Get with the times kids! When the anglophiles mainstreamed the "American Roadster" in the 1990s, all the cool kids dropped their Sturmeys for Bendix kick-back shifting 2-speeds.


(of course Sturmey still does have this going for them.)

Where have you been? Shaft drives been around forever. It's never been a good thing, but crackpots keep re"inventing" it every few years. Here's the latest version I've seen
http://www.commuterbicycles.com/incline_bikes_info.htm

here's one now

Talking about mainstream, some 10yr old kid yelled out "is that a fixie?" when I was stopped by a crossing guard next to an elementary school.

lol i was reading this thread going "wtf, fixed gears are totally mainstream".

many people still ride, seems it hasn't affected many riders.

yea, the **** has hit the fan.

Ask skateboarders. I think my buddy Charles busted out his track bike to mess on in 88-89 when he wrecked his other bike. I think it's awesome seeing how it's exploding all over, kids' into it. Now if we can get some more covered velodromes.......

+1

There's an olympic class track around here, too bad it's 20 miles away from where I live.
http://www.velonews.com/files/images/Track.jpg

it must be rough.

Thats what I was thinking too until I saw the dates. Truthfully for me I didn't get more into it until my cousin started it. I guess I am a mainstream follower.

NYC needs indoor track, ASAP.

Who cares, really?

:p Yeah yeah yeah. I know most places don't have them but I don't feel like going out there to just ride a track, I'm better off just sticking to the road. Although I am friends with a small local team and they want me to try it out.

4 years later and people are putting risers and mtb wheels on their fixies to do bar spins and heavy as hell B43's to survive the impacts. Oh how times change.

BTW, I have the only fixed gear that goes on the road in my town of 40,000. There are a few track bike owners (yet the closest velodrome is at least 2 hours away), but they must stay really really clean inside someone's garage/basement.

I find it hard to believe you're the only one.

So do I, but I've tried to find others and I've yet to find any.
Community college? I'm one of three bike commuters (of 4,200 students, and one rider is a professor).
Local university? 6 bikes, all Wal Mart specials in varying disrepair.
Bike shop? They haven't worked on a fixed gear since last October, and that was a dedicated track bike.
Starbucks & all other coffee shops? No bikes at all.
I'm also in the "road bike scene" who would be most likely to own a fixed gear for winter training, but I haven't heard of anyone from that group riding through the winter.

yeah as soon as other people started riding fixies i got a road bike, way more street cred

Fixed gears have technically been around before geared bikes. Was popular then, once geared bikes came along, people started to flock to them, and then came mtb's, which were the IN thing. The came the first reincarnation of Lance Armstrong and road bikes became popular again and somewhere during that time span fixed gears started to take a foothold again. It is pretty much mainstream now, I'm still riding it, not because it's popular, but because I prefer not coasting on the road and to me pain is just a sign of something that needs improvement.

It's been mainstream for a long time now, it's just being sold as if it isn't. Any perception any of you still have of fixed gears as being "underground" or "edgy" is pure marketing.

I think I would enjoy it more if everyone did it.

I don't know about other people, but I do my best to try and convince other people to try it. I let them borrow my bike and take it for a spin around the block. I do the same thing with Telemark skiing, I try to get everyone into it. I got into it because it's fun, a lot of fun, and I try to share that fun with as many people as I can. More people in a sport is NEVER a bad thing.

Everything I do is "harder" or "different", I don't do it because it's different, I do it because it's fun and challenging and exciting, but mostly because it's just fun.

I've been riding fixed gears on the road since 1972 (Gitane Interclub with a front brake), and on the track since 1973. I used to only ride fixed on the road in the winter for off-season training. Now that I don't race, I ride fixed all the time because it's the essence of cycling. I was pleasantly surprised and quite amused that fixed gears should become so popular to the point where it's become fashionable, and that certainly didn't stop me from riding a fixed. But I imagine it will all die down and people will go back to riding geared bikes when that becomes the trend because they are sheep. And I'll just continue to ride my fixie, because I just don't give a flying f* about fashion.

Luis

Back when fixed gear was the ONLY game in town, cyclists were derided for being responsible for so many social ills. Namely, they spent time riding instead of going to church or even worse, not drinking down at the pub. They didn't buy new clothes because they might get them dirty or torn while riding.

Because they rode bicycles, they weren't buying horses or buggies or any of the paraphernalia associated with the normal mode of transportation of the time.

Cyclists clogged roads and made it difficult for Joe Dirt to get his wagon of beans to town. They interfered with traffic in the city and rode on the sidewalks to avoid the dirt roads.

Worst of all, women WOMEN were riding too and they could no longer be found at home, slaving away in the kitchen or mending socks. They wore bloomers and incited lustful thoughts in men.

In short, bicycles and cyclists were a menace to society.

Something had to be done so they invented cars.

I don't consider myself a "fixed gear rider" so much as an urban cyclist, and it wouldn't matter if everyone in the world was doing it or not, slicing through moving traffic at 25mph or bombing a hill at almost 40mph is always going to be rad as hell. I just ride fixed because it's fun and reliable, I could just as easily be riding a road bike and not identify myself any differently as a cyclist.

I started riding FG back in march, before it was cool and trendy to be riding one. Now I see all these hipsters on FG bikes and I'm like "to hell w/ these clowns, I was in on the ground floor" Pshh kids don't know what it's like to be truly legit...;)

Thank you for the winky face, as my face was reaching maximum levels of incredulous.

So now that fixed gears are in JC Penny ads, can this thread be gone forever?

We need to be sure to revive this thread when the fad dies and count the survivors.

Seriously in JC Penny ads? Well then ... mainstream it is if there was any doubt remaining.

I think we're all kidding ourselves if we say the "underground" or exclusionary aspect of riding fixed doesn't appeal to us at all. I love the instant connection I have when I meet other fixed riders. It's not so much a "we're better than other cyclists" thing as a "we're different from other cyclists" thing. I've struck up conversations with many a fixed rider just because we noticed each others' bikes, something that wouldn't happen if I were riding around on my old Huffy mountain bike.

mickey--people must be nice where you live. Here in Austin, it's like you don't talk to someone BECAUSE they are another fixie rider. Just too many social stigmas, expectations, and judgments around the whole thing now. People take it too seriously, and that kinda ruins it. Same thing w/ the hxc roadies. The friendlies bikers I've found are the ones w/ the cheapest bikes. Maybe not huffy cheap, but definitely people on old crappy road bikes and stuff

Have you guys seen the dell laptop w/ the fixie cover? I think BSNYC wrote about it. It's a laptop and the cover of it says things like "fixie" "u-lock" "skidz" etc.

when people take anything seriously, they get jaded
if you aren't smiling every time you ride, you're doing it wrong, but that's okay, because you won't be riding for very long