As I composed my Intro post, I reflected for a moment on my most recently discovered cycling joy: riding a fixed gear (converted road bike) with no particular place to go. This introspective moment allowed me to answer the "why" question. I never really thought much about it before... riding SS off-road, then fixed just seemed like something I'd like to try. (To date I haven't tried off-road fixed).

Of course, there's the practical side: I understand that riding fixed can be good training, and that fixed gear bikes can be good for commuting since their mechanically simple drivetrains leave little to go wrong. I guess fixies can be lighter, too, but mine is a budget conversion of straight gauge Tange so it's actually a couple pounds heavier than my 'regular' road bike.

But no appeal to the pragmatic can explain the enjoyment. Here's the best I've come up with so far...

The simple fact of the matter is that spinning the cranks on a fixie is fun.

What makes it more - err- interesting? I feel like a (s)kid again.

• skids
• direct drive track stands
• fancy dismounts
• (attempts at) riding backwards...
• more skids
• the laugh-at-yourself moment after you forget to pedal and the bike reminds you bucking bronco style (so long as you save it you can laugh right away)
• power slides (advanced skids)
• pacing your pedal input to synchronize your momentum with the traffic lights
• hop skidding to scrub off excess speed

It was similar when I started riding my rigid singlespeed mtn bike. Only, that was fun mainly because of the additional challenge - as in, I had a renewed sense of accomplishment whenever I crested a climb or cleaned a technical section. There's a quality to the experience of riding w/o all the technology where the unecessary techno geeky thinking falls away and the rider has more direct access to the sensations of momentum, gravity, body english for balance and power, instant feedback on your trail reading/line picking... and whether you can hold the good line; that the perceived effort is somehow less and that feeling of flowing like water easily returns.

Riding the fixie can be like that, too. But by far the best thing is it is fun to ride just because you have to pay attention to the act of riding.

Did I mention that I get to skid?

The reasons are numerous, but the one you touched on that sums it all up for me is:
Riding a bike is fun.

For me, riding fixed is better than sex... Besides that, I'm a minimalist.....I love things in life that are simple. I don't like too many gadgets and accessories. They are most times useless and just get in the way. I love bicycles with just one gear. Solid colors only. I have an audio pre-amp with only two knobs. Black and white, left or right. Fixed lenses only, no zooms. Yes, no. Simple foods.... sushi. Wine, brie & crackers. Too bad my car is multi-geared....I'll fix that one day. I don't like women that are complicated. One gear, thank you.

i dunno about better than sex, but for me, i ride fixed for two main reasons:

1) i love doing tricks (skids, stands, slides, etc)
2) i love the direct drive speed/control/feeling

yah, in the end it all comes down to the fact that it's more fun. ;D

The gears on my bike always distracted me. Trying to figure out if I was in the right one. Would I have to downshift for the upcoming hill? Should I have shifted already? Was I currently in the right gear to even have the proper input to make that decision? Which way in up on the rear cog? It's opposite on the front, so does that mean I shift this way or that way? Crap, that's wrong, now I'm in a worse gear than if I never tried..........
And all this was just getting out of my driveway. Gears were distracting me from the act of riding my bike. Once I stopped shifting at all and just started riding I began to really enjoy it. Since I've purged my bike of gears I've had a huge smile on my face.
That's why I'm SS right now, fixed is to come.

......bet you'll never own a vehicle with a manual tranmission....

4 of 5 of the vechicles I own have manual transmissions. Of the 16 vechicles I've owned 2 had autos.

Oh and the one auto I own now is my minivan, the last manual transmission minivan I can find that was made was in 1988 and word is that they made less than 1000 of them. If I could actually find one for sale, I'd buy it.

"why" is not the question..."why not?" is!
less crap to worry about, less people wanting the bike (ever see someone try and ride a fixie they just stole if they don't know how? Bet it's pretty funny...), and less to worry about. Yes, I said that twice.

Opps.......total misjudgement on my part. I retract my statement.

i started riding single speed cuz i broke a derailer and decided it would be easier to just pull a couple links from the chain rather than hunt for a new derailer... after riding that for a few months and riding a friend's fixie a few times, i just did it for fun...
plus it's easier to maintain...
plus, watching someone try to steal my bike from in front of the bar and then getting bucked off when he tried to coast was one of the funniest things i've ever seen...

I just had to try the track! But for this, I had to ride fixed. no, I'm not looking back on it!

Plus, riding fixed makes you feel special cause no one else does this and people look at you in funny ways because you never stop pedaling!

im converting converting an old road bike i found behind a dumpster into a ss/fixed with a flip hop hopefully. ss to begin with at least. and all i have to say is, even though the thing might look like a piece of ****, no derailleurs, no shifters and only a front brake make the thing look sexy as hell. minimalist and it shows you don't take **** from no one on the road. i want to learn fixed because it seems like it will only help me in the long run improving cadence and knowing my bike also. plus, i will have to learn to be far more aware of my surroundings and gauging cars what not which will only help me on my road bike.