nashcommguy

After building and riding a single-speed conversion I'd been threatening to do the same for a fixie asa the fundage cleared. Took longer than I thought, but just got the wheelset on Friday and took my first ride Saturday. Well, technically I took a little spin down to the end of my street and back. It's about a mile rt. So, yesterday I went 25 mi rt w/a couple of climbs and decends. My gearing is 46-16 and I'm going to 48 or maybe 50 as the top end is too low for my general terrain. But, I totally get why people ride fixed. It's fun, simple, challenging and did I say fun? I was grinning the whole time, like I had a real cool secret nobody else knew about. Is that common? A roadie passed me going the opposite direction and I hollared, "Dude, I'm ridin a FIXIE!" The quizical look on his face was priceless.

So, thanks to all on the ss/fg thread for their insight, expertise, admonitions and encouragments over the last couple of years. I gained alot of knowledge reading these posts almost everyday.

WoundedKnee

Tomo_Ishi

Yeah, kinda nice. You can notice the difference the very first ride. Don't worry about gearing much. I am gonna be trashed, but I think you can adapt more quickly and do more creative or unique things with (sufficiently) lower gearing.

... Keyword for you for some time to come is ... Spin!

badonis

Exit.

+1 on leaving your gearing low for a while. It will help improve your cadence, and then when you do eventually gear up, that increased cadence will increase your top speed.

bbattle

As the others said, keep the low gearing for a bit. When you go to a higher gear, swap out cogs in the back rather than the front chainring. It's easier, cheaper and the difference will be more noticeable.

A 46-16 is 75-76 gear inches. Going to a 48-16 would only get you to 78-79 while the 46-15 would take you to 81 gear inches.

Brian

Spin.

HardyWeinberg

For me it's not how high can I gear it and still climb my hills but how low can I get it and still descend them.

roadfix

Yep, it only takes one ride to get hooked.

spcialzdspksman

You sound my friend.
Is this Alex??

cnnrmccloskey

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news man, but We're Closed

J/k glad your enjoying fixed

NateRod

Good post. It got me pumped to go out for a ride, despite my crippling hangover.






I was regretting it halfway through though.

nashcommguy

Went out today for another 25 miler. This time I went the other direction and the decends/climbs were a few percentages tougher. Still can't get this dopey grin off my face, but I digress. On the decends I learned real quick about 'back pedaling'...resistance to slow one's decent. The first hill took me by surprise and I was cranking crazy rpms while laughing out loud. It was insane, but sweeeeeeet!

Hey, I didn't know the fixie thing was closed. But, I'm old so it's irrelevant to me. Glad to help Naterod. And thanks to all for suggesting staying w/t lower gearing. You're right my spin will smooth out. I can see than already. The first 10 miles or so were with my wife who's open to riding fixed w/3 speeds for climbs. So, now I'm in the market now for an SA 3 sp fixed hub. Will it ever end?

Btw, I'm riding clipless. They match my rims...RED. Had the bike pc'd w/sparkle black and have blk/wht 'harlequin wrap' on the hbrs...My girl said it's 'over the top'. I'll post a pic to this thread asap. Technically challenged, what can I say? PS: No, I'm not Alex, but my wheelset is.

spcialzdspksman

lulz,
Oh, Alex.

nashcommguy

Did a 35 miler yesterday w/about 10 miles in heavy, stop'n go urban traffic. My starting point is very rural and gets progressively busy as I ride closer to town. Being an experienced utilitarian cyclist I wasn't intimidated by the amount of traffic. The cool thing for me and you guys already know this was being able to NOT use the brakes for the entire trip. Stop signs, traffic lights, descends all successfully negotiated w/o brakes. The concentration level makes the ride much more of a total workout. My thighs are sore and my mind is sharpening. AND, get this I did a TRACK STAND at one traffic light...it wasn't pretty, I was wobbling all over the place. If the light hadn't changed when it did I was going to have to unclip, but I held it for about 3 seconds. I wanted to yell to the guy next to me in the car, "Hey Dude, look at me, I'm doin' a TRACK STAND!!" Again w/t dopey grin. To quote Bogie, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship."

vovinamer

dude that's dope! yea after a while you'll begin to wonder why you even have a brake on your bike i know many people are against riding brakeless but it pushes you to be more aware etc in an urban riding enviroment, which i LOVE riding through.. =) and those trackstands are just gonna keep getting better with experience.. =)

nashcommguy

Thanks, man. Your post fired me up. I think riding brakeless is a young man's game, though. In my case the heart says yes, but the legs? Not so much just yet... I may go w/just one on the front after a time. But, brakeless is within my capabilities, I think. Probably will have 2 fixies. One for rural, one for urban w/a brakeset.

j3ffr3y

In an urban environment, don't ride brakeless, if not for you, for the sake of the drivers, pedestrians that you might hit/get hit by.

nashcommguy

Yeah, I get that. Hence doing a second build for rural/low traffic riding. My house is .5 mi from the Natchez Trace Parkway here in Md. TN and has a very low traffic volume. Wouldn't think of riding brakeless/urban w/my limited skillset. Riding brakeless last time out was a result of experimentation as I had the option w/calipers both front and rear.

Zenith251

I recently just purchased my first fixed gear bike. KHS Urban Soul (I don't recommend it). From the second ride I was hooked on the concept of this different form of riding. The first ride was a bit like a Freshman at a prom, little awkward, but nothing serious. Now I ride it as my primary form of transportation, averaging 30-70 miles a week.

After a few weeks I took the rear brake off to force myself to learn to use counter pressure to slow myself down; I wanted to get both that little extra fun and that little extra exercise out of the bike. However I now understand that I will never remove the front brake. I've even contemplated putting the rear brake back on; trying to slow down from anything above 15mph without either 15-20 yards to slow down, or using my brake, is ****ing kills my knees. Honestly, how does anyone go brakeless? I'm 22, 5'9" 155lbs (with long legs O_O) and even going 10 miles through busy streets with trying to avoid the brake will leave my knees sore for the rest of the day.