Anectodal analysis of fixed gear usage in San Francisco, Boston, and New York.
 

I recently returned from a vacation that took me to San Francisco, Boston, and New York.

Being that I'm considered, by Davis CA. standards, to be quite a bicycle geek, and have owned numerous fixed gear bikes, I can say that just about every bicycle that passed by or was parked on the street caught my attention at least fleetingly.

What I found most interesting in all three cities, especially SF, was that the brakeless fixed gear was conspicuously absent from the streets as a utility bicycle. In other words, I saw lots of them chained to posts, lots of them being walked, and quite a few being ridden slowly on sidewalks. (including one guy who rode his tarck bike in circles outside the SF ferry building for almost two whole hours one day). I saw almost none being ridden in traffic.

The bikes I saw most often being used for transportation or by what appeared to be bike messengers were old road bikes, mtbs, ghetto SS conversions, and purpose built fixed gears with brakes (i.e. Steamrollers, San Jose's, 925's, Paddy Wagons) - in that order.

It would be interesting (but entirely useless in the grand scheme of things) for someone with way too much time on their hands to actually quantify this observation and do a mathematical analysis of the results (in other words, stand on a corner and count bikes that go by).

SF has alot of hills, so it would be only practical to ride geared/ or fixed w/ low gearing and brakes. Real messengers wouldn't care about street cred and go with the bike that they can get around town fastest in. Only Masaan rides brakeless in the streets of SF. :p

This is a high school science fair project waiting to happen.

I live close to nyc so I visit there quite often, but suprisingly you wont see too many hardcore fixed gear riding messengers. NYC is filled with just average commuters on their beat up mountain bike. I do see alot of fixed gear bikes locked throughout the city, and if you get near a bike store(Within .5 mile radius,) there just seems to be more and more fg bikes. I have yet to go to Boston and check out bikes there though, I know there is ALOT of fgss riders in Boston however! :p

The trend is fading. As with all trends that begin in major cities, they die first there, too.

Urban cycling will always be around. I think people are just getting hip to the fact that a track bikes do not make the best city bikes. They never did.

Go to Calgary. 4 out of 5 bikes are fixed, being hammered on the streets. Many brakeless with no foot retention. The Anchor pub is their off bike habitat.

Its summer.
riders who ride hard, ride at night.
I just rode Central Park Loop a couple of nights ago
with a bunch of Strong brakeless riders.

Youre not going to see Messengers with pretty track bikes!
They are working! And using their WORK bikes!
And they are not going to be riding hard, especially on hot summer days!

Ill have to disagree with Carleton.
Singlefree and fixed gear bikes will always be the best URBAN velo.

In Austin there are still plenty of brakeless track bikes being ridden...though I would say that the majority of FG bikes here are equipped with a brake, there are still a decent amount of brakeless bikes.

seattle is like this as well. old road bikes, newer road bikes with used parts, and mountain bikes with slicks are highly prevalent. what has not been mentioned is cyclocross bikes. for every one of the aforementioned types of bikes, i see one tricked out cyclocross bike with fenders and slicks.

I moved to Calgary in January and have noticed a lot of fixed gear bikes in the downtown core and kensington area. That said it is no where near 4 out of 5 bikes. What I find most surprising is the number of female messengers in the downtown core, a lot of whom seem to be riding fixed. I would say however that places like Ottawa and Toronto (esp if you are around spadina/kensington) have more fixed bikes on the street (they also have more people which helps).

Mostly I notice the lack of high end nice fixed gear bikes in Calgary. While I have seen maybe a handful of what I consider nice builds on the streets here, in Toronto it is a regular occurrence. I think this is due to the shops in the area, while Toronto has Bikes on Wheels where you can tarck out your bike easily, Calgary's high end track bikes are mostly only to be found at campione cycles which is not a hipster oriented bike shop like bikes on wheels but rather a high end bike boutique in my mind. If anything I would have guess Calgary should have more fixed bikes than it does due to the fact that out of Calgary, Ottawa, and Toronto it is the only city with a velodrome. Calgary is also littered with high end tri/road bikes like Cervelo (which is also odd as they are made in Toronto).

Maybe some one can comment on fixed bikes in Vancouver compared to other major Canadian metropolitan areas.

Well as I rode from the airport to the DT core in Calgary I counted. 4 out of 5 . Must have been a good day. Understand I didn't venture outside of DT other than along Macleod trail and the velodrome. Of all the cities I've been to, Calgary has the most fixies by far.

Vancouver Metro is just full of old $hitty craigslist nishikis and apollos. Once in a while you'll see something with a skinny tire. No "scene" if you'd call it that. Right DT even the messengers don't usually ride fixed like they do in Calgary. Vancouver is a fat tire city.

Minor exception is the few that hang around the fixedvan site.

I like having a fixed gear in Sacramento traffic because I feel like I have more control over my speed especially when going slow. But I also like having good brakes for going fast and using reverse power mashing to stop has always made as much sense as going from 65 to zero using only my clutch and transmission.

In SF I saw more than one Surly Long Haul Trucker and other touring setups. Nothing beats a cyclocross bike for tough urban riding in my opinion.

Actually that would mean fat tire is the scene in Vancouver as it is in Sacramento. Probably for the same reason - good offroad riding very nearby.

And on a related note: Somebody from NY please explain the rusted Miyata 10 speed somebody at the Brooklyn Flea wanted $240 for. The bike didn't cost near that much new and would go for half that out here.

Actually, I see a lot of skinny tires track bike being used by messengers in Vancouver, when they get off work, all parked outside of the Art Gallery. Almost all of them were track bikes.

The track bike guys stick together on break.

I'm DT a fair bit for work and I see lots of single speed/lonely front disc setups with rat tails. Years ago it was all fixed with a couple bmx guys. Things change. Sorta weird to see a heavy girl as a messenger on a stripped down, crappy old Cannondale. Used to be ALL skinny white guys on track bikes.

Outside of the viaduct or the burrard bridge it's dries up real fast. I got a lot of weird looks today riding my track bike brakeless in town from the locals. You'd think that this city would be awash in fixed gear bikes but oddly, no. Most people have stopped asking me what the hell it is.

I see a good amount of brake-less track bikes in SF. The hills make it kinda gnarly though. You really have to be on your A game all the time.

Plus there is always the Mash SF team. But I think those guys actually want to die. I recently DL the video feature and I was just blown away. Some of the **** they do is unreal.

I guess it depends where in the city you are, I live on Main street and it is full of beat up 10 speeds, mixtes and fixed gears. The majority of the people I see commuting on bikes are fat tires though.

Main is fixie central. Always a couple locked up at Foundation. Rode past there today even.

:lol:
So true, I should keep an eye for a T1 on the road, I'll say hi if I ever see you.

Possibly this is true in Boston, but here on the other side of the Charles, I see a fair number of fixies and/or single-speeds (I don't check them closely for freehubs or brakes as they go by) being ridden in the street. I see just about every kind of bike you can imagine on the streets here. I haven't counted.

There is little to no fixed gear riders here, probably max 3. I know there is another member that rides a Kilo, I know my LBS owner rides fixed time to time, and me. No one asks me what it is though, I guess they are not interested. The bikes I see in my town are way too diverse. Hell, I even saw a Tri bike locked up infront of the library I was volunteering in.

I commute 25-ish miles round trip every weekday. I usually pass or get passed by at least a couple fixed gear bikes. 4 other guys in my office ride fixed bikes.

I took this series of pics a little over a year ago while waiting for the bus. It's about a 30 minute span. 2 out of 8 fixed gears.. not bad.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/...24f7654b02.jpg

You know, I was reading an article one day on a bicycling website, and watching a documentary about bicycle messengers, and the basic gist was that there is some sort of misticysm (splleing fail) surrounding FG and messengers.
Its almost a stereotype that all messengers use FG. Completely false, Most here are correct regarding the bikes that messengers use.

second poster: Yes. Massan is the only one XD. Cuz hes a beast.

I would say he's stupid.

I live on the Somerville/Cambridge line in Boston, and some large streets around here are like parades of fixed gear riders, many of them brakeless. There are lots of bike shops here that specialise in that, so maybe that is why.

I live in ann arbor, you know what i see a LOT of?

Old ten speed road bikes.

What's surprising to me is the amount of non Fixed SS bikes. It seems there are very few 'fixed' riders in ann arbor, lots of SS though. And I would say almost no brakeless riders.