Anyone here from Phoenix?
 

I made the decision and am moving to Phoenix next month, anybody here ride fixed in Phoenix? How are the streets? Maintained? Potholes? Goat-thorns? Any cool meetup spots or fun places to ride? How is the fixed culture there? Is there a fixed gear culture there at all?

Good luck. I lived in Phoenix for a couple of years and have never been more miserable in my life.

Ahah whats so bad about it? I have only visited a few times and im stuck in a tiny New Mexican town with under 40k people so anything is better than this hellhole.

There once was a guy here from Phoenix who built a $10k State bike but he got ridiculed so much that he left.

Never been myself, but I know people that have lived there in the past. My advice is get used to waking up at 4am if you want to ride because you'll have to get your riding in before the sun comes up, at least in the summer when it's 120 degrees

Wait, State, as in the online company? How the hell do you spend 10k on that? Did he just keep the ****ty frame he got them and built other parts around it or did they legit charge him 10k for the build he wanted?

Personally, I tend to agree with Scrod, but it's not the worst place to be (it's better than Scottsdale :P). That being said Phoenix is hot, spread out and boring. On the other hand it's easy to get to California or Vegas and there are excellent breakfast burritos to be consumed.

Yea I actually really wanted to go to SD or Austin but per my current budget I can only afford so much a month and PHX is the closest, CHEAP cost of living big city near me currently haha. Has anyone ever ridden around PHX? How is the downtown area for riding? What makes PHX so boring?

Carbon everything!!!!

http://www.bikeforums.net/singlespee...new-build.html

ok...more like $3000 and he was from Mesa I guess not Phoenix

Hahahahahah the best reply on there is from Scrod and the Hindenberg. That actually got me weak.

Actually according to my research Austin's cost of living is cheaper then Phoenix

Cost of Living Calculator: Compare the Cost of Living in Two Cities - CNNMoney

My friend pays like $600 for her own apartment there. Besides cost of living you also should consider job markets. Cost of living doesn't help if you can't get a job

Well I could not find an apartment for $600 online for Austin, all the ones on Craigslist were around $800 for a 1 Bedroom so if you know of this mythical place and can find the name it would be much appreciated, I am a tattoo artist and I just heard there was A TON of shops in Phoenix to work at which factored into my choice but again, anything is better than this horrid town in NM I have been relegated to so I am stoked to get out regardless wherever it may be.

Everyone in Austin has full sleeves, just saying. Probably a lot shops there

I am from Phoenix but left for college and never went back except to visit my parents. Since they've now moved to Indiana it's hard to see why I'd ever go back. It's all suburbs which seem like a miserable place for a road cyclist. The roads are eight lanes wide and everyone's going 60, and it's hot all the time. I rode my BMX and later 24" MTB all through the state trust land that later became developments in the area between 59th, 43rd, Pinnacle Peak, and Happy Valley, to Waterworld, occasionally rode to junior high at Hillcrest and high school at Deer Valley. But somehow I can't imagine now how I tolerated the heat.

There's very little weather to cause potholes but there were indeed plenty of goatheads.

Pretty much all this, except I moved to Portland instead of Indiana. I think downtown Phoenix is going through a small renaissance, you could say. A lot of cool places are popping up and my friends from there are all getting into riding bikes now. Where as before it was nothing but fast food chains, gas stations and strip malls.

Pretty much stay on the east side and it's alright, the west side is a hell hole of lifted trucks and people yelling at youas they drive by. I also think state does an organized ride every Monday starting in mesa but I could be way off on that.

Fixed.

How is Austin Texas then compared riding wise? And hearing goat thorns, I am automatically out.

austin is super bike friendly...the most bike friendly city in tx.
it's also one of the (if not the top) top cities for bike theft in the US....so that sucks.
good bar scene, lots of music clubs, tattooers, great food (stubb's, chili parlour...), outside the city is amazing...(perdernales, bee cave, marble falls etc...), lots of riding elevation, also.
check out john prolly's strava......you'll get a good idea of the riding there.
pretty mild weather, too.

Although I'm not a huge fan of Austin, I've always had a blast there and would choose it over Phoenix a thousand times over.