Hey all - commuter here, lurking in the FG forum. There was a post over in Commuting about helmets yes/no (you know the threads), and I recalled my Mom informing me of a death back home in Santa Cruz (I'm in Colorado). Having never ridden a fixed gear bike, I just thought I'd get some opinions.

Are there considerations a Fixie rider must honor that other cyclists do not? Not basic rules of the road stuff, but stuff specific to fixed gear bikes. Much was mentioned of the lack of brakes in this case. Is a fixie safe for anything but leisure riding? What, if anything do you do differently while riding about town while on a fixed gear rather than a road/hybrid/MTB?

Not trying to advocate or imply anything, I am genuinely curious. Thanks for your input.

The most dangerous part is getting used to it. Once you're over the 2-4 week "hump" of accidently trying to coast, It's easy.

In some ways, It can be alot safer, especially if you keep both brakes on, you now have 3 ways of braking. Should one of them fail, you still have two to fall back on.

Oh, yes, it will make you a stronger rider.

It is still a bicycle. Use a helmet & brakes. If you follow the basic rules of traffic and a bit of common sense you will be fine.

Keeping clear of the drivetrain (pant legs/shoelaces while riding, fingers during cleaning).. not gonna post pictures since I'm eating breakfast. Treat a moving fixed drivetrain like a power tool that's plugged in.

To avoid pedal strikes you need to know what speed is too fast for your fixie to take sharp turns.

This only happens on a certain fraction of fixed gear bikes though, since bottom bracket height, crank arm length and pedal width play a large factor. For instance, on my KHS track bike with 165mm cranks and clipless pedals, I've never striked a pedal while cornering, no matter the speed.

I think how far you are leaning/how sharp a turn you are taking have more to do with it than your speed.

Your speed pretty much determines how much you have to lean into a turn.

who cares what other people think about helmets. if you feel that its the right thing to do than you dont have to explain yourself to anyone.

The notion that a fixed gear bike should be brakeless is something that gives the bikes a bad reputation as far as safety is concerned. I've had more than one person say something like "if that's a fixed gear, why does it have a brake?" I'm not trying to start a brake debate, but I hate it when people who ride brakeless act like having a brake makes you inferior, or that a fixed gear with a brake is a violation of some rule.

thats usually a clear sign they are in it for the style, not the ride if they criticize you for it.

There's that whole "living life on the edge!!!!x111x!!!" argument, but I like my life enough that I dont need to spice it up by toying with my life. Go play catch with a chainsaw if you want excitement

I think that unless you are going at top speed trying to take the sharpest turn possible, you have the ability to take the same turns at the same speed with a different amount of lean.

I think awareness, as mentioned before is the biggest difference. People who ride fixed for the enjoyment of it/the physical benefits get it. People who ride it cause they like tight pants and the style of the whole thing dont. It's still a bike, it still stops, you just have to know how.
I agree wholeheartedly with the drivetrain awareness mentioned before, things get gnarled pretty quick if you arent careful.

I think Sheldon mentions the pants-shoelaces issue in his "Fixed Gear for the Road" article. To paraphrase: it's an annoyance with a freewheel, it's downright dangerous on a fixed gear.


Anyway, I'm one of those two-brake Nancy Boys but I still prefer to use my legs to regulate my speed in traffic. You'll find yourself looking far down the road and around corners to try to anticipate the need to slow, stop, or accelerate. That makes you a better bike rider, imo.

... and you would be mistaken. In order to maintain your balance when you turn, your center of gravity must be precisely positioned. Of course you could lean your body way over and keep your bike more upright (like a motorcycle racer), but your center of gravity is always in the same place (at the same angle) for a given turn and speed.

So for a given speed there is only one angle? Then I guess that I must be a superhuman for being able to either take a turn sharp or wide at a given speed. Sometimes I go to the inside sometimes I go outside.

Lean and turn bars sharply.

I also would say some form of foot retention system is a must except for a few fringe uses (snow / winter bike) because pedals moving without your feet can end in disaster.

If you're riding fixed and trying to squeak between car and curb, pedal strike is definitely a concern because you can't coast with the curb-side pedal "up." But it's wise to avoid riding on the right side of cars in tight situations anyway (fixed or free).

He probably meant moving in the same path. You cannot follow the same path through a turn at different lean angles - though that's not exactly true either because you can lean your body without the bike and vice versa.

Or turn your bars more or less.

Word.

The true mark of a bad@ss is how fast you go NOT how you stop.

When you are negotiating a corner, you have a three variable system with two degrees of freedom. Out of lean angle, turn radius, and speed, you can choose two. The third variable will be dictated by your other two choices and the constraints of the physics of the system. If you pick a radius and a speed and don't lean in far enough, you *will* fall over toward the outside of the turn. If you lean too far for the radius and speed, you *will* fall toward the inside of the corner.

Turning your bars more or less is just a way of choosing the radius.

That's a good way to put it. The two people who finished ahead of me in the last alley cat I did had brakes, along with the three that came in behind me. The brakeless kids trickled in over the next half hour or so, and the kid who gave me **** about my brake ended up with a big fat DNF.

Wow, that's exactly analogous to my own alley cat experience, right down to the criticism for having a brake (and clipless shoes) by the DNF rider in tight pants with riser bars. The gap between the riders with brakes and those without was pretty huge - almost ten minutes before the brake-less riders started showing up.

im guessing its because they have low gearing for skidding? why would u use that setup for races -_-;;