Welcome Bruce County. That is a beautiful old school road frame, which is ideal for a fixed gear or single speed conversion with its long horizontal rear dropouts. I used to have a Ron Cooper frame set up as a FG, but have since converted it back to a classic Campy geared road bike.

I did the Saturday breakfast ride this morning.



That's BFer nkfrench at the front of the pack in the pic above



We ended up in downtown Fort Worth







The young man on the right rode with us for the first time in several years. He started his riding career with us when he was 11 on a Wal-Mart Schwinn his grandma bought for him. He's now 17 and riding with the Garmin Junior team.



He said he didn't want to take his helmet off because he had a terrible case of helmet hair.

I ended up with 43 miles for the day. Everyone else was in their spandex riding geared bikes. I was in jeans, riding my fixie.

Could someone who has been riding fixed for like a decade or so give some insight on their knee health? I got kind of freaked out by an old bike wrench who showed me his knees after riding fixed for a decade. Is riding fixed going to ruin my knees in the long run?

If you ride brakeless, particularly with a big gear, you will hurt your knees because they aren't designed to apply that backwards pressure. Fit brakes and use them, the effect on your knees will be the same as riding a freewheel bike ie, you'll only hurt your knees if you gear too high and mash the pedals or your bike fit is out.

The secret is to fit brakes ( and use them), learn to spin and, rather than gearing for top speed, gear for a cadence of 90 at a comfy cruising speed - 70 gear inches works well though I've dropped back to 66.

Mind you, I only been riding fixed for six years, not decades

I've taken to fixed gear recently and love it. It still scares me a bit, though, because I feel like I don't have as much control in starting and stopping. Since I'm in my 40s I don't care much about fitting in with the hipsters who ride with no brakes. Thus, I built up my bike with a front brake and don't bother trying to skid stop. Do those of you who use rear brakes on your fixed gear bikes have any problems with them? I've heard some people say they're dangerous--something like they cause the rear wheel to lock up easily.

Those people are idiots.

It's no different than having a rear brake on a non-fixed bike. About 80% (+/-) of your braking power comes from the front, so a rear brake isn't that important on a FG bike, but it's not dangerous to have one.

As per BoSoxYacht, brakes work the same on a fg bike as they do on a geared bike.

As for skidding to a stop, well, it's fun to learn how to do it. I can, although, once mastered, I don't bother to try it too often, and when I actually need to stop, I use the brakes.

Knee health is a topic dear to my heart. I had a meniscus removed age 16 and since then my left knee has grown in boniness to be 2" bigger than its counterpart. It's got to the point now when the only time it's really comfortable is cycling! After a year of FG at 72" (with two centuries) I find no more aches and pains than with gears. I find that if you relax into downhills you get a massage effect on your knees which can be quite delightful. As for mashing: get off the seat and maintain momentum using all those core muscles. This has a wonderful effect on a beery waistline too! On that note my wife now rides SS and has the best shape she's ever had.....aged 45!

Safety and brakes: never a problem. Don't push back when stopping, take your time, relax and get that massage effect, the weight of your legs helps the braking. Sheldon Brown was absolutely right (as usual), in that FG riding makes you a better, smoother, safer cyclist.
Incidentally I'm doing a 24hr endurance ride at Thruxton Park motor racing circuit this year. Rules dictate that I can't use FG so I'm going to go to a 3-speed hub. Training will all be done on FG so I'll let you know the double centuries go! Happy Christmas from a very very wet England.

Of course I meant next year. September 7th and 8th to be precise.

Thruxton Park--you just reminded me I need to catch up on the BTCC.

i'm in my mid 40's, i've injured my acl on both legs as well as pcl on my right leg. i've broken my left leg, both feet, most toes, a couple ribs, postrior sci, the list is huge. i even lost my spleen to the early 90's bmx. my life of skateboarding has incurred most of the other injuries. as for whether fixed gear is hard on the knees i don't think it can even compare. i use leg power to stop no real force to the knees. i started riding fixed again for physio purposes initially but i can easily say my knees don't really get too sore from riding. my back feels pain from locking up on occasion but everything ele is fine.

Good luck. It's obvious you know more than us.

30 fixed gear miles this afternoon. With 69 more miles I can break 4000 for the year.





About 6 miles from downtown Fort Worth, still solidly in the city:

I was wondering when the "mom" jokes were gonna start.

That actually has a history within our cycling group from our pub crawl rides. It's no drop, so we have a guy in front and a guy in back with walkie talkies to communicate. One guy, who's very quiet, polite, and unassuming, will sometimes lead, and he uses every opportunity to drop "your mom" jokes.

The holidays and chilly weather took their toll on Fort Worth Critical Mass. We only had 10 riders last night. Pathetic.

I have been riding fixed for 8 1/2 years or so-- over 26,000 miles (on the fixie) including centuries, double-metrics, mountains (Ride the Rockies--including Independence Pass-) and general commuting. My knees have never been an issue. The key is to keep a steady cadence (and be sure your bike is geared to YOUR fitness-- not someone else's). I started with a 48x16, moved to 48x18 and now ride a 48x17. The only time I wish I had something different is on long or steep downhills...where your RPMs will get into the 130-140 range, which is probably too fast. The key to long climbs is to pace yourself. Ride seated, then switch to standing, then switch back and so on. When i started, I could do 50 revolutions of the pedals standing and then had to sit. Now i can do close to 300 without any trouble. This also translates to much more efficient riding ont he geared bikes.
Like has been stated elsewhere, USE YOUR BRAKES to stop. If you go brakeless, remember that the things that are stopping you are your chain, your tires and your legs...and in your legs, the weak spot is the knees. If your chain breaks, and that has been known to happen, YOU ARE WITHOUT BRAKES... something to think about.
At any rate, riding fixed is great. i rode today with 4 triathlon types--a cold day and it started snowing about 40 minutes into the ride. The fixed gear has the added advantage that you have to keep your legs moving, so they don't get cold like the guys on freewheels, who coast and get cold. It also gives you positive traction at all times.
I started riding fixed at age 50... so don't think that age is necessarily a factor... keep your knees covered in temperatures below 60 F and you knees will thank you for it.

Enjoy--

train sfae-

In my day racers almost universally rode fixed in the winter. Track racers, of course, rode fixed all year around. I don't recall any complaints of fixed gears causing knee injury.

Further back (pre-1950s or so) British cyclists used fixed extensively, including multi-week touring in the hills. I have never heard or read of that practice causing knee injuries either.

And before even that, professional road races were contested with fixed gears almost exclusively. The Tour de France, for example, was ridden with fixed gears for decades, even after the introduction of the high mountains of the Pyrenees. Again, I have not come across any mention of fixed gears being responsible for knee injuries.

Of course, there are two other factors at play: gear size and brakes. With the exception of track racing (which takes place on level surfaces and rarely requires significant back pedaling) none of those folks tended to use gears of more than 75 inches or so, and they all used brakes on both ends.

I will be 68 this summer and usually ride around 4000 kms a season on my road bikes. I just got this State Bicycle Co. bike and as you can see, it will be a while before I get out riding on the road. So far, I have been riding it on the rollers, I am not a winter rider! I look forward to following this thread as I try my hand at FG riding for the first time. (I plan to add the rear brake before I hit the streets.)

My Sunday coffeebike the last four years, when i got 40 i started with ss and fixed so the geard ones is collecting dust these days...

Good luck Dave! I love my FG and wouldn't go back to gears for general cycling. It really frees your brain up and is SO good for fitness.

for those of you who ride fixed exclusively, just treat yourself and get a good road bike with 9 or (oh gosh) even 10 speed rear cassettes and you will fly , and want to go further and on any hill, you all have good fitness from so many miles fixed, so you can train the fixie legs on geared bikes and train your big gear efforts on flatland, and in no time you'll be flying in a 53-14, or 13,12?
I started training on fixed gears to get ready for track racing, and after a year of alternating from fixed gear bike to my road bike, I got stronger, and when on my geared-freewheel I pedaled so fluid I didnt even have to be conscience of my technique, it was just that "natural" to keep my rpms high, even when riding hard, on flatland and even hills.Dont worry guys, your never too strong for geared bikes, you will appreciate the gears after 4 hours on a ride , heading into your last batch of false flats on the route, into headwind, with your legs tapped, so you shift from that 53/15 to your 17 or 19, and thank God for the people who made the bicycle evolution possible

^^^lmao^^^

My friend John who I reconnected with on the forum sent me this picture from our Trek Days. He built this as a "Moonlighting" project thus the name. I'm guessing 1985, I'm older but still a little crazy and still riding!