specialized track bikes
 

looks like they are getting into the fixie thing as well. i am not a huge specialized fan but i sort of like the looks of the s-works frame. its a bit modern but nice looking. i think its nice that companies are starting to adress the fixed gear market.

http://www.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/...frameset_l.jpg

http://www.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/...gsterPro_l.jpg

http://www.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/...Langster_l.jpg

Yes, I agree it's nice that companies are addressing the fixed-gear market but I'm worried about "market saturation" and the mainstreaming of the SS fixed movement. Pretty soon everybody that wants a fixed-gear will already have one and interest will subside. Look what happened to the mountain bike frenzy of the nineties. I kind of like fixies being sort of an "underground-fringe-cult" kind of thing.

dan's rule: anything you (not necessarily you, but the more general "one") like(s) is already no longer "underground-fringe-cult". if it were really "underground-fringe-cult", you () wouldn't know about it.


get ready boys and girls. the masses on their fixed gears are coming! the masses on their fixed gears are coming!
**note: that's supposed to be said in my best paul revere voice**


dan

I was fliping through a generic cycling the other day at the bookstore and in the "Great Gifts for Christmas" section they had a piece describing the new chrome Pista and how fix is the new fad, just like SS was a few years back. The tidal wave is building. Get your high water pants.

I'm mixed on this topic. One part says yes, let the masses make the demand, as it will result in more and better options for fixies and cheaper to boot. The other part and more dominant, wants them to find it out on their own terms. A strengthening of the breed so to speak.

Dave

what i don't get is:

if this is something that we enjoy (i'm assuming we enjoy riding fixed gear bicycles), why don't we want more people to enjoy themselves? why keep it for ourselves? this is not some sort of exclusive club, it's riding bikes.

hear,hear!

these are only bikes, ppl. anyone who thinks of their bike as a fashion statement or a lifestyle should take a long, hard look at their character and reassess. while cycling is a part of my lifestyle, and cycling itself is arguably a defining characteristic of a lifestyle, the specific drivetrain of your bike(s) is not terribly important, even if you're some sort of crazed fascist velosnob.

get the bike you like, and ride it. when you see others doing the same, you should applaud them without questioning their fixed-gear motives.

-rob

**edit** yeah, i guess it's a good thing that there'll be more lightly-used sugino 75 cranksets and BB's on the market, but these specialized fixies aren't the sort of thing i'd buy, b/c i don't feel aluminum, and i'm more a fan of horizontal top tubes. just a personal preference, but i think most other folks out there who crave a ride like these at least aren't into aluminum. wouldn't specialized have served themselves better by offering a cro-mo version as well, as they do with many of their other bikes?**

So like there was this band that I was really into last year--The Fixies. Man, they rocked. But then like all these frat boys and desk jockeys started coming to their shows. That sucked. They just aren't that cool anymore. Effing sellouts.

The new fringe-cult-bike-underground-fad-o-the-day: Recumbent Fixed Gears. From what I hear, Johnny Thunders used to ride one.

How can this be a bad thing? The only people hurt are those for whom fixed gear bikes are a pose.

For the rest of us, bigger market means more competition from vendors and lower prices.

applause and laughter

lower prices and maybe some new technology. i mean i know a lot of the appeal of riding fixed is the simplicity but its always nice seeing new "trick" parts even if you wouldn't ride them yourself.

I think we forgetting one thing. WE live in car culture and most Americans are lazy. Fix will be the fad,but will never catch on. "WHy do you want to pedal all the time?"

I hate the underground gone mainstream argument. It's moot. If you like what you like (or love what you love) then so be it. Who cares who else is into it? They may love it too. Doesn't matter who they are.

As for more tracks bikes, I dig it. More options, more competition, and indeed lower prices. It's be nice to get a quality hub for a little cheaper. Or find components easier.

i like this - more bikes on the market means more people impulse-buying fixies, means more people who aren't cut out for fix riding means more cheap bikes for sale!

yeah i am sure we will see a lot of these on ebay just like the cannondale major taylor track.

hip hip
 

In the next two months I will be getting knee surgery and moving eastward over the Pacific. But when that is over I am seriously considering the Spesh' Langster.

As far as the "Mainstream Fixie" situation I don't see it booming.

I could see a Hybrid Track bike boom... i.e. "Track" bikes with road forks, brakes, and flip-flops. The simplicity of a SS tag-teamed with a road bikes quickness might really appeal to people.

BTW correct me if I'm wrong in this line-o-reasonin':

A 500$ "Track" bike will be superior to a 500$ roadie... as far a the quality of the components.

i think fixed gear when describing this bike is a misnomer because the bike has a free wheel, so as some guy put it, you are not in fact pedaling the entire time. I guess it has a locking hub mechanism (i forgot the proper name for it) but the point being, you can ride the bike with a free wheel or lock the hub and only have the ability to rotate forward track bike style...single speed would be a better way to describe it....i think its pretty cool myself, and besides, if you were to train on that bike and then ride your normal road bike on race day, i bet we would all see personal improvement....

Actually it has a flip-flop hub, so on one sie you mount a freewheel and the other side of the hub you mount a true track cog/lockring combo.

Dave

i stand corrected...:) i took a look at one in a shop today in portland and i didn't realize its kind of a gun metal grey color....online, it looks black....heh, some dude on craigslist in san fransisco is selling one...note to self, don't ride single speed in extremely hilly city.

"I kind of like fixies being sort of an "underground-fringe-cult" kind of thing."

Methinks 'underground-fringe cult' must be quite in style today. I've never seen such obsession about any other type of bike.

What I once viewed as an escape from elitist equipment *****s, I now view as yet available toy for the material-obsessed American....

all over the net, and increasingly here on the only same board around: "I'm think I may be interested in trying a fixie (eck) for the first time ever; should I buy the titanium colnago pista, or have a custom carbon frame molded under me? Also, what handlebars would look cool? Can I see pictures of everyone elses bike?"

I dont judge whether this is good or bad, but is a definate shift in market motivation over the last decade (heck probably the last 2 years). Regardless, I like what I like, regardless of what everyone else likes. 15 years ago, my 'one speed' was ridiculed by racerboys. Today, my 'fixie' is revered (same damn bike, same damn wheel). I like it no more and no less.

I'm all for more riders. Whatever will get people on bikes is fine by me. Most average folks will want a flip-flop hub to run their bikes SS and that is just fine. I flip my hub to the freewheel when I ride in the paceline on the weekends.

I ride a fixie/SS for the simplicity. I don't see the point in building a complicated cult atmosphere around my bike. Besides most of the masses don't know about bike forums, I think we are relatively safe from them here. ;)

I personally don't like the Langster, can't stand compact frames.

overall it seems that there is a mixed consensus on the relatively new "mainstreaming" of the single speed...im no expert, but i would say if you are worried that single speed,track, fixed gear bikes are becoming mainstream, i would say only within the already existing bike community....i don't think the average american is interested in lugging his fat ass up hills with no gear options, let alone with a bike in the first place...heh, anyone remember quicksilver the movie.....

yeah even if fixed gear bikes become "a fad", it's not really.

It's fun...people like it because it's different...most mainstream cycling on fancy road bikes that cost $$$$$$ is intimidating to a lot of people...personally, I hope fixed gear riding DOES catch on...I think there are a lot of people out there who, if they knew about ss or fixed gears, would actually open their eyes to how much fun it is to just RIDE...especially in this era where everything is extreme this or extreme that...that's what I like about riding fixed gears...it's about smoothness and just...riding.

the problem is when people with attitudes get involved...and that happens with anything...people who try to "claim" something or use the whole, " I was into it when it was underground!!" thing are actually the ones who ruin otherwise honest and good intentions/interests.

Brakeless, undrilled track is still sort of a taboo thing. People know about it, but most dismiss it as too dangerous.

Around here, there are lots and lots of fixed gear bikes, but very few brakeless track. I've seen a couple of messengers on them, though even most messengers ride singlespeeds or fixed conversions with brakes.

So, if you still want to be cool as fixed gear goes mainstream, ride an old Japanese lugged track frame with no brakes, preferrably with narrow, untaped, unplugged flat bars. :)

mmm - I'm just imagining a major taylor going on ebay for a couple hundred bucks. That would be tasty. Even better would be buying it off some guy in a cast for nothin' Man I'd just wait outside Children's Memorial with my checkbook. jeff