Are you starting to see pseudo-fixed-gears in your area?
09-12-08, 06:37 PM
#27
FNG
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Toronto, ON
Posts: 2,313
Bikes: 2008 IRO Angus, 2008 Jamis Exile 29er
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Meanwhile in the road bikes forum...
Are you starting to see pseudo-road bikes in your area?
They got no brakes and only one gear! Poor *******s can't even coast!
Are you starting to see pseudo-road bikes in your area?
They got no brakes and only one gear! Poor *******s can't even coast!
09-12-08, 06:44 PM
#29
some new kind of kick
I think a lot of kids are just rockin a style they see without
exporting every de rigeur component of that style. I don't really care.
Me, I want to rock an IF cyclocross frame, SS not fixed--with
cantis and fatties. You can hate on me as I roll by--oblivious because
I'm happy with my bike. Or you can see me on those rare times I ride
fixed on the street, 'stead of rollers and accuse me of stealing messenger culture.
It all good with me.
exporting every de rigeur component of that style. I don't really care.
Me, I want to rock an IF cyclocross frame, SS not fixed--with
cantis and fatties. You can hate on me as I roll by--oblivious because
I'm happy with my bike. Or you can see me on those rare times I ride
fixed on the street, 'stead of rollers and accuse me of stealing messenger culture.
It all good with me.
09-12-08, 06:45 PM
#30
some new kind of kick
there is this cute chick that works at the rite aid in a town I know--she rocks a junker
old 70s bike boom bike with a pink top tube and spoke cards--and gears. Who cares.
I'd hit it, and then I'd take her out for breakfast.
09-12-08, 06:45 PM
#31
Senior Member
then you are officially "old school" and were into it "before everyone else." henceforth, make sure to hold that over the heads of anyone you ever meet who rides fixed.
__________________
Check out www.djcatnap.com for articles on vintage Japanese & French bicycle restorations, components and history.
Check out www.djcatnap.com for articles on vintage Japanese & French bicycle restorations, components and history.
09-12-08, 06:47 PM
#32
Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 44
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
09-12-08, 06:57 PM
#34
Infamous Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Ohio
Posts: 24,360
Bikes: Surly Big Dummy, Fuji World, 80ish Bianchi
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times
in
3 Posts
Welcome to the natural progression of the great circle...something simple is born, becomes hip, edgy and trendy, then becomes popular, copied by everyone and lame, sooner or later falling out of vogue, but is someday rediscovered by the few and the circle begins again. Your circle is at the popular stage my young Padawans, but don't worry, though it will sooner or later fall out of vogue and into the dustbin of old lame stuff, it will become hip again before you know it...sometime before you get to be my age. Other old folks will testify to my truth in this matter. 
__________________
"Let us hope our weapons are never needed --but do not forget what the common people knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government -- and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws" - Edward Abbey
"Let us hope our weapons are never needed --but do not forget what the common people knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government -- and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws" - Edward Abbey
Last edited by chipcom; 09-12-08 at 07:05 PM.
09-12-08, 06:59 PM
#35
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Madison, Tennessee
Posts: 62
Bikes: 1979 Rampar R-1 (SS Conversion), 1991 Jamis Exile
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I'm starting to see them all over campus here. It's not an isolated incident; I've seen probably a half dozen since school started three weeks ago.
By "pseudo-fixed-gear" I mean a bike that has the classic hipster fixed gear look: chopped risers, Oury's, Deep V's, spokecards, etc, etc, but is running SS instead of fg. The rider is always decked out in perfect hipster attire as well. Basically a picture perfect icon of the fg "culture" that is so fashionable right now, but then when they roll up to a red light or stop sign, the pedaling stops and the coasting starts.
By "pseudo-fixed-gear" I mean a bike that has the classic hipster fixed gear look: chopped risers, Oury's, Deep V's, spokecards, etc, etc, but is running SS instead of fg. The rider is always decked out in perfect hipster attire as well. Basically a picture perfect icon of the fg "culture" that is so fashionable right now, but then when they roll up to a red light or stop sign, the pedaling stops and the coasting starts.
btw, I ride ss because I have an old mediocre bike that wasn't worth fixing up. It looks more like a truly classic fixie than anything you've mentioned here because it was built with the diy/recycle/cannibalize-whenever-possible aesthetic that was present at the start of fixed gear/ss conversions.
Contemporary fixies can be beautiful things, but please get off this soapbox about ss riders "stealing" a "classic" fixie look.
09-12-08, 07:03 PM
#36
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 67
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
heh, I would ride fixed everywhere if I could, but I can't afford to buy wheelsets and crap for the dumpster rides I got. I just love riding and hate to shift gears, so whatever dude, I think this is the kinda attitude that keeps alot of ppl out of lbs' cuz they are intimidated with d-bags who think they are great cuz they ride a certain way, I think bikes are bikes, and the fact that ppl are riding is what important.
oh and fyi, spoke cards are lame, you can keep em in whatever "culture" you belong to.
oh and fyi, spoke cards are lame, you can keep em in whatever "culture" you belong to.
09-12-08, 07:05 PM
#38
blithering idiot
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: beautiful coastal South Carolina
Posts: 1,263
Bikes: 1991 Trek 930, 2005 Bianchi Eros, 2006 Nashbar "X," IRO Rob Roy
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
this makes me think of a conversation i overheard at one of the local bike shops the other day:
freshman college girl comes in to look for a new bike. starts looking at Langsters (which they've got a ton of, and i really like the Seattle).
she wants to run it fixed and take the brakes off (which, judging from her questions, sounds like a bad idea) so it "looks really clean and simple."
i thought the shop guy's head was going to melt. he's a crusty old dude who's been there for ages, and normally doesn't care what kind of bike you ride or how you do it, but i could almost see the visions of this bit who's never rode a bike off a sidewalk in her life getting squeegeed by a garbage truck that were running through his head.
i think he eventually sold her on a cruiser.
so i've not seen "faux fixies," but i've seen some folks on them that scared me a little.
i don't ride fixed, by the way. i'm old(ish), slow, fat, in no way hip, and like to coast.
freshman college girl comes in to look for a new bike. starts looking at Langsters (which they've got a ton of, and i really like the Seattle).
she wants to run it fixed and take the brakes off (which, judging from her questions, sounds like a bad idea) so it "looks really clean and simple."
i thought the shop guy's head was going to melt. he's a crusty old dude who's been there for ages, and normally doesn't care what kind of bike you ride or how you do it, but i could almost see the visions of this bit who's never rode a bike off a sidewalk in her life getting squeegeed by a garbage truck that were running through his head.
i think he eventually sold her on a cruiser.
so i've not seen "faux fixies," but i've seen some folks on them that scared me a little.
i don't ride fixed, by the way. i'm old(ish), slow, fat, in no way hip, and like to coast.
09-12-08, 07:14 PM
#39
not actually Nickatina
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: OR
Posts: 4,447
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
In my experience most people riding bikes on college campuses are idiots with zero road ettiquette and the fixed gear guys are no exception with no brakes and no foot retention being the norm more than the exception. They just happen to go faster than everyone else because they're on 700x23's instead of department store knobbies.
Who knows, maybe things will have blossomed when I get back this year...
Who knows, maybe things will have blossomed when I get back this year...
09-12-08, 07:18 PM
#40
Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: SF
Posts: 41
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Since everyone loves throwbacks would it be hip to attach a playing card with a clothespin to my wheel to make it sound like a two stroke? Might be too far of a throwback... then again people are probably already doing it and it is no longer hip anymore.
09-12-08, 07:18 PM
#41
Dharmite
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 80
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I just witnessed an e-trade commercial as I read this thread. In it the man brags about his 6 LCD screens. In the background, a fixed gear bike.
O Noes..... Now the stock traders are stealing the scene.
O Noes..... Now the stock traders are stealing the scene.
09-12-08, 07:22 PM
#43
shiz bichiz
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 225
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
haa. Where I am there are a lot of riders but I would guess I've seen 20 or 30 singlespeed bikes, out of which maybe 7 or 8 are fixed. All but three are conversions and most of them are pretty crusty looking. I have a crusty 60s Bertin cross frame with a singlespeed freewheel (in storage now while I scrounge parts for a rebuild) and a GB Iro. There are a couple of Bareknucles here and everything else is an older conversion. I also hardly ever see a bike without a brake - I've seen only one bike without a brake.
EDIT to say that I don't think of the SS bikes as pseudo-fixed gears or whatever the OP said. They're just bikes. Maybe some of the riders think like that, which is stupid but I don't know 'cause I'm not in their heads.
EDIT to say that I don't think of the SS bikes as pseudo-fixed gears or whatever the OP said. They're just bikes. Maybe some of the riders think like that, which is stupid but I don't know 'cause I'm not in their heads.
09-12-08, 07:38 PM
#44
oldsprinter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 935
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
The odd trend happening in Tokyo and especially Osaka right now is road bikes made to look fixie-ish. One Aerospoke, some coloured tyres - which I kind of understand - but the funny one is guys are starting to point their saddles down, as if that's a trendy thing to do and not just a newb mistake.
Anyway, more bikes = good.
Anyway, more bikes = good.
09-12-08, 08:10 PM
#45
snupontgeam
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: boulder
Posts: 141
Bikes: Vitus, kilo tt
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Ok, SS lookin like fixie, whatever....but I've seen SS without brakes.....?!! I think anyway, I've seen it a few times. Maybe one had a coaster brake, but I'm sure two didn't, and both people were acting very carefully. WTF? Do think think there's a cool no brake trend for bikes, and miss the part about fixed gear? I've also seen SS Speed bikes with only a rear Brake....?
09-12-08, 08:21 PM
#46
Harumph
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 390
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I hear the same kind of crying occasionally from guys on the mountain. Some chump rips on a guy that spent $$$ on a killer setup, but doesn't know how to ski/board too well. Why the eff does it matter? They're going downhill and enjoying them self.
It seems if folks are bagging on others for no good reason it's indicative of other issues... insecurity? ignorance? frustration? Also hear this from the big talking posers... all bark - no huck. Who knows... but the other person didn't wrong you so what's your problem?
Shut up and ride.
Last edited by somegeek; 09-12-08 at 08:25 PM.
09-12-08, 08:23 PM
#47
Custom User Title
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Huntsville, AL
Posts: 450
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
i've seen one other FG on campus and theres one in the wearhouse at work that never moves. I am however the only person i've seen with a chrome bag
09-12-08, 08:33 PM
#49
some new kind of kick
I've been seein a ton of fixed gears and fixed gear-ish bikes in general.
The other day I was riding home through a very suburban and white
neighborhood and I rode past this nice house there were a bunch of kids
about all around 14 all showing each other what looked like basic fixed gear bikes.
There are chicks rollin in midtown with those weird conversions where you tighten
up the chain and remove the derailleurs but leave on the rear cluster--so like,
SS on one cog on the cluster.
Who cares. Ride.
The other day I was riding home through a very suburban and white
neighborhood and I rode past this nice house there were a bunch of kids
about all around 14 all showing each other what looked like basic fixed gear bikes.
There are chicks rollin in midtown with those weird conversions where you tighten
up the chain and remove the derailleurs but leave on the rear cluster--so like,
SS on one cog on the cluster.
Who cares. Ride.
09-12-08, 09:32 PM
#50
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 1,025
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I have more respect for the people on "faux fixed gears" than I do all the idiots on no brake/no cage fixed gears. However, the no brake SS is kinda scary.