1. Why do you ride FG?
2. What influenced you to do so?
3. What other types of bike have you owned?

I'll go first:

1. I love riding FG. I have Ironman legs because of it, have lost 30lbs since getting back on & love the exhilaration of riding brakeless.

2. I was attracted to the simplicity of the bikes some of the other msgrs were on, they looked cool (the bikes), & were very easy to maintain in a time-is-money business. After getting done for the day, I was much less worn out after a day of riding like I was on a mountain bike. Plus I could carry up the steps on my shoulder after a long day. Since then I was sold.

3. Various BMX bikes, 24" wheel crusiers (Schwinn Pro Stock), 10 speeds, Mountain bikes, 2 SS conversions.

1. It is fun. The bike is light and responsive, much more of an extension of the body than freewheel bikes.
2. See above.
3. I bought my first bike 37 years ago and have had single speeds, road bikes and mountain bikes. My other bike is a Fat Chance steel framed mountain bike which is 20 years old. I've put many thousands of miles on it Despite the gearing it is still a simple light and responsive bike and will last forever.

4. Yes I have brakes.

Thank you Jack.

That fat chance sounds cool as hell, jack. I was never into MTB, but those bikes always caught my eyes.

1: I like the rhythm you get into when riding fixed.
-You get a lot more control in the winter riding a fixed drivetrain as compared to a freewheel with brakes that are slicked over with water, mud and oil from the road.
-Trackstanding is useful and kind of fun.
-It's nice to ride somewhere far and think "I pedaled every inch of those 60 miles" or whatever.
-It's possible to build a legit bike for a lot less than a comparable road bike, barring coming up on a really nice roadie at a garage sale or something.
-Riding fixed for 2 years made me a much better rider when I started riding road bikes.

2: My friend rode fixed and was all about it. I rode his around a parking lot and immediately liked it. I was already riding a really janky singlespeed and wanted to build up a better one, so I figured I could just build a conversion with a flip flop and just run a freewheel if I didn't like fixed, but I never flipped the wheel over.

3: I had a bright orange mountain bike when I was a kid. It was pretty nice for a kids mtb i guess. When outgrew it, I totally stopped riding bikes for a long time. When I left for college, I realized that taking the bus everywhere really sucked, so I painted a mural at my schools bike coop in exchange for a schwinn mountain bike, which I destroyed in an unfortunate MTB incident. I was reliant on bikes for transportation at this point and wanted a road bike, but all I could afford was this $30 death trap schwinn varsity singlespeed that was 10 times as dangerous as any brakeless fixed gear. I rode it for 9 months while I saved up for a fixed gear. Now I own a conversion, a nice road bike, a janky old 10 speed and another fixed project languishing in pieces. I really want a cross or touring bike.

1. its a lot of fun
2. saw a trailer for mash sf on youtube. wasnt interested in bikes before seeing the trailer.
3. no real bikes before my fixie. but nao i have 2 fixies and a downhill mtb. cycling is a ton of fun!!

1. It is surprising fun. It is a good workout and for more control in wet and slippery conditions.
2. Reading about Sheldon Brown's exploits on a hotted up Raleigh 20.
3. I've got around 17 bikes, including a very nice vintage road bike, 2 recumbents, several vintage English three speeds, a couple of folders and a cheap, heavy rigid MTB. Just Because.
4. I ride with at least one brakes on all my ridable bikes. I have a very old track bike to restore that has no brakes.

The Ibis Scorcher review on Bicycle Guide turned me on to fixed gear riding. So I ordered one from Ibis and never looked back.

1. It feels nice.
2. I kept hearing about how great it was, so I gave it a shot. Why not? If I hated it, I could flip my wheel around, sell the cog/ring on Craigslist and use the money to buy a freewheel.
3. I've always had a mountain bike. My last bike was a Specialized Hardrock that I got when I was 15. I did however, have a road bike when I lived out of town, but had to sell it for rent. That was what got me really into the idea of skinny tires and light weight.

1. Why do you ride FG? It is fun, fast, and cheap. I commute to work on it.
2. What influenced you to do so? Sheldon Brown's evangelical articles, and teammates. I wanted a winter beater to put in more riding hours before race season started in April. I then started commuting and didn't want to leave my road bike at work. It then took on a life of its own.
3. What other types of bike have you owned? Still own a high end road bike, a mountain bike, and two fixed gear bikes.

1. For me, it was all about the learning process, I have ridden bikes for years and was getting burnt out on it. It was fun to go out and learn how to ride and control a FG. I am amazed at how little control the average cyclist has over their bikes.

2. Living in NYC track bikes are everywhere, I couldn't help but drink the Kool-aid.

3. I have owned BMX, MTB and Road bikes.

The saddest thing in life is somebody who seems to feel constantly compelled to defend and justify his choices.

1. Why FG?

Variety is a good thing. FG is no more exciting or more ZEN than any other bike I own. It's simpler, and by far the cheapest way to go.

cheapness is dependent upon your desire for NJS goodness!!!

1. So I can kick it with the cool kids.

2. Nobody influenced me to do it, brah. I just thought it'd be fun to ride a track bike on the street 'cos I'm badass. And they have no brakes, so obviously that makes me cool. This was about 30 years ago. I was 3 years old at the time. I would have been doing it even longer but my mom wouldn't let me.

3. Heaps. Of course I rode BMX cos of jumps and tricks and stuff. And I rode DH mtn bikes cos that was also badass. No way was I doing cross country though, those dudes sometimes wear lycra and I don't do that. Obviously I will soon be doing cyclocross since I have mad handling skills and am really fast (I have beaten all my friends to AND from the bar). Oh, and I've had NJS bikes and vintage Italian steel and I like the new breed of bikes too (Bianchi Pista, Pista Concept). I change my bikes pretty regularly cos I'm really hard on my equipment and not much can stack up to my power. No road bikes though - gears make you weak.

1. Why do you ride FG?
Because it's a no hassle ride and is easy to maintain and works great in February here in Canada.

2. What influenced you to do so?
While living in San Jose, CA 4.5 years ago all my friends rode bikes. I too wanted to ride with them and asked them to build me a bike. It was fixed gear, I had no idea what that meant. But it only cost me $100 for my conversion and I have gotten a lot of fun out of it.

3. What other types of bike have you owned?
Own a Specialized Allez and Surly LHT now. Before that it was just a knockoff mountain bike when I was 10.

1. It's a lot of fun.

2. Sheldon Brown.

3. Currently I have a hard tail mountain bike, a greenway bike (hybrid), and the fixie. In the past I've owned rigid mtb's, a vintage 10 speed road bike, and an early hybrid style bike.

1) Its fun. I enjoy riding my bike much more than any other form of transit
2) I saw someone riding a tarck'd out pista downtown once (arrospok, risers, etc). I though it was pretty cool
3) My madison is my first "real bike" I haven't really ridden since I was ~12, now I'm 17

1. because of peer pressure
2. mashsf
3. track bikes>all

for real though
1. it's simple and it gives me an adrenaline rush everytime i ride it =)
2. i had almost every other type of bike and wanted to 'try' it
3. road, mtn, bmx

I'm liking the posts on here so far, keep it up & thanks to all!

Didn't you stop riding when you were 4, then come back here to spout off about how you've been ballin' fixxxed for 29 yrs when you started up again this summer? Or do I have you confused with someone else?

why do you continue to jock me so hard? Why do you come onto my threads with nothing positive or even close to the topic at hand? I know why.

Sorry kyselad, I only like the ladies. Plus I'm married. Flattered tho.

1. Because it's one of the only things i can still do that makes me feel the way it does
2.Red light go a documentry about alley cat racing in NYC
3. I have all kinds of bikes

1. It's fun, cheaper, and I didn't want to lock up a 'nice' bike downtown every day.
2. My roomate in college was a huge downhill mtb guy. When I told him how much I hated driving in traffic and having to park downtown everyday, he told me he'd help build a bike on the cheap. On the cheap just happened to be ripping the non-functional derailleurs off a trek 1000, and locktiting a cog on.
3. mtb, road

1. The simplicty. The efficiency. The feedback from the drivetrain/tire to surface. I'm a nitpicker about the stupidest things and derailleurs provide nearly limitless potential for tweaking and diagnosing, and me, being on the lighter-side of OCD, would spend lots of time just fussing with them. Besides that, geared bikes, even the nice one I have, feel like slugs now - all sloppy chainline and mysterious noises and such and no matter how fast i'm going, they still feel slow and disconnected. I've still got a couple of geared bikes (Specialized Sirrus and some kind of Panasonic grocery getter) but my fixies get most of my attention.
Esthetics fits in there somewhere, too. And I always run at least a front brake (for my safety and yours).
2. Pure and simple peer pressure. Actually, it seemed to be the only way to get Gurgus to shut the hell up about fixies and actually start riding one.
3. Rigid MTN bikes, assorted POS's. Usually a bike that starts out as one thing but gets re-purposed for another. The Sirrus is the most modern, complete, and well appointed bike I had bought and its still a good bike despite losing 16 of its 24 speeds (on purpose - front derailleurs, BAH!) but most of my stable is cheap/free bikes lovingly/frighteningly restored.

Dave G.