first time fixed
 

Yesterday I swapped my road bike with my friend's brakeless fixed gear for the ride. Before you call me an idiot for going brakeless my first time I have to say I know how to skid and all that stuff. So this ride felt pretty good, considering his bike has a similar fit to mine, but we did have a few hills that worried me. The climbing wasn't bad at 80 gear inches but I just had to walk the descents. I know I just have to ride more to get used to it but I couldn't figure out how you guys skip and skid down hills. I thought I was gonna flip the bike every time I tired.

Overall this ride made me VERY eager for my hub and rim to arrive in the mail so I can get going on completing my project bike. I was shooting for riding somewhere in the 70's g.i. because I am a spinner but riding 80 g.i. got me thinking. Anyway, what are your opinions about pedals, clips or clipless? I've got my mtb shoes for my roadie and an extra pair of pedals but I also have platforms and toe clips.

I know one thing, I won't be buying track drops.

Knowing this forum, you're most likely going to get killed via the internet.

Welcome to fixed-gear and good luck.

so far it looks like no one cares :p

:lol::lol::lol:

I'll throw in my 2 cents. First off it's still a bad move riding brakeless when you're not used to it at all, things happen and just cause you can skid doesn't mean that much. Though you didn't tackle things (aka decents) that you knew you couldn't so you don't seem like that much of an "idiot".

As far as the question at hand, I've always thought of it as this way. If you want the maximum results from your effort go clipless (training etc.), if you're using it more to get around & have a good time get clips.

Use a brake. Clipless pedals are the way to go. About high gear inches - every older rider I know tells me to spin, because my knees will thank me for it later in life.

I definitely will get a brake. Even if I end up not using it a lot I should still have one in case the chain breaks or the hub gets stripped. I just have to think about the pedals because I've gotten used to stiff soles of my bike shoes.

Good thinking about the brake...my chain actually fell off once (I don't know why or how) and that's the only time I used my brake. But I would also recommend getting machined wheels if you can, because I've had to clean brake streaks off my front wheel and it sucks. And brakes can damage the paint.

Also it's way way WAY easier to stop if you go clipless. You just don't get the same results with clips.

when trying to really slow down, i do shots of double or triple hops(hard skips) per second~ can you do that? if not its kinda hard to explain to you what i mean~~~