SS and fixed are getting more popular by the day here in DC. Lots of couriers use them and commuters too. There is a LBS that sells a lot of fixed gears and SS and I have run into a few people that have bought them there. Case in point, I was commuting on my geared bike yesterday and I come upon a guy riding a nice new Trek frame ('think' it was Trek) that turned out to be a SS. I ask the guy what gears he is running and he tells me it is fixed (it wasn't since he was freewheeling at the time). So I ask what gear ratios he is running and he can't tell me. Then I ask him if he bought it at the LBS. Bingo!

All in all a good thing. But there is something weird about seeing a nice, shiny bike with one gear in back. Like seeing the Chrome Pista. I am not used to it yet.

Just remembered another one. When I was in Seattle a few years ago, I was doing a bit of shopping downtown (think it was at Pike or Pine and 3rd or 4th), and this guy on an orange SS did a nice big skid right in front of me. At the time I thought it was a coaster brake, but it may well have been a fixer. Probably my first experience of the wonderful world of fixed wheels :)

saw an On One Pompino in camden yesterday afternoon.

damn those look sweet in the flesh...

fsnl
sparky

I have only seen 3 other fix's in Sacramento. Lots of SS's though. I would love to ride with other fixers. Anyone else in the Sacramento region? Drop me a line.

Chris

Just to throw this into the mix, there were about 95 of them this past weekend in Columbus Ohio for the Alleycat there. There were 100 entrants and I can only think of a handfull of geared bikes that were there.

I'm doing the Wine Country double metric this Sunday on a fixie. You should come out. It's in Santa Rosa.
http://www.srcc.com/wcc.html

A friend took this photo in SF. Nice.

There's tons of fixies in TO. With regards to firing blanks, I may not be as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was...

Thanks Lucklust. Unfortunately I have finals coming up. Drop me a line if anything else comes up.


I had another fixie sighting today. I was riding to work in downtown Sacramento and saw this very attractive brunette messenger on an equally attractive Fuji track. I have to say, there is nothing prettier than a pretty girl on a pretty bike. :rolleyes:

I don't want to make any assumptions, but I have not seen the Purple Lady in years.

boston is chock full of fixed gears and singles.. sometimes i think i see more of those than road bikes and mountain bikes.. but that's probably because i pay more attention to them. you also see plenty of recumbents and other funkie bikes.. i once saw a double bike.. it's hard to describe. i believe it was one frame welded on top of another, so the guy had to climb up someone else to get in the saddle. it was a sight. there's also a sideways bike i see around, where the guy sits perpendicular to the direction of movement.

the double bike probably belongs to one of the folks in S.C.U.L. They make those crazy things all the time and ride around most of thime on saturdays.

Thats to bad. She was always a little treat for the mind.

i spotted maybe 300-400 fixes at nyc critical mass last week.

we're the track-on-the-street capital of the usa!

I was one of the fixies that you saw at the mass on Friday, what a cool ride, but I didn't get to stay till the after party.


I saw a dude on a ss road bike at the NYC bike tour yesterday, and I myself was riding my big a#$ ss beach cruiser. It was cool to hear such comments as "what, you only have one gear on that thing?" and "wow...you made it up that hill!"...I finished with a smile :)

Saw 5 chained up outside a bar downtown Chi Town tonight. All very well-loved.

Yup I saw the sideways bike too, on the harvard bridge. I think he has a website (sidewaysbike.com). Pretty neat. As far a fixies there are just a lot of them, mostly used by messengers and other dudes with messenger bags (who appear not be messengers).

which bar might that be?

I wish I knew. I think it was on Chicago.

I am indeed one of those with the bag and is not a messenger. however I was one for 3 years, so I kind of think that I am allowed to ride my little fixie with my little Bailey bag. Hows that IRO?

Is there some sort of rule? Who's ass do I have to kick to get that rule changed?

no rule that I know of, but I remember being slightly elitist like when I would see someone riding around with the whole "messenger" set up. I have since learned the error in my ways. Kind of like telling stories of me calling people certain names while not knowing all the meanings of said term.

You know, I was a pedal pushing last night on the way home and they were chiding me on the "messenger look". I guess the bag, with the phone holder and a fixie does it. Not posing, just doing what works. And if you think about it, those guys haul **** all day long, and have to physically survive. Add to the fact they work thier equip hard: would seem what they have works. So, some of it is copy, but not a matter of style, but a matter of what works.

Function before fashion. I just regret that I actualy started to think that the civilians shouldn't be dressing that way. It went against everything I always believed prior to that.

I don't blame the proccess actually, in a way, you earn your posistion, and perhaps it's easily seen as someone who just throws on an outfit to earn the same rep.

Had the same problem with another hobby, people would slap something together and garner the image that they were "hardcore" when if you looked closely, they weren't.

Not that I'm a rap fan, but I learned to
"go on and brush your shoulders off"..