Fixed gear bicycle sighting

in rec.bicycles.tech Michael Press said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
(A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
schrader valve tubes.

The things you see when ya ain't got a gun!!! Did you get it before
it could reproduce?

"Michael Press" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
(A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
schrader valve tubes.

--
Michael Press

It must be a hipster-approved college!

Michael Press said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
(A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
schrader valve tubes.

--
Michael Press

ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

CNN_news said:

Michael Press said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
(A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
schrader valve tubes.

--
Michael Press

ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

There are a couple ways of dealing with this, the most popular of
which being the anchor. You simply take an anchor -- of a
manageable size, of course, like one you would find on a small
fishing boat of no more than 30 feet in length -- and affix it to
your bicycle's top tube. When you need to stop, toss the anchor to
the side (preferably your right side, or "starboard" in hipster
parlance) and allow it to bring you to a smooth halt.

The biggest problem with this method is not the added weight of the
anchor, as one might expect, but rather the difficulty of managing
the anchor chain. You see, in order to afford the rider a wide
lateral range when dropping his anchor (so as to avoid hitting
pedestrians or merfolk or dogs), a considerable length of chain is
required. Fixie riders would traditionally hold this excess length
in one of their hands while in transit, but this method was deemed
so ungainly that it completely negated any hipster points earned by
riding a fixed-gear in the first place. However, since the advent
of the chain stay this has been less of a problem.

Despite the obvious benefits of bicycle anchors, there are still
several popular alternatives. In western cycling cities such as
Houston, it isn't uncommon to see riders stop themselves by lassoing
traffic signs or nearby trees. Occasionally you'll even see
somebody stop a bicycle by pressing the soles of his shoes into the
pavement; however, this practice is considered unsafe and is widely
discouraged.

Be sure to check out your local bike store if you'd like to see one
of these powerful fixed-gear braking systems in action. I'm sure
they would be happy to give you a demonstration.

--
Mark Shroyer
http://markshroyer.com/

Mark Shroyer said:

CNN_news said:

Michael Press said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
(A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
schrader valve tubes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

--
Michael Press

Quoted message said:

ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

Quoted message said:

traffic signs or nearby trees. Occasionally you'll even see
somebody stop a bicycle by pressing the soles of his shoes into the
pavement; however, this practice is considered unsafe and is widely
discouraged.

I'd like to get a fixed gear but I live in an coastal, mountainous
area and you can generate some pretty high speeds. Do you use clipped
pedals to 'lock' yourself onto the drivetrain to control the speed?

If I use a low gear for climbing I will have a very high cadence when
descending unless I am really very strong. Is it recommended to use a
fixed gear in hilly areas?

Thanks.

CNN_news said:

Mark Shroyer said:

On 2007-09-10, CNN_news <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On Sep 9, 5:19 pm, Michael Press <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
> Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
> (A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
> The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
> two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
> schrader valve tubes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> --
> Michael Press

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

Quoted message said:

traffic signs or nearby trees. Occasionally you'll even see
somebody stop a bicycle by pressing the soles of his shoes into the
pavement; however, this practice is considered unsafe and is widely
discouraged.

I'd like to get a fixed gear but I live in an coastal, mountainous
area and you can generate some pretty high speeds. Do you use clipped
pedals to 'lock' yourself onto the drivetrain to control the speed?

If I use a low gear for climbing I will have a very high cadence when
descending unless I am really very strong. Is it recommended to use a
fixed gear in hilly areas?

Thanks.

At least a front brake is wise on a fixed gear bike, front and rear to
be on the safe side. Using leg power as the only means to stop is only
appropriate in a very narrow set of conditions.

Riding a fixed gear bike WITHOUT locking your feet to the pedals
either with click-type pedals or toe straps is only for advanced
users. If you feet slip off the pedals of a fixed gear bike while
riding, you're in for some hurt.

If you live someplace hilly, it can be a challenge to find a good gear
to use that is low enough to get up the hills, but isn't completely
crazy down the other side. But even if you use a pretty high gear, you
will need to count on keeping the speed down on descents. I use a
46x16 on mine and even on slight hills I can get going faster than I
can spin, so any real descent would involve a lot of braking, but a
much heavier gear and I would have problems going up the hills.

Gear choice is entirely a personal preference. I like my 46x16 because
it is just perfect for flat cruising, and it is heavy enough that
standing while riding up 3-4% grades offers just the resistance I
want, but it is still light enough to be able to get up the steeper
hills. Part of fixed road riding is IMO grinding up hills and spinning
down, so no gear is going to be perfect, but that's half the point!

A key thing for fixed gear beginners is DO NOT FORGET you are on a
fixed gear bike. Sometimes one forgets and tries to stop pedalling to
coast, often with one leg at the bottom of the pedal stroke, with the
knee locked. This is bad; Worst case you will be launched over the
bars; lesser perhaps only crash; at least scare yourself.

Have fun!

Joseph

Michael Press said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
(A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
schrader valve tubes.

http://surlybikes.com/steamroller.html

It's a QBP product sold as a frameset only.

Chalo

Mark Shroyer said:

CNN_news said:

Michael Press said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
(A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
schrader valve tubes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

--
Michael Press

Quoted message said:

ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

There are a couple ways of dealing with this, the most popular of
which being the anchor. You simply take an anchor -- of a
manageable size, of course, like one you would find on a small
fishing boat of no more than 30 feet in length -- and affix it to
your bicycle's top tube. When you need to stop, toss the anchor to
the side (preferably your right side, or "starboard" in hipster
parlance) and allow it to bring you to a smooth halt.

The biggest problem with this method is not the added weight of the
anchor, as one might expect, but rather the difficulty of managing
the anchor chain. You see, in order to afford the rider a wide
lateral range when dropping his anchor (so as to avoid hitting
pedestrians or merfolk or dogs), a considerable length of chain is
required. Fixie riders would traditionally hold this excess length
in one of their hands while in transit, but this method was deemed
so ungainly that it completely negated any hipster points earned by
riding a fixed-gear in the first place. However, since the advent
of the chain stay this has been less of a problem.

Despite the obvious benefits of bicycle anchors, there are still
several popular alternatives. In western cycling cities such as
Houston, it isn't uncommon to see riders stop themselves by lassoing
traffic signs or nearby trees.

Bravo!

/me throws roses.

[chortle]

"CNN_news" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Michael Press said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
(A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
schrader valve tubes.

--
Michael Press

ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

The genuine messenger back helps you stop.

Chas.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

CNN_news said:

Mark Shroyer said:

On 2007-09-10, CNN_news <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

> On Sep 9, 5:19 pm, Michael Press <[email hidden]> wrote:
>> Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
>> Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
>> (A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
>> The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
>> two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
>> schrader valve tubes.

Quoted message said:

>> --
>> Michael Press

Quoted message said:

> ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

Quoted message said:

traffic signs or nearby trees. Occasionally you'll even see
somebody stop a bicycle by pressing the soles of his shoes into the
pavement; however, this practice is considered unsafe and is widely
discouraged.

I'd like to get a fixed gear but I live in an coastal, mountainous
area and you can generate some pretty high speeds. Do you use clipped
pedals to 'lock' yourself onto the drivetrain to control the speed?

If I use a low gear for climbing I will have a very high cadence when
descending unless I am really very strong. Is it recommended to use a
fixed gear in hilly areas?

Thanks.

At least a front brake is wise on a fixed gear bike, front and rear to
be on the safe side. Using leg power as the only means to stop is only
appropriate in a very narrow set of conditions.

Riding a fixed gear bike WITHOUT locking your feet to the pedals
either with click-type pedals or toe straps is only for advanced
users. If you feet slip off the pedals of a fixed gear bike while
riding, you're in for some hurt.

If you live someplace hilly, it can be a challenge to find a good gear
to use that is low enough to get up the hills, but isn't completely
crazy down the other side. But even if you use a pretty high gear, you
will need to count on keeping the speed down on descents. I use a
46x16 on mine and even on slight hills I can get going faster than I
can spin, so any real descent would involve a lot of braking, but a
much heavier gear and I would have problems going up the hills.

Gear choice is entirely a personal preference. I like my 46x16 because
it is just perfect for flat cruising, and it is heavy enough that
standing while riding up 3-4% grades offers just the resistance I
want, but it is still light enough to be able to get up the steeper
hills. Part of fixed road riding is IMO grinding up hills and spinning
down, so no gear is going to be perfect, but that's half the point!

A key thing for fixed gear beginners is DO NOT FORGET you are on a
fixed gear bike. Sometimes one forgets and tries to stop pedalling to
coast, often with one leg at the bottom of the pedal stroke, with the
knee locked. This is bad; Worst case you will be launched over the
bars; lesser perhaps only crash; at least scare yourself.

Have fun!

Joseph

Members of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons love fixie riders.

One knee replacement surgery = one new BMW....

I have nothing against experienced cyclists riding fixed gear bikes -
except when they saw off the gear hanger on a perfectly good classic road
bike.

My objection is to the [censored] who graduated up from skateboards and
little aluminum scooters. They ride in urban traffic without regard to
safety or regulations. I think this behavior encourages lack of respect
for cyclists among many motorists.

Many of these faddists will discard their messenger bags and wannabe
proletariat ways when the next fad comes around.

Chas.

CNN_news said:

Mark Shroyer said:

On 2007-09-10, CNN_news <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On Sep 9, 5:19 pm, Michael Press <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
> Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
> (A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
> The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
> two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
> schrader valve tubes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> --
> Michael Press

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

Quoted message said:

traffic signs or nearby trees. Occasionally you'll even see
somebody stop a bicycle by pressing the soles of his shoes into the
pavement; however, this practice is considered unsafe and is widely
discouraged.

I'd like to get a fixed gear but I live in an coastal, mountainous
area and you can generate some pretty high speeds. Do you use clipped
pedals to 'lock' yourself onto the drivetrain to control the speed?

If I use a low gear for climbing I will have a very high cadence when
descending unless I am really very strong. Is it recommended to use a
fixed gear in hilly areas?

In hilly areas, any gearing low enough to get you over a sustained 7%
climb is just too slow on the descents -- at least for me. If you have
descents with off camber hair pins, descending on a fixed gear is a
pain in the ass, and you really have to cut your speed and square-up
the bike to make the turn without hitting a pedal. I commuted on a
fixed gear over hilly terrain for two or three years, probably with a
70-some-odd inch gear -- great for strenghth training climbing and leg
speed training descending, but after a while (and after quitting
racing), I got tired of flailing my legs just trying to get to work on
time. I would still do it for training (with the understanding that I
would be doing a lot of thrashing down the hills), but not for
everyday communting over hilly terrain. If you do get a fixie (and
there are some good cheap ones on the market now) also get a good
brake, because on a long down hill, there is no way you can use pure
quad strength for breaking. -- Jay Beattie.

* * Chas said:

My objection is to the [censored] who graduated up from skateboards and
little aluminum scooters. They ride in urban traffic without regard to
safety or regulations.

if they have signed their organ donorcards, let them play silly buggers 😉
--
/Marten

info(apestaartje)m-gineering(punt)nl

CNN_news said:

Mark Shroyer said:

On 2007-09-10, CNN_news <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On Sep 9, 5:19 pm, Michael Press <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
> Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
> (A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
> The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
> two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
> schrader valve tubes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> --
> Michael Press

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

Quoted message said:

traffic signs or nearby trees. Occasionally you'll even see
somebody stop a bicycle by pressing the soles of his shoes into the
pavement; however, this practice is considered unsafe and is widely
discouraged.

I'd like to get a fixed gear but I live in an coastal, mountainous
area and you can generate some pretty high speeds. Do you use clipped
pedals to 'lock' yourself onto the drivetrain to control the speed?

If I use a low gear for climbing I will have a very high cadence when
descending unless I am really very strong. Is it recommended to use a
fixed gear in hilly areas?

Thanks.

First off, surley has been making a fixed gear bike for a number of
years under the "steamroller" moniker. I believe it was actually their
first or second model, with the other being a 'cross bike called the
Cross Check. Both are very well made bikes at reasonable prices, but
steel and quite heavy.

Anyways, I'm a huge fixed gear fan, and currently have three. I live
in northeastern Massachusetts, so the terrain isn't exactly what one
would call hilly. There are no hills local to me over 1000 feet. Still
there are a number of routes that provide quite a challenge on both
the up and the down hills with my gear of choice - 42x16.

I ride with two brakes - I always have and always will. Traffic is
simply too unpredictable to risk anything less. Maybe if I lived in a
remote area with wide open flat roads it would be different.

The trick to going downhill is training your legs to 'let go'. Once
you've figured out to how to let _all_ of your lower half to relax and
spin up, you can hill cadences approaching 200 RPM. I've ridden with
guys who can actually spin faster. Once you let go however, you can no
longer control your speed, and trying to slow down can be tricky

"CNN_news" <[email hidden]> wrote...

Quoted message said:

I'd like to get a fixed gear but I live in an coastal, mountainous
area and you can generate some pretty high speeds. Do you use clipped
pedals to 'lock' yourself onto the drivetrain to control the speed?

If I use a low gear for climbing I will have a very high cadence when
descending unless I am really very strong. Is it recommended to use a
fixed gear in hilly areas?

Voila...

(Vancouver's hilly and coastal too.)

--
JF

http://velominator.spaces.live.com/

* * Chas said:

Members of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons love fixie riders.

One knee replacement surgery = one new BMW....

I don't see how fixed gear riding necessarily leads to knee damage. At
least, it hasn't for me yet (twenty years off and on).

Quoted message said:

I have nothing against experienced cyclists riding fixed gear bikes -
except when they saw off the gear hanger on a perfectly good classic road
bike.

Right, that is crude. Better to remove the original dropouts and braze
in two left side horizontal dropouts. 'Cause that's what I did to my old
crit racer.

Quoted message said:

My objection is to the [censored] who graduated up from skateboards and
little aluminum scooters. They ride in urban traffic without regard to
safety or regulations. I think this behavior encourages lack of respect
for cyclists among many motorists.

Agreed, but applies to single-speeders, coaster brake bikes and all
sorts of multispeeds up to and including Madaones.

Quoted message said:

Many of these faddists will discard their messenger bags and wannabe
proletariat ways when the next fad comes around.

Chas.

--
Ted Bennett

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/
-tom

* * Chas said:

"CNN_news" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Michael Press said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.
(A Surly; love the name, don't you?)
The bicycle has track ends, no brakes,
two fistfuls & a bit of seat post and
schrader valve tubes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

--
Michael Press

Quoted message said:

ok, how do you manage w/o brakes?

The genuine messenger back helps you stop.

Hair increases the drag coefficient or something? Most hipsters around
here aren't that hirsute.

Tom Nakashima said:

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/
-tom

antidote to fgg
http://www.bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/

caution: do not drink while reading.

Scott G.

Michael Press said:

Was up at the college library locking my bicycle.
Saw a fresh new fixed gear bicycle.

I guess I've been out of it for a while...fixed gear bikes were all the
rage when I was a messenger in NYC in 1983. Has the craze come around again?

I had a Rolls (Italian Colnago copy) road bike frame (got for free) with
dropped bars turned upside down and cut off. And of course...no brakes.
I didn't actually use that bike for working, I mostly rode laps around
Central Park. For work, I rode a citified mountain bike. Much safer.
However, a lot of the other messenger dudes were on fixies. Nice for red
lights (when you couldn't run 'em).

Gregas