Bike Cafe · Public discussion

Messengers on single speed bikes. Why?

Started by fabiosav · · Last activity · 14 posts · 2,431 views

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Bike Cafe
Published
22 September 2005
Last activity
16 October 2015
Original author
fabiosav
Posts
14
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  1. I'm in New York and I can't quite figure it out: can't be easy to stop...

  2. fabiosav said:

    I'm in New York and I can't quite figure it out: can't be easy to stop...


    What do you mean stop? They're couriers!

    It's probably for simplicity and ease of maintence. If you were riding your bike that much you wouldn't want derallieurs dying all the time due to bad weather and wear & tear.

  3. they probably can't afford deraillieurs

  4. It's a cult thing. I see bike messengers in philly with mountain bikes.

  5. do you mean fixed gear?

  6. they're riding the fixed gears all over downtown here in Denver. i think it's a status thing; all the cool ones ride one!

  7. Yup, fixed gear, no brakes....I was thinking logic is may be no one will steal one?

  8. fabiosav said:

    Yup, fixed gear, no brakes....I was thinking logic is may be no one will steal one?

    I ride fixed on the road. It is a thing of rare beauty. It offers simplicity, lightness and wonderful control. It can't be beat (until the hills come into play).

  9. fabiosav said:

    I'm in New York and I can't quite figure it out: can't be easy to stop...


    -Its cheap
    -easy to repair and replace parts
    -looks like [censored] so noone wants to knick it

    alright in a flat city, silly in a hilly one. Use gears if you want to make money. Use SS if you want to look cool.

  10. byron27 said:


    -looks like [censored] so noone wants to nick it


    Except other couriers....

  11. Batesy said:

    Except other couriers....

    true enough! would assume it would just trash your knees over time, though...

  12. I was once a courier for 1 month using a 2004.5 Giant OCR 1 with Jandd Commuter Panniers. I quit cuz the pay stank. It was good training though and I lost 5 lbs that month even though I ate a lot more. I was doing about 180 miles a week.

    They like fixies cuz they're cheap. It's amazing how some messengers are faster than me when they're using a single gear and I'm on 9 speed!

  13. Funny, its probably all they give them. Maybe doesn't cost that much. They provide them with the bikes. Maybe the companies get a good deal on them when they buy a lot of them. Nothing too complicated. Easy to fix maybe. The chain can fall off of some cheap bikes quickly. A messenger can't be dealing with that all the time.

  14. I'm sure it's not too difficult for them, they're used to it.

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