashi. please keep posting! (and don't hurt yourself, or cars)

@tinydr: Yes, He told me 52 x 13. It looks right too. Biggest mother I've seen in the front and smallest little guy in the back. Says he gets 1xx odd inches per pedal. Its nuts, and its in Halifax, which is pretty hilly.

@generalposters: I've been practicing again. I don't even use my breaks anymore. I'm not going to take them off or anything, but I can say that I use them much less often than when I started. I have also improved greatly since I started using the toe straps, but I had to adjust the peg on the bottom to flip up the pedal. I also need to get new straps because these are ruining my shoes. No more injuries yet. But bruises are coming up everywhere, from trying to skid stop. Im going to stop that soon, and learn a more controlled way to do it with out smashing my knees on the frame.

Don't be like that guy.

Please feed my distaste for humanity by telling me he rides brakeless.

are you hitting the top of your leg on the frame? Or are you hitting the bars?

yeah, you need to practice your depth perception. riding brakeless is an art. you can not rely on skids, as emergency situations wont even allow it. Skipping is a useful tool. But moreso is common sense, like knowing how fast you're going and how long it will take you to backpedal to a stop. Eventually after riding about 1000 miles brakeless you get your spider sense too, which tells you when *******s are gonna cut you off or open their doors in front of you. Spider sense is nice, but if you have to ask, you dont have it....

dude don't have kids and you should probably stop riding a bike immediately