SlackerInc

Misskatz and magaiver, your comments were substantive, informative, explanatory, and (for the most part) not condescending. Thank you! That's what I was hoping for.

Some of the other comments, I find highly ironic because mixed in with their umbrage and claim to support any and all types of cycling, they are dripping with contempt for the type of cycling I do, which could be described as part of the Slow Bike Movement (and btw, with the myriad specialised forums on here, may I say it's a shame there isn't one dedicated to SBM!). Yet I would argue that it's a pretty beautiful thing, to take a machine I can lift with one hand, that requires no fossil fuels or electricity, and use it to get several miles without having to really "exercise" or be dressed for a "workout", to be able to arrive at the other end without being all sweaty and having conserved way more energy than if I had taken any other form of transportation (including walking).

Misskatz, you complain that "no one asks 'why ride a 10 year old department store mountain bike?'..." but I'd be glad to answer that. It's cheap (I see intimations of fixies being affordable, but I'd have to ask "compared to what" as I've never paid more than $150 for a bike and usually much less) transportation that gets the job done. It also fits the "reduce, reuse, recycle" ethos to use a ten year old bike than to get a gleaming new one.



The first sentence of my OP does not contain a supposition--note the question mark. Or did you mean a different comment? Hard to tell with nothing quoted!

Can someone define "HTFU" and "LBS" for me?

(BTW, just because I kept this forum's tab open does not mean I've been staring at it for three hours, I assure you!)

ETA: It occurs to me that if this question is so frequently asked, it must be something that a lot of people wonder about! (For every one who asks, there are likely to be many others who wonder but don't ask; and that's just among the relatively small people who have even thought about fixies or ever even heard of them.)

Nagrom_

Harden The F*ck Up

Local Bike Shop

cruiserhead

It's obvious that the thing you love most is circular arguments on the internet.

Go ride a bike. man. any bike. If you need to be spoonfed and enjoy segregating bicycle types, that is your problem and a problem to those that enable that nonsense.

SlackerInc

Cruiserhead, it's not about circular arguments at all: as I said, I really appreciated Misskatz's and Magaiver's comments, and learned a lot from them. I will pass though on the "HTFU" advice, for reasons I've already explained. As for riding down to the LBS to ride a fixie, the LBS here is Wal-Mart! LOL I do know people here who are serious bike aficionados, but they drive to the big city to bike shop (not an option for me as I have no car), or order their bikes on the Internet (obviously I can't order one just to try riding it).

Nagrom_

"You know what I'm gonna do today? Make an account on a forum, pick a random sub, and pester people about they're hobby choices.

yeah... that's what I'll do."

Nagrom_

Look what I found on the google.

https://sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html
https://sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html


read that, go away.

Stealthammer

OP,
1) Try doing a search before start such an obvious thread topic. There are more "Why a Fixie?" threads here on the BF than any other topic. Do a little research.
2) If you have to ask, you won't get it even if if explained to you without trying it for yourself.
3) FG (not "fixie" please) is about form and simplicity. You pedal, it goes. Simple as that.
4) If you live in a hilly area a FG challenges you and it is rewarding to overcome those challenges.
5) Geared Road bike to FG is kind of like Mountain bike to Road bike. The Road bike is more about consistancy than a mountain bike and is more cerebral, and a FG is even more about consistancy and is even more cerebral.

Try it out for yourself. But first go to the Single Speed & Fixed Gear forum and read the stickies.

ThermionicScott 

To paraphrase Louis Armstrong, "If you have to ask what riding fixed-gear is like, you'll never know."

PartsMan

I recently had my old bike converted to single speed (freewheel).
Along with my gears I gave up a lot of noise and friction.
You can run 2-3 gears higher just from lost friction.
I upped my average speed 2 mph that week.

SlackerInc

The Sheldon Brown is illuminating, but not really in a positive way. I had no idea how dangerous FG bikes were (I shall as requested not call them "fi**es"). Yikes! Also, he makes this unsupported claim ("pernicious" how/why?), which sounds pretty blatantly prejudiced against freewheel cycling to me:

ETA: Thanks for the info, PartsMan. I could imagine that would be decent, in a relatively flat area (I'd have to baby it working up to speed so as not to torque on my knees and quads). since you still have the freewheel to coast.

Bat56

Apparently, no.

GENESTARWIND

Look its apparent you are only here to poke and prod at type of cycling many of us here enjoy and you obviously didnt come here to simply ask why we choose to ride fixed gear bicycles. It also seems you dont listen do a damn thing any of us say.

I enjoy riding fixed gear bikes because they are fun and at times can be an enjoyable challenge but also because they are simple, I simply clip in and ride, no thoughts of shifting, multiple brakes, deraillers ect.

Again, Go to your local shop and give one a whirl and see what its all about for yourself. Reading about it online will not give you a definitive answer.

prooftheory

Stop feeding the troll.

Tom Stormcrowe

I ride fixed, simply, because I like it. That's actually the core reason most of us do. I also ride a geared road bike, as well, and can generally ride farther and faster and hold a consistent cadence on the geared bike because I don't coast, even when I can, in general. I haven't wrecked my knees riding fixed either and I'm approaching my mid fifties. /thread....it's closed, since the topic's been done to death.