1. 1976 Seeing the really cool bikes that the track racers had at Penrose Velodrome in St. Louis
2. First one I owned 1980 Gitane Kilo - still have it and still ride it
3. Orlando FL
4. Still ride in the burb's on a chrome Bianchi Pista with a front brake...gotta avoid bad tourist drivers and
crashing at my age hurts.


Joel

1. What influenced you to ride fixed (friend, professionals, seeing others, messengers)? Shants, and Nate Z.
2. Is your bike (or was your first bike) a conversion?current bike is a yes;first bike was a raliegh bmx
3. Where do you live (city and state for US, city and provence/country for outside of the US)?Columbu oh

1) A friend from NYC told me about these bike the messengers rode that sounded impossible to me. I started asking lots of questions at the LBS.
2) First bike is a Stella conversion.
3) Live in Philadelphia, PA

I know it was 2002 because I was coming home from Spiderman and broke the frame on my road bike. It would be 6+ weeks for the warrantee claim to go through, so I went to the LBS to get a cheap ride in the meantime. I had been asking them about fixed gear bikes for months, they told me it would be perfect for a simple ride while my roadbike got replaced.

1. friends, cool factor
2. nishiki conversion (still ride it, though it's retired with fenders as my rain/lockup)
3. illa philla
4. n/a

1. Sheldon Brown and 63cx or what ever that mtb fixie site is and my LBS
2. No, It's a Jamis Sputnik
3. Albuquerque, NM
4. Does not apply, but I ride to school and mess around a lot on the bike path.

I cant vote

1. My dad put me in a youth velodrome program at the San Diego track in 1993 and I raced for a couple years
2. yes and yes
3. Seattle
4. I live in a big city and it was the cool thing to do

1. What influenced you to ride fixed (friend, professionals, seeing others, messengers)?
Saw a conversion parked outside of my LBS. I liked the minimalist look. I got curious

2. Is your bike (or was your first bike) a conversion?
No.

3. Where do you live (city and state for US, city and provence/country for outside of the US)?
Boston

4. If you live in a small city or suburb, how/why did you decide to ride fixed?
I just like it better that my MTB in the city.

1. My friend Tim introduced me to fixed gears a couple years ago. I denied how awesome single speeds and fixies were for about a year as far as simplicity and efficiency are concerned. Eventually, though, about this time last spring I built my first fixed gear.
2. Current bike is a track frame, first was a conversion
3. Milwaukee, WI and Madison, WI

2005

1. My friend Jim, and simplicity for a commuting bike!
2. Yes
3. Starkville Mississippi
4. Wanted something simple and bomb proof and fast.

January '07 for the new year.
1. I was already riding an older mountain bike in traffic, saw the vids on Lucas Brunells site, also saw this guy flying through traffic in Rosslyn riding a fixed gear. I needed a more efficient bike for school, so with the help of some Christmas money I bought a fg over the Christmas break.
2. non conversion. Kona Paddy Wagon. still my only fg.
3. From DC metro area, but have been living in Pensacola, FL for school.
4. Small cities have a good vibe since you know you're part of a grassroots movement in your town. I know all of the fixed gear riders in this city. But since I come from a bigger city I discovered fg riding before I came down.

2003, or maybe it was early 2004?

1. Had a singlespeed, then tried a friend's conversion and loved it
2. I had a couple conversions, now I have a track bike
3. Then Los Angeles, now London
4. n/a

Started riding fixed in 06/2007

1. I would have to say seeing others, it looked to be a simple fun bike.
2. No. First fixed gear was the Kilo TT
3. Jacksonville, Florida
4. Fairly large city - pretty flat

I don't live anywhere near you. I live like around Holgate and 115th.

im not gonna front on this

1. i saw Massan ride in the MASH video and recognized him as the dude that worked at HUF and realized that he is very good, and i wanted to be a cool kid

2. no its not a conversion

3. SF, CA

I don't ride a fixed gear, I ride a TRACK BIKE.

2003

1. I had just moved downtown and I hated driving. I wanted to get a bike and when I saw a track bike for the first time (there were about 5 or 6 in my town at the time), I had no idea what it was but it was the sexiest thing I'd ever seen. The one that caught my eye was a steamroller with cross tires and camo bar tape. It looked like the bmx bikes I used to ride but made to go ****ing fast. I did research and found sheldon, FGG, and BFSSFG.

2. First bike was a 2001 Fuji Track off ebay.

3. Started riding in Atlanta GA. Now I'm in Thailand.

If i wanted to know that i would have posted this poll in the TRACK forum asking about TRACK bikes.
Not to be ********ly redundant but this is an all inclusive survey.




so shut the **** up.

1. A few summers ago a friend I was working with brought up a fixed hub and started telling me about it. It seemed a little strange at the time but soon enough I became curious.
2. My first bike (fixed gear) was a converted Nishiki Competition that I still ride today. I'm now fixing up a GT Pulse.
3. Bellingham, WA?
4. Bellingham is neither big nor small. Its got big hills and good flats and fixed seems to suit it just fine.

1986. I just got my first road bike (531c, Campag Gran Sport) so my commuter (Raleigh Merlin!) got converted into a hack. Fixed was the training bike everyone used back then.

And then again in 2004, after reminiscing with housemates and realising how much I missed it.

2006.

1. What influenced you to ride fixed (friend, professionals, seeing others, messengers)?
simplicity/purity of the bike, training aspect of riding fixed. (the catalyst was finding a Scorcher in my size!)

2. Is your bike (or was your first bike) a conversion?
no.

3. Where do you live (city and state for US, city and provence/country for outside of the US)?
Berkeley, CA.

1. What influenced you to ride fixed (friend, professionals, seeing others, messengers)? Tired of messing around with gears and seeing as i live on the prairies there is literally no hills at all fg was a perfect choice for my urban riding. Fixed was just simple and i can do all the work on my bike. I also saw this sub forum of bikeforums

2. Is your bike (or was your first bike) a conversion? Yes, 83 nishiki olympic. Great learning experience, built it myself and learned how to do all my own upkeep in the process
3. Where do you live (city and state for US, city and provence/country for outside of the US)? Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
4. If you live in a small city or suburb, how/why did you decide to ride fixed? I dislike gas, parking, traffic jams, redlights, the smell from when you've had your a/c on, etc

I started riding this year, in March, after a long stint of not riding bikes.

1. I had friends that rode fixed years ago, but I never really thought much about it. I started lurking FGSS, thought FG looked like a ton of fun. I was looking into purchasing a new bike for commuting, since all I had was my BMX, and I went full speed ahead with a FG purchase.

2. No.

3. Beaverton, Oregon.

4. I live, like, ten miles from Portland, Oregon, so it is not like I live in the sticks.

1. What influenced you to ride fixed (friend, professionals, seeing others, messengers)?
Got sick of gears in 2006 and went single speed, got talking to someone who said fixed was the way, and loads more people who said it was really hard and scary, so I made one

2. Is your bike (or was your first bike) a conversion?
Yeah both bikes are a conversion, first fixie was and is a 1973 Universal, the other is a 2000's GT Chucker

3. Where do you live (city and state for US, city and provence/country for outside of the US)?
Isle of Wight, England

4. If you live in a small city or suburb, how/why did you decide to ride fixed?
Liked the idea and people made it sound like it was really hard

'05

1. Sheldon Brown

2. Bianchi Pista

3. Bend, Oregon

4. I commute year around, day and night, sunshine or snow; fixed gear doesn't have anything that will freeze solid in freezing rain and slush

1. What influenced you to ride fixed (friend, professionals, seeing others, messengers)?
lived close to, and often visited keirin track in Komatsushima - seeing the dudes w/huge legs out training by riding from Tokushima-Takamatsu & back impressed me......plus my MTBs were SS, so I progressed to FG after originally converting my old roadie to SS.

2. Is your bike (or was your first bike) a conversion?
1st FG was, changed back to SS commuter now

3. Where do you live (city and state for US, city and provence/country for outside of the US)?
suburbs of SW Denver

4. If you live in a small city or suburb, how/why did you decide to ride fixed?
why not? + spin better circles