octopus magic

What are you prattling about?

Gain a higher level of quickness, agility, and control? Yeeeeaaaahhhh..... If you're running a hybrid bike that's made for people who fall asleep at the helm.

I might "humbly" suggest you try riding a modern (post 2004) racing road bike with decent geometry and got a gruppo over 105, get back to us on that "agility", quickness, and control thing.

shelato12771

Thanks for the replies. I took another (late night) ride on the geared bike last night after the original post. I get it now. Spin, spin, spin. Spin so you don't feel the "slack" in the freewheel. Shifting up means a totally different thing to me than it did before - I was off like a freakin rocket.

As for my fixed gearing, I'm running 46/15 - hold on - with 26 inch MTB wheels, so not as high as if they were 700C. I use 26 X 1.25's, so it looks dorky as hell. Wouldn't DREAM of posting a pic of it on here. Wouldn't say I'm mashing. As for dead spots, it's a matter of paying attention while you're spinning; make circles. I sometimes put a foot on the downtube to check my stroke on the other foot (and Power Grips rule, BTW).

Again, thanks to all who are replying.

Dion Rides

Quickness, agility and control are subjective. IMO:

Quickness: Velo, road racers, CX (especially in calculated passes)
Agility: BMX'ers, Dirtjumpers and Downhill MTB
Control: *see "agility"

Fixed gears are fun, however I'm WAY out of control on my fixed gear in comparison to what I can do on my flatland bike. Fixed Gears are limited in many ways. I love them, but they aren't the end-all of bicycles.

I agree with Octopus Magic on the modern road race thing.

itsIRIEpat

Yup, to this day when I drive my Subaru Impreza Auto I always have my hand on the auto shifter like I have to shift gears all the time when I was driving my focus. Its pretty far out.

veganeric

This is a great attitude! I agree.

I do tend to ride my bikes in streaks. When I switch to a freewheel bike after riding fixed a bunch the first time I try to slow down or stop I end up trying to backpedal instead of reaching for the brakes. When I switch to my road bike or fixed gear after riding my tri bike a bunch I will [nearly] miss the saddle when I go to sit down after pedaling out of it. When I switch back to fixed I will try to coast at least once. The last two are always rude surprises.

I can't imagine giving up any of my bikes in favor of riding one type exclusively.

daft crunk

I'm fine on either, but I definitely feel like I have less control on a freewheel bike.

clink83

Except that studies have shown that people dont pull up on the back of the pedal, even clipless racers.

laundryday

last night i had to borrow a friends singlespeed cause my bike caught a flat on the way to their house. It's been a LONG time since ive ridden non-fixed. Needless to say I was a little drunk too, crashed, possibly broke finger. Arrgh.

sunv

I've been on a fixed for 2.5 years now. I ride it everyday and I ride it like its an extension of my body. I've been looking to get a geared road bike to go faster. But im scared after spending money on a road bike, I won't be used to gears and brakes, and I might just sell it again in favor of my fixie.
But this probably won't happen right? I'm most worried that brakes will seem foreign for me and from instinct, I'll end up backpedalling when a car pulls out in front of me.

fiataccompli

I switch back & forth. Like most, I see advantages/uses/pleasures/experiences unique to all the different kinds of bikes. Contrary to many here, I rode freewheeled bikes for probably 30 years before stumbling onto one of Sheldon Brown's www pages & deciding I wanted to see what fixed gear riding was all about. Learning to 'post' over rough surfaces and improving cadence/consistency has been great. I do the same thing as others when I first switch bikes....backpressure on the freewheel or reach for a brake on the fixed...and usually jam the front brake as I'm leaving my driveway on my motorcycle for that matter....then my memory jars into the correct mode, i guess you could say. One thing that was good for me in going from FW/FG & back is that before riding FG I was never much for coasting..usually geared down & kept cadence up when I was slowing down & pedaled through corners to a fault (many inside pedal 'vaulting' experiences here).......so constant pedaling is not AS different as it could be.....but not being able to pause & position the pedals was big (if that makes sense). One difference I have seen is going back to gears I probably change gears less...even take some rides never changing gears....not sure if that's a good thing or not.

joetronic

Feels even weirder getting on the stationary bike at spin class, after riding fixed there.

After riding fixed for a few days, getting on the geared mountie I feel more efficient, like I don't have to get into the granny gear as much. Climbing is so much easier. Its the geometry of the bike that feels odd to me the most

exhibitx

i switch between my road bike and my fixed bikes on a daily basis

it felt a little weird going back and forth at first, but i'm used to it now

Sangetsu

It takes a long time to develop a good pedal stroke. Bob Roll said he didn't develop a "good" pedal stroke until long after he had retired from racing.

It's magic when you do.

dudezor

Pffft. WTF will anything above a 105 gruppo give you apart from weight saving? (anything of significance when actually riding I mean)

Are you serious? Downhill bikes are the least agile bikes available. Sure, some amazing things can be done on them, but a long travel DH bike = agile? I think that you'll find a track bike is just a wee bit more agile in traffic than a DH bike.

hanjin

I ride fixed, geared road, and mountain each one a least once every week. Most days I ride my MTB every night, I train on rollers using my fixed every morning, and ride my road bike on the weekends. You just need to change it up and enjoy every bike you've got.

Flimflam

Based on my riding yesterday on my road bike, I'll say "no". My fixed was off the road for yesterday, so I took my road bike to work and just loved it - was a ton of fun riding it (and so so wonderful being able to coast once in a while, especially down the hills )

Right now my fixed is what I prefer to ride, but I still enjoy riding my roadie (if I got a new roadie, I'd be even more tempted to switch more often) - but right now my Centurion is basically only on the reserve list.

I love riding my fixie, I love riding my road bike. In short: I love riding bikes, freewheel or not.

the_don

Today I "John Kerry'd" over to the freewheel. I haven't ridden this bike on the freewheel yet, so tomorrow morning will be interesting. I enjoy really enjoy fixed, but there are times going down hills where I have to hold back as I can't spin smoothly at very high speeds.

I will see how it goes, I might hate it and JK it back.