Is Philly the center of the Fixed Universe?

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11-02-07 | 11:57 AM

#26

jdeane4

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Joined: Jan 2007

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From: Murfreesboro, TN

Quote:

Originally Posted by andre nickatina

eh, the college town i'm in is mostly garbagey walmart mtn. bikes, straight gauge cruisers, "comfort" bikes, and vintage junker 10 speed road bikes. the minorities are fixed gears, singlespeeds, modern road bikes and bmx. seems pretty appropriate to me considering just about everyone in the majority category a) has their seat too low / crappy fit b) locks up with a cable or improperly positioned u-lock and c) does more riding on the sidewalk than the street. not exactly an enthusiast demographic, more like the "i can't wait till i can drive again in 4 years" people.

My town is the same way. Except, instead of "cant wait to drive in 4 years." Its I cant wait till my license suspension is up in 4 years...The only people that ride bikes in Macon, Ga are either homeless or DUI offenders...

11-02-07 | 12:06 PM

#27

lamalex

Invented the Skid Salute

Joined: Aug 2007

Posts: 370

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From: Philly

Bikes: EAI Bareknuckle, Schwinn Tandem, Specialized Metal Matrix Comp, Peugeot UO8

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdeane4

yeah, he said "drive again" [emphasis added]

11-02-07 | 12:19 PM

#28

killsurfcity

perspective distorts

Joined: Aug 2005

Posts: 1,345

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From: 25th and Girard

philly has gotten huge with the lone gear in the last 3 or so years. i used to have to look out for foxy looking rides, now i can't get away from them. this city is not helping my bike lust problem at all.

11-02-07 | 01:50 PM

#29

Eric Hanus

Color Blind

Joined: Mar 2007

Posts: 369

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From: Bloomington Indiana

Bikes: 1970's Fuji Del Rey

seems like DC is the most organized

11-02-07 | 01:51 PM

#30

kzac

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Joined: Oct 2007

Posts: 71

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From: Washington, DC

Bikes: Gan Well Pro, Trek Soho S

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

Try DC, Baltimore, NYC, Boston, SF, etc. etc.

Pretty much any major city.

I honestly don't feel like DC has that many FG or SS riders... But I haven't traveled much

11-02-07 | 02:06 PM

#31

zacked

Joined: Mar 2006

Posts: 454

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From: Banned in DC

The amazing thing in DC is how many guys in business suits you see riding fixed gears.

11-02-07 | 02:09 PM

#32

genericbikedude

如果你能讀了這個你講中文

Joined: Feb 2005

Posts: 3,542

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From: New York

philly does have a ton of fixed bikes around. for one, if you exclude the NEast, Mt Airy/Germantown, and the vast slum wastelands that surround cc, no libs, university city and the nice part of south philly, you are left with a college town. Temple, Drexel, Penn, UArts, etc. Plus it is flat and compact, which is good for fixed bikes. Plus you have NBW/Bike Church, lots of great, long-time bike shops, etc, supporting the community. Plus the anarchists in west philly and the hipsters in no libs.

I miss philly.

11-02-07 | 04:40 PM

#33

sven_svensenson

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Joined: May 2007

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Quote:

Originally Posted by genericbikedude

I miss philly.

HA! blech. whats to miss?
country life is where its at.

11-02-07 | 04:56 PM

#34

sfcrossrider

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Joined: Mar 2006

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From: San Francisco

Bikes: Steelman eurocross, Surly CrossCheck, IRO Rob Roy...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Igneous Faction

Ironically, whenever I see a working messenger in Philly they're usually riding a geared bike.

They're typically mad-maxed to hell, but geared bikes just the same.

This is true in most places.

11-02-07 | 05:15 PM

#35

colintdesign

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Joined: Oct 2007

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From: NY

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfcrossrider

This is true in most places.

So true. I work in soho and see tons of messengers, they are all riding beat road and mountain bikes. I see a lot of fixie riders too, but 99% hipsters.

11-02-07 | 07:09 PM

#36

babychris

sharkfin.

Joined: Jul 2006

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From: philllaaaaay.

Bikes: davidson track. landshark

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfcrossrider

This is true in most places.

just sayin though, almost 75% of messengers here ride fixed, 5% have both and 20% are geared.

11-02-07 | 07:12 PM

#37

Yoshi

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Joined: Nov 2004

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In NYC the majority seem to ride mountain bikes or road bikes. However the majority of the "scene" messengers (as in messengers who are a part of the "fixed-gear/bike culture" or whatever you want to call it) ride fixed.

11-02-07 | 07:14 PM

#38

babychris

sharkfin.

Joined: Jul 2006

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From: philllaaaaay.

Bikes: davidson track. landshark

its also just really flat here. I mean, ive got my geared bike, but I still ride my track bike as my work bike.

11-02-07 | 08:07 PM

#39

charlesxbronson

Banned.

Joined: Oct 2007

Posts: 79

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From: south philly

Bikes: I HAVE A CAR

yeah...

missing philly is nothing to miss, we're averaging 2 murders a day, and it's getting cold out.

11-02-07 | 10:46 PM

#40

Straws

for drinking

Joined: Aug 2004

Posts: 942

Likes: 5

Richmond has a TON of ss/fg bikes. I ride 2 miles to class. On two trips one day I saw 21 ss/fixed bikes, not including BMX. And one of the rides back I took a side road so I didnt see any bikes that trip. So that's 7 ss/fg for each leg of the trip. I didnt count the ones locked up either, only the ones being ridden.

11-03-07 | 02:14 PM

#41

Lenore

... .--. --- -.- . -. / .

Joined: Jul 2007

Posts: 56

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From: Philadelphia

Bikes: Jamis Quest, Surly Crosscheck

I've seen alot of old chinese food delivery guys ride the mtbs. I'm not sure they count as messengers though. But, then again, they do deliver packages*.

*If you count styrofoam and hot&sour soup in a plastic bag w/ a smiley face.

11-03-07 | 02:32 PM

#42

onetwentyeight

blah

Joined: Oct 2005

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From: Oakland, CA

our bike piles are bigger than your bike piles

11-03-07 | 02:37 PM

#43

Pemdas

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From: Fisticles, VA

Bikes: Bianchi Pista 01

yeah i never found dc to be very fg/ss saturated. and def not anywhere near as many as in richmond.

11-03-07 | 02:37 PM

#44

colintdesign

Senior Member

Joined: Oct 2007

Posts: 102

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From: NY

Quote:

Originally Posted by onetwentyeight

our bike piles are bigger than your bike piles

This looks exactly like outside of mccarren park pool in the summertime. Especially at a free show, 100s of bikes hanging everywhere. I see an onion street box too!

11-03-07 | 04:09 PM

#45

mascher

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Joined: Dec 2004

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Quote:

Originally Posted by raster

An article in a paper around here (i think) said the ratio was something like 40%.

That article can't have been discussing the percentage of singlespeed bikes of all the bikes in Philly. Maybe seen locked on South Street or outside McGlinchey's.

Whatever article that was, they should change their official number to "lots".

11-03-07 | 04:10 PM

#46

genericbikedude

如果你能讀了這個你講中文

Joined: Feb 2005

Posts: 3,542

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From: New York

I'm in Philly today visiting the parents. Got off the chinatown bus, went to the last drop for a cup of coffee (old high school hangout), then rode to my folks house in fairmount. in that time I saw five fixed gear bikes with platform pedals, or platform-pedal singlespeeds with bullhorns and TT brakes. way to represent, philly.

11-03-07 | 06:36 PM

#47

kmart

Blue Light Special

Joined: Sep 2006

Posts: 1,467

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From: Bay Area, Sunny Cali

Bikes: '05 Felt F55, Schwinn Prologue road bike, '86 Centurion DS Iron Man, Sette Flite AM MTB

According to Google Trends (the first place I check whenever I'm bored and looking for a new trend to follow), Portland, Oregon is apparently the fixie-est place on earth.
https://www.google.com/trends?q=fixie...ate=all&sort=1

And Philly isn't even in the top 10.

11-03-07 | 06:51 PM

#48

knucks

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Joined: Mar 2007

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Ann Arbor has been increasing its' numbers of fixed gears, but most I see around here are old beaters/conversions. I guess i'd think many here are not new to it, though there are a few new Bowery's running round..

Hopefully I made some sense in that sense.

11-03-07 | 06:52 PM

#49

mihlbach

Senior Member

Joined: Dec 2005

Posts: 6,656

Likes: 145

From: Long Island, NY

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eureka

I am in Melville and ride the LIE service road - but singlespeed - old Italian steel! I only see one fixed rider out here - looks like a grey Langster maybe. The guy is too fast to really tell. Is that you?

Its not me....that means there are at least 4 people on LI outside of NYC riding FG/SS and at least three of them have posted on this thread!