I noticed in a few threads people referencing fixed gear biking as a gate way drug into real cycling (to turn a pun), and it got me thinking the other day on a ride.

I started on BMX when I was a kid, eventually 'upgraded' to a 10-speed when I was a teen and because of the constant tinkering associated with a geared bike, stopped riding that bike and it rotted in the garage.

Years later, I got into mountain biking, but the constant tinkering associated with adjusting derailleurs, etc associated with the drive train made me consistently look toward bigger, more expensive components - and eventually I got bored and walked away - again.

Even 8 years ago when I started riding again, on a mountain bike to lose weight and help my commuting costs - I kept dreaming of bigger, better...LX, XT, Saint.................................on and on.

Then I made friends with a LBS owner, who let me trade my cheap Deore geared bike for an old Bridgestone road bike, and while I loved it, I found I only used 3 gears, and when I tried to be more in tune and use them all, I consistently screwed up my drive train.

I dreamed day and night about 105+ grade gearing, thinking it was the solution. I bought and built up a 105 cafe racer, and really enjoyed it - but still found myself frustrated by gearing, and the fact that I didn't even use it but it always needed fine tuning and adjustment.

I grew sick of the click of freewheel cogs sounding like locusts mating every time I went everywhere, it actually destroyed the perfection of biking for me.

And then I found SSFG thanks to Sheldon and other people on this forum/internet and finally realized that I wasn't crazy - there was a group of people that saw eye to eye with me and loved the simplicity of riding without worrying about which gear they are in, cadence, is my derailleur working right, etc etc etc and feel that I found the pinnacle of riding.

So while some see the evolution for the average rider being:

Fixed gear>vintage road bike>modern road bike

I think that it goes something more like

Fixed gear>something 'bigger and better'>modern road bike>fixed gear

Because eventually you just ride to ride, and realize that kit, bibs and lycra don't make it better or worse - they're just a stage that leads to enjoying riding for riding, not to save weight, or more aerodynamics - but simply to ride fast to be a kid again.


Anyhow, just my rant and 2 cents.

Now back to important ****

BET THAT!

I know what you mean man. When you're a kid you start out on a one-gear bike with a coaster brake. (at least I did) How simple is that? Then I got older and got into mountain biking, rode quite a bike in middle school/high school, then fell off from it because of other sports, the pain of DRIVING up to the trails to ride, the weight of the bike, etc.

Then I came to college in NY and discovered fixed gears. It honestly does make you feel like a kid again. The simplicity of it, the (clichéd) zen-quality of a fixed gear (not to mention the lack of maintenance) is a beautiful thing. I wouldn't trade it for all the carbon fiber and spandex in the world. It's a simple joy just to go ten blocks away to pick up a beer.

Leave the condo life, give up all your flaming worldly cogs and derailleurs, get a piece of **** steel frame and you get to come home to this.

I love my fixed gear. I also love my geared bikes (pretty useful on the mountain trails). Good post though.

Depends on your priorities really. I love my fixed gear bike, and that's because I value reliability and simplicity in a bike that I use as my transportation. If I had a purely recreational bike for weekend jaunts and such, I might enjoy a system that lets me ride faster and more efficiently but will cost more time and effort in maintenance. As it is though, I like that my bike works flawlessly every time I get on it.

I'm always amazed by people who have so much trouble with geared bikes. I bought my road bike new 10 years ago and have never had a single problem with either derailleur. My tri bike has given me a few problems but only because of new cable stretch. I honestly spend more time tinkering with my fixed gear bikes than my geared bikes.

Anyway, my evolution...
Coaster brake kids bike
BMX
Road
BMX
Fixed
Tri/TT
Track (if it ever shows up)

I'm not. Most people don't realize there are gear combinations that don't work for chain line, and other variables I know now, but still can't guarantee I won't try them on a geared bike.

The other problem, and it's not so much 'trouble' as it is my belief that we want more than we need, is that geared bikes are designed around the concept of using all of the gears consistently. That doesn't happen, at least not in my world. I could see a steep grade climb requiring gears on some level, but unless your a race oriented rider, most people will spin out and then end up walking so the point of dropping 21-28 gears to fail doesn't really compute with me.

The problem with gears for me (at least) is that I never paid a lot for a bike, so even getting to Tiagra level (and beyond to 105 eventually) meant that I was getting sub-perfect equipment. I truly believe that the lower end components are designed to be less stable, and therefore make it worth a person's effort to upgrade to top-of-the-line components to 'compete.'

In the end, I never (geared or fixed) found a reason to absolutely need to shift to an easier gear, it was just a useful tool to keep myself from working hard - and freewheeling made me a more timid rider when it came to taking turns and thinking about thinks like BB height and its affect on the depth of my turn.

It always reminds me of that old addage - 300 channels but nothing is on.

If you've never had to adjust your limit screws, index your gears and have never skipped a shift in ten years then congratulations, your experience was different than mine.

I wouldn't however equate "trouble with geared bikes" with not wanting to be bothered.

Mountain Biking > Road Cycling > Fixed Gear

Never a problem with keeping the geared bikes in tune. I just wanted to try something new.

I have 3 road bikes. one old friction shifted 12 speed, a fixed gear, and a classic steel frame with modern components. all get used for their designated purpose, the modern component bike is a race geometry and gets used for training rides and racing, the other two are beaters. i take the fixed gear when i don't have too many books to carry, and the 12 speed when im carrying a load (it also has a rack), or just want to take life easy. most of the tuning i do to my bikes is a) general, no matter what- truing wheels, fixing flats, airing up tires once a week or so, and replacing wear and tear items (cables and bartape), or b) a direct effect of my roomate's misuse of the bike. since i hung my bikes in my room and left my u-lock through the 12-speed's front wheel and frame, i have only had to do a single repair on it, other than airing up the tires once a week. that was 3 months ago. well, the front hub hollow axle snapped, but that could happen to any 30-year old wheel. (race bike has the smallest spd platform i could find. he hates my pedals).

proper setup and looking down once in a while to make sure that things are in line really pay off. take time to tune something ONCE and it will pay off in the long run. i have seen so many bikes improperly setup that people complain "i need a single speed. the gears don't work!"

how long did it take you to sort out your chainline on your bike? do you know how to tension the wheel just the right way? its true there is less to go wrong on a fixed gear- pretty much bearings, but sometimes gears have their place.

I've only adjusted my derailleurs twice in ten years. Once for initial cable stretch and once a couple years ago. Though the second one wasn't necessary. I must just be lucky. 1999 Ultegra FTW, I guess.

Santaria, it isn't always about shifting to an easier gear. You can also shift to a harder gear than you would typically ride on your fixed/ss bike. I can push 53x11 no problem once I'm up to speed but I'd never gear a fixed bike that way! Shifting is nice sometimes....which is NOT to say I am against fixed or ss. I have and ride both types of bikes regularly. Different tools for different jobs is all.

Just to add a corollary to my earlier post, I've been considering getting a geared bike for a long time. I'm planning an 80 miler from NYC to my parent's house and I don't feel like doing it on my fixed. So, I'll just say that I like bikes. They're all pretty great.

I with you on the return to simplicity for my daily commuter, but I'll keep my geared bikes for touring and sport riding.

I love bikes, profoundly. My bikes sit at the head of my bed and my wife complained for years about it, now she just leaves it be and enjoys the fact that I care about myself enough to eliminate driving as much as I can.

Ultrega is about as good as it gets for Shimano, which I think reinforces my theory that low end components are designed to need constant tuning (like an old vintage MG) and help push customers to buy higher quality upgrades.

If I found another old Nishiki or Bridgestone in good shape I'd invest the money in putting a good gearset on it and probably use it for touring, etc. But there is a lot of romance and mystic in a bike like a Rivendell.

In the end, my point was that destination and the path there doesn't always lead to 40+ year old beer bellied dudes on $3k race bikes in Lyrcra (nothing like the bloated seal look to feel like you're doing something right) with flatbars and rearview mirrors.

for me, i started with a singlespeed kid's bike, a mountain bike back in middle school, then fixed gear (currently). i'm trying to get back into mountain biking and join my college's mtb team and use my fixed gear for training and commuting. road bikes are attractive too, but cost too much for a poor college student like me.

i would say fixed gears revived cycling for me, instead of getting me into it.

A few years back I got my (ex) GF off of her 24 speed MTB on to a single speed MTB (Bianchi SASS). After the first ride she came into the house beaming with a big smile. She couldn't have put it any better when she said, "This is awesome! I don't have to worry about if I'm in the right gear. If I want to go faster, I pedal faster! If I want to climb a hill I pedal harder!"

She rode to work everyday after that.

Like others have said, pick the right tool for the job. SS/FG is great for most city riding. Most city riding is generally flat, paved, and only a few miles at a time. Perfect for a single speed. And for those wanting the extra workout over the short distance, riding fixed provides that. So you get a lot of "bang for your buck" during a 5 mile ride.

Then there's the maintenance. Many of us are comfortable with Park Tools, but most aren't. Each adjustment point an ANY bicycle is a point of failure. More points of failure means more things that can (and will) go out of tune. How many of you BMX guys remember dialing in rotors and 990s?

And to the normal rider, all of the gears look awesome, but awesome like the cockpit of the space shuttle.



Don't get me wrong. There is NOTHING like the feel of confidently ratcheting through a Dura-Ace corn cob and approaching then pushing the top speed that you can get out of you and your bike. But those long stretches of road of few and far between in the city.

I like my mtb, which is a SS and I like my fixed gear.

grew up riding bmx, moved on to mtn bike, then rode road and beach cruisers (i do live in so cal!) for transport purposes, before getting my fixed gear. now i ride it for commuting, excersize and fun! it really does make me want to ride

Well I'm pretty new to cycling as a sport. I heard my university had a big cycling community, so I took the old K-mart 26" that was rotting in the shed and took it for semi-long rides(2-3miles_ around my hometown. I only used like two gears. The thing was hard to shift, I only left it on the biggest or mid chainring and always on the smallest cog. It was very flat where I lived, then at college, I found the hills. I started hitting these hills with my junky bike, broke the rear cog on my cassette. I had been seeing all the bikes around campus, one of my friends had one. It was a fixed gear, so I broke down and got one. I've been riding harder ever since. I've put alot of miles in, and I'm looking to buy a cannondale roadbike from a friend to start doing some real distance. I'm also starting to train for track racing in the summer.

Fixed gear was my gateway drug.

same here, grew up on big wheel to training wheels to coaster to bmx to mountain bike to ten speed to road bike, then recently fixed gear. I love my fg, but i couldn't enjoy a 300mi weekend camping trip or a 3 month tour on a fixed or ss. When I tour I take the bike with gears (or even a longer ride to anywhere); bicycle gears really are simple mechanisms, realitvely cheap, easy to adjust and maintain (especially when you spend your days rebuilding engines). Our legs are an engine, and there is a reason every motor vehicle is geared. I love having a ssfg because its light, (mine is) cheap, and I dont mind locking it to a street sign to go drinking (and track racing which is awsome, I'd love to race someday). Its alot easier to drag it onto the subway, up to an apartment, etc. Also, like the above poster said, you really only use 2 gears riding around town. But load that bike up and head into the hills...
How I view cycling anyway