i like how riding a fixed gear makes me stronger and more engaged and alert...i agree with someone else who posted earlier, riding a fixed wheel bike will only help your mountain biking

oh, certainly. my first 30 mile ride on a fixed gear had a few moments of "****, wait, what's going on??", but the brain adapts pretty quickly.
realize, there is a reason so many people stick with riding fixed after the novelty wears out. most of my friends have mtb road and track bikes; the track bikes always get the most play.
my track bike is the only thing i would ride cross town on; it's simple, quick, fun and keeps me moving. it really makes the most sense for where i live.

so you are in or close (in or over)to your 30's and you say shizzle?

i find riding all bikes a thrill. street, BMX or mountain. i hate to run, i love to ride my bike. so i get exercise while having fun. one is not better than the other. they are all a blast. personally, i ended up finding my mountain bike on the street more than trails, so i got a new bike to fix that. does that make me boring?

and that is your argument against why you think it is dangerous? it is boring? Then why are you better, faster and apparently stronger than the rest of us? ok fine, you may be a stronger rider than myself. i am very out of shape, and gained about 20 lbs this winter sitting at a desk and not working out as often as i normally do. but i am sure some of these other "boring" chaps can take you on the street or the dirt. hell, give me a month or two, and i may give you a run for your money.

Here are just a few of your weak arguments for not riding fixed
You have not learned how to be comfortable on a fixed. Therefore you fear the unknown.
Put on a brake and practice. These things will come with time just like they have on your current setup.
It sounds like you only know one way to balance on the bike. Chocolate foot fwd only too I am guessing?
Get the bike set up correctly. I have never had pedal strike on my fixed with 165mm cranks Then set it up with a proper gear ratio that gives you more skid patches. Mine has 34 because I can skid with either foot. Or use a brake.



Fixed takes a different skills set as does road riding, CX, MTB, BMX or whatever. There is a learning curve with any different style of riding. If you have this much uncertainty about it, and don't want to learn a new way to ride, just give up.

Preference. Could have gone singlespeed, bit I decided to give fixed a whirl and never went back. My next purchase is going to be a geared road bike. Besides, singlespeed won't do as much for your spin.

I once saw someone go off a cliff mountian biking, but I still mountain bike.

Just ride it single speed for a while, and go to an empty parking lot and work on your pedaling drills to round out your pedal stroke, and make a conscious effort to never stop pedaling, even though you can! I understand the not wanting to be fixed because of the hilly terrain where you live. Use the SS when you know there will be hills on your ride. Work on cadence drills, too. Just play with it. Get used to the feeling of riding backwards. It's all fun! Get your confidence up playing with the bike in the mall parking lot when it's closed. Use their big parking structures to play in, too. You can get comfortable descending, and pedaling through tight corners in there, and you have no cars or jackasses to worry about either! Good luck, and just keep riding!

My balance is good no matter what but not when my legs are being forced around when I dont expect it.

I have 170mm cranks and Im not sure how you can "correctly" change the BB height or crank size. LOL

And Meepers-Yes I say shizzle, age is a number Im happy to be younger at heart and younger looking than most. It's kept me on the bike this long, Im even thinking of picking up a flatland bike again.

And for gods sake I didnt say I was faster than you, only faster on SS vs. a Fixie. Where I live, but on flat ground, there would be no difference in speed.

I guess Id rather work on my MENTAL strength to continue pedaling rather than being forced to pedal. *cough* ;)

i crashed terribly after trying to stand on the pedals the first week after i switched. it was cool because i didnt hit anything, just got flung off. some gardener dude saw me and was flummoxed. "why did that guy have a horrible crash out of nowhere, on a flat ground without hitting anything?", he wondered. and i periodically had the urge to stand on the pedals for a while when i was about to hit a pothole or something. dont think about it anymore though.

Give it a couple more days on the FG, you'll quickly adapt.......just as easily as you adapted riding on technical single track on your mtb.

First day I rode mine it was like " oh sugar" I kept thinking I was going to do a pedal strike or have problems stopping. Today I ride with one brake and help it with foot retention when I need it. I never think about pedal strikes anymore and in the a'noon I ride in the middle of afternoon drive - Always trying to have vision of what is coming up 40' in front of me. It's a mind set that keeps you alert and hungry. I also love there is no time rest. It's pump hard or be swallowed by tarrific. Rode bikes to me are a waste of hardware. Just keep your brakes on and you'll be fine.

Well, this got silly. But yeah, your (original) points were kinda valid. Fixed is less efficient down hills, and dangerous until you get it. But so is everything else in life, and that "inefficiency" is actually excellent training.

If you want to learn something new, keep at it, you'll get it. It's like trying to clean an impossibly tech singletrack climb over and over again - one day you'll get it and all that time flailing at it will be worth it. I'm as surprised as everyone else as to why you're giving up so easily, if you like singletrack I would think you'd like road riding that comes with a tech challange.

The "proper" set-up referred to for clearance is short (165mm) crankarms and low-pro pedals. And, preferably, a high bottom bracket. Really though, hitting the pedals once in a while isn't always a disaster, and you'll have to be digging really deep for it to matter, but it can be dangerous, to be sure. I used to hit pedals a lot racing crits and most of the time it didn't even throw me off my line.

But hey, if you really don't like it, don't worry about it, and throw a freewheel on there! SS will still develop new leg strength that translates to the trail quite well.

It's so true. I got so frustrated the first time I rode a technical ride on my mountain bike, but once i did it more I loved it. It's just a practice thing.

It's like saying the violin sucks because you first picked one up and you couldn't make music.

Most every type of cycling requires some adaptation or practice, even riding SS.

How does that old saying go?

"It's like riding a bike - you NEVER FORGET"


For what reason do you need to unlearn how to ride freewheel? This is a lot like someone who rides road bikes exclusively going onto the MTB forum and saying:

"MOUNTAIN BIKES ARE DANGEROUS!
Why would anyone ever want to ride on dirt and hills in the woods? We have roads, and riding on bumpy dirt trails and rocks is so inefficient and a waste of energy. Not to mention completely dangerous. If we have roads, I don't get why anyone would ever want to ride on rough terrain. I mean I could unlearn all those years of riding on the road but again, WHY BOTHER?"

hahahahahaha

i want one of these:
http://www.redlinebicycles.com/adult...ight-29er.html

sounds like you do too.

Yea but Mtn.Bikes have shocks beefy frames and knobby tires made for riding in the woods. Infact referring to a"Mountian Bike" itself is hinting at its intended use.

old scratch- Yes! Thats what almost happend to me a few times, and what prompted this thread creation. And in seconds the thread fills up with "YOULL GET USED TO IT" posts, when Im not talking about the getting used to it part, which is inevitable with anything in life. Its the BEFORE IM USED TO IT PART that Im worried about.
Still though this falls on deaf ears.

PEOPLE IM NOT SAYING FIXIES SUCK. They are just dangerous till you get the hang of it if you are used to a freewheel, and slower. :innocent:

Yep, they're slower bikes that make you faster, wrap your head around that!

jesus, you guys are such troll-bait. LOL!

hey troll, have a snack.

you adapt your riding style and skillset to your surroundings and mechanical limitations. you learn to balance while spinning and you either avoid the need to brake as much as possible or you get brakes. skid stopping is really the last thing you want to do riding brakeless on the street, but you do it when you need to lose speed fast because you can't change direction or accelerate out of a problem area. since skidding can't actually stop you very quickly, you learn to not put yourself places where stopping quickly is necessary.

same as when you learn to not weight your front wheel when hitting rocks on a trail decent.

Im not trolling, I made some valid points about fixies being dangerous if your not used to them. That was my whole point, and noone could argue with that, so they decided to argue that "Ill get used to it" and that other things are dangerous too like waking up in the morning, and mtn. biking!? Talk about trolling...

NOONE COULD JUST SAY "YEA THEY ARE DANGEROUS AT FIRST" and admit it.

I came from many years of riding mtn bikes. It was definitely weird at first. It's a completely different geometry so it's obviously not going to feel comfortable at first. I find that on the rare occasion that I ride my mtn bike, I feel stronger and ballsier than before.
Also, this thread sucks.

DANGER!!

http://www.singletracks.com/blog/wp-.../mtb-crash.jpg
http://www.wetasschronicles.com/MountainBikeSpill.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/122/2...2d4b8267f6.jpg

The only time I've ate **** on my current bikes I was riding my road bike. Still haven't encountered a situation on my fixed bike that made it seem any more dangerous than riding my road bike. I admit when I first rode down the hill from my house I kept saying in my head "Keep pedaling. Keep pedaling," but after that day of riding I was used to the feeling. Oh and I don't have to "unlearn" how to ride a bike with a freewheel when I switch back and forth from my road and fixed bikes.

It seems to me that the only way that fixed gears would be dangerous is if you started pulling jackass moves darting in and out of traffic right when you first start riding. They can be uncomfortable at first while you get used to them but are they dangerous, no.