Ok, I admit it - I do not know the differnce between a single speed or a "fixed". Could someone educate a newb please? :-)

Chris

fixed means you cant stop pedaling if your bike is moving

ss means you can stop pedaling if your bike is moving

You get a lot more zen on a fixed gear.

And by zen, I mean poon tang.

a fixed gear has a single speed, but singlespeed usually refers to a bike that has a freewheel - a mechanism that lets the cranks/pedals stop turning while the wheel still turns. like a ratchet. a fixed gear has no such mechanism, so if the wheel's turning, the chain and cranks and pedals are all turning. on a singlespeed, you can spin the cranks backwards. on a fixed gear, trying to do so actually pushes the rear wheel in reverse.

A quick trip to google would do you some good, but since I am here, I will share some. A fixed gear bike utilizes a cog and lockring to keep the rear wheel in sync with the pedals at all times. The cog has standard threading, and the lockring has a smaller reverse threading. This makes it so that when you go to pedal backwards the cog doesn't just fly off. On a fixed gear bike there is no need for a back brake because you can apply pressure to slow yourself down. A front brake is always recommended for emergencies.

On a single speed bike this cog and lockring setup is replaced with a freewheel. This is a mechanism that can only act on pressure applied in a forward motion. This means that you can coast, or even pedal backwards while the rear wheel is unaffected. These bikes should always have a front and rear brake

Many bike have what is known as a flip-flop hub so that each of these can be used just by flipping the wheel around. This is nice if you are tired on a long ride and are in a hilly area. Usually a lower gearing is applied to the freewheel side (usually 1 or 2 teeth bigger cog) so that hills can be climbed more easily.

Look some more up on google and pay a visit to sheldon brown's website. Hope this helped

Thanks guys, now I can improve my chances for additional poon tang!

Chris

no coasting

vs

coasting

If the guy is an admitted newb, those photos aren't going to help him whatsoever.

Luckily he's already gotten his answer further up in the thread.

wikipedia is your friend...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlespeed
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed-gear_bicycle

what am I doing wrong then? i've been riding fixed for a year and the only poon tang coming my way is this alcoholic fat chick, and I don't want that anymore.

Keyword, anymore.

bahahhahaha quote of the day....and im using that for my signature

Virtually all fixed gears are singlespeeds, but not all singlespeeds are fixed. The majority of singlespeeds, in fact, are not fixed.

.....hint, its a ven diagram... kinda

looks like we got this covered pretty well, good job gang!

Isn't that the guy who just endorsed Obama?

Fixed gear bicycles don't make that funny clickly noise.

Sheldonbrown.com is where you need to go to learn all about fixed gear, singlespeed, and whatever else ails you.

i have no idea, it just came up when i searched 'thumbs up' on google

what about 2 speed fgs?

I think it’s a zen diagram haha

Attaboy! I was half thinking of sample spaces and stuff while writing that...

lol!

This is the kind of zen you mean -

haha at a drive through starbucks my friend had his singlespeed in the back of his car (it has machined white deep V's on it) and a cute girl working the window was like "OH MY GOD IS THAT A FIXED GEAR? I LOVE TO GO HANG OUT AND WATCH THE CUTE FIXED GEAR BOIZ AT BLAH BLAH BLAH STREET" and he was like "no its a singlespeed, and her enthusiasm instantly died and she said "oh..." and handed him his coffee. I got a good laugh out of it as a fixed rider.