now before you jump down my throat, ive noticed less bikes submitted on fgg this year and less people in the ssfg forum in general. my hometown isnt really fixed gear central so i was wondering if you have noticed less people riding them around than in years past?

bro its only one day into 2010, give it time!

hahaha

..**** my brain hasnt registered the new year yet..i wish i hadnt made this thread.

All fads eventually die.


A few hardcore fixed riders will continue on because they actually prefer to ride fixed. The rest of the frat boys and hipsters will eventually sell their silly-colored bikes, get real jobs, put on weight, and forget they ever had a bike.

i've seen high school kids in the suburb or dayton, ohio that my parents live in riding fixed gears.

once something hits suburban dayton, it's dead.

because people get sick of the jerks on here and split

Fixies server their purpose. Track bikes, City Commuters, and Messenger bikes. Riding a fixie in a normally non hilly city makes a lot of sense as there are far fewer parts to worry about, repair, maintain, and have stolen. Plus people really do like having crazy ass colored bikes. Perhaps Lawrence Fishburn's bike in quicksilver was flashier than we all once thought?

FGs are more popular now than they have ever been. I see more and more of them every month that goes by. What has decreased is their coolness. I don't think they are considered cool anymore, so eventually they will probably lose some of their popularity. But at the moment, I would say there are more FG bikes on the road than ever before. I am seeing them go for really cheap on CL, though. Just the other day there was a stock Pista on CL for $150 obo.

There is not any grindcore in the MASH movie.. haha. There is like one hardcore song if I remember

I agree with ATX.

Simplicity has always been cool, and always will be.

I don't think the popularity is waning, but I think that bikesdirect and other makers have put enough fixed gear bikes on the market to meet the demand, so anybody with a can of spray paint and a 15mm wrench can't just throw a wheelset on an old 10 speed and sell it for $400+ any more.

Plus, it's winter.

I have a feeling that once spring returns, it'll kick off again.

I'm sad that I missed that opportunity.

mountain bikes were a once a fad. Countless full suspension bikes existed exclusively on paved rec trails. Today a casual rider is more likely to buy a hybrid. Same will happen here. It will never die.

I wish to go back to the very quiet and mature fixed gear scene of the mid-90's.

I just now want to get into the fixie scene so i hope its not dying

Well said!

I track sales very closely to try and be ahead of trends and when they might turn down.

Our sales in SS/FG have been growing every month for the last 5 years. 2009 saw a steady increase. Our percentage of bikes sold that were SS/FG was higher in the last 3 months of 2009 than same perod in 2008.

my feeling is: if a SS/FG can be a reasonable price that it will sell as a ultility bike for many, a training bike for some, a winter bike for some, a sport bike or primary bike for many and just a fun spare bike for lots of people.

in Florida you might be surprised how many houses with 2 people living there have 4, 5, or 6 SS cruisers in the garage {same idea, a simple bike that anyone can enjoy}

bikes are fun and if the price is right; why not have several? a SS/FG I think should be one of the bikes in everyones collection

I hope that's sarcasm.

not really. Fixed gear is more like a sub-genre than a fad. One disadvantage is that it is difficult to market advances in technology when you only have one gear. Of course it will be a passing phase for some. It will likely reach a saturation point like everything- where sales flatten. Plenty of riders own multiple bikes of various types.

Bicycling itself is a fad, at least in the USA, and the "fixie" fad is just a subset. I see new people coming to the track, getting all excited and buying an expensive "serious" track bike, entering a few races, getting their butts kicked by experienced riders on less expensive bikes, selling their bike at a loss and getting into something else. Same goes for road, MTB, triathlons etc. Very few people use bicycles for their original purpose: transportation.

I was riding FG on the road, usually cheap road bike conversions, for winter training to get my leg spin back long before the words "fixie", "hipster" and "tarck" were coined. For me it's a life commitment for health reasons and I expect to do it until I drop.

My current "fixie" and SS:

Feels like a ghost town here....guessing the "new and improved" change to the forum has a lot to do with it. Personally, the change sucks.

Fixie/sspeed scene out here in California continues to grow. I have a nice Bianchi road bike gathering dust because of my inexpensive SS...fun and simple...and did I mention stronger legs? Happy New Year everyone...ride safe.

What Mike said. I got one of the Clockwork SS from BD and LOVE it! The cro-mo frame rides very s m o o t h and it's my go-to bike for road riding now...even got in a 50 miler on it last week (hills included)..all good.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. If you go read the "history lesson" thread, you'll learn why there is less traffic here. While the info in the thread is woefully one-sided and self-serving for a lot of uninformed people, the net result is that this site is a lot more civil having lost certain members. Other sites have popped up that have less ads, and the general population there is a lot nicer. Releasing vB4 didn't help this site at all.

Link?