Fixed-Gear Bikes: Why?

Jacobe Hazzard said:

Has it struck anyone else that the fixed vs. derailer argument sounds a lot like the cycling vs.
driving argument?

I can't say that it has, no. Derailleur-equipped bicycles don't kill tens of thousands of people
each year, for one thing.
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> flcl?

"David L. Johnson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Tom Paterson said:

Oh yeah, one technical item that I never worried about until I saw a couple of chain unshippings
at the track. That could get messy, too, even with front and rear brakes available.

Yeah, I suppose. $10 for a new chain now and then seems to be a wise investment.

The critical thing with fixers is to keep an eye on chain tension. I check mine every time I ride. A
slack chain risks throwing, particularly at high speed, the worst possible time. A lot of the people
I ride with often have noticeably slack chains on their fixers, I have seen a couple of thrown
chains, fortunately without consequences -- scary, though. Sheldon Brown describes how to perfectly
center a chainring in one of his FG articles, this is an important step to get proper chain tension.

cheg said:

I've seen the light - I'm going to burn my car, lawnmower, helmet, rear view mirror, freewheel,
derailleurs, double crank, and brakes and join a single speed monastic bike messenger service in
the Himalayas. The only question is WHAT GEAR SHOULD I USE for going up and down Annapurna????

Obviously you haven't seen _all_ the light yet. We're not supposed to use 53x11 either.
--
Rick "Granted, that's near impossible to use on a fixie" Onanian

Per Elmsäter said:

All SingleSpeeds have three gears actually. Sit, standup and walk.

Excellent observation!

"(Pete Cresswell)" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

RE/

Quoted message said:

It's not FUN for everyone that tries it. I found having to pedal around turns pretty much removed
whatever fun it offered. Not because of pedal strikes or anything like that, but one of the
things I enjoy the most about riding is coasting and slicing smoothly through turns.

Now, singlespeeds, that's what I'm talkin' bout.

What I'm getting out of this thread so far is that I should buy the hub that flips and has a fixed
gear on one side and a freewheel gear on the other....

I have that setup. The only time I use it is when I go off-road, where pedal strike hazard
requires a freewheel. On the road, freewheels destroy much of the "extension of the body" feeling
of a fixed gear.

Rick Onanian said:

Quoted message said:

and join a single speed monastic bike messenger service in the Himalayas.

Obviously you haven't seen _all_ the light yet. We're not supposed to use 53x11 either. Rick
"Granted, that's near impossible to use on a fixie" Onanian

Especially in the Himalayas. Ordinarily it could work if the bike had teeny-tiny wheels...
--
David Damerell <[email hidden]> flcl?

Bryan K. Walton said:

In article said:

conversion on Sheldon's site. Would you recommend a beginner start with sneaker pedals and no
toe clips?

I may be misunderstanding you, but in my opinion you MUST have either toe clips or clipless pedals.
You need to keep your feet on the pedals at all times. Now, if you are asking about toe clips vs.
clipless, my suggestion for starting out would be to go with toe clips. You may find it enough fun
simply learning to get both feat on with the crank rotating around, without the challenge of
snapping in your cleats.

-Bryan

Actually, double sided SPDs are the best solution for novice fixed riders, you just stand on the
pedal and clip in, no flipping required. Flipping the pedal over, whether clips and straps or road
style clipless, is the hardest thing to do while the cranks are turning.

Kinky Cowboy

*Your milage may vary Batteries not included May contain traces of nuts.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

RE/ It's not FUN for everyone that tries it. I found having to pedal around turns pretty much
removed whatever fun it offered. Not because of pedal strikes or anything like that, but one of
the things I enjoy the most about riding is coasting and slicing smoothly through turns. Now,
singlespeeds, that's what I'm talkin' bout.

(Pete Cresswell) said:

What I'm getting out of this thread so far is that I should buy the hub that flips and has a fixed
gear on one side and a freewheel gear on the other....

In a world where espresso comes in decaf and people buy SUVs when they can't decide bewteen a car
and a truck, yeah, sure.

There's no cost penalty.

--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971

"Tim McNamara" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Per Elmsäter said:

All SingleSpeeds have three gears actually. Sit, standup and walk.

Excellent observation!

I believe the third option is why Australians call them "pushbikes" -- any bike with only one gear.

Matt O.

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

Quoted message said:

I think the speed modulation is the primary reason - you can control your speed with no hands, so
you are always attached to a brake. The simplicity is the metaphysical reason, but the control is
the animalistic reason.

-Bruce

I'd like to second this motion. speed control without hands (and obviously much more finessed than a
coaster brake).

I'm no messenger, but ive lugged countless enormous boxes and packages and whatnot around city
streets on a fixie. I've always been wildly ecstatic about my ability to slow down without hand
brakes, especially when there is an enormous box sitting on my handlebars, or when leaning over to
reach the hoods is difficult with my load.

obviously, under these 'wide-load' conditions, i maintain appropriate wide-load speeds. but i can
still generally make good time in a city.

"David Damerell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Jacobe Hazzard said:

Has it struck anyone else that the fixed vs. derailer argument sounds a lot like the cycling vs.
driving argument?

I can't say that it has, no. Derailleur-equipped bicycles don't kill tens of thousands of people
each year, for one thing.

Yeah ok, but the fix'ers say: More fun Better exercise Simpler Cheaper More feeling of involvement
and connection to the motion

And the shifters say: Less fun Too much unnecesary work Too many unnecesary dangers Too much
posturing/posing Too difficult to be useful/practical

I'm not necessarily taking sides (never ridden fixed), but don't tell me you can't see the parallel.

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

Quoted message said:

Is the gloved hand a lost art? Years ago, I was commuting home and met a gentleman in his mid 60's
who used a gloved hand for braking on his fixed gear. -tom

Dear Tom,

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "grabbing a big handful of brake."

But it doesn't sound exactly practical.

There he is, both feet strapped to a fixed-wheel and already fighting the bike, and now he
desperately grabs the front (?) wheel with one hand as he hurtles toward that pesky truck that just
pulled out in front of him.

Smilzo rode up on his racing bicycle and braked it by letting his rear end slip off the seat
backwards and stop the wheel.

Don Camillo was sitting reading the newspaper on the bench in front of the rectory. He looked up.
"Does Stalin hand you down his trousers?" he asked placidly.

Smilzo handed him a letter, touched his cap, leaped on his bicycle, and was about to disappear
around the corner when he slowed down. "No, the Pope does that," he called, then stood on his
pedals and was gone in a flash.

--"The Avenger" in Guareschi's "Little World of Don Camillo"

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Years ago, I was commuting home and met a gentleman in his mid 60's who used a gloved hand for
braking on his fixed gear. -tom

Dear Tom,

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "grabbing a big handful of brake."

But it doesn't sound exactly practical.

There he is, both feet strapped to a fixed-wheel and already fighting the bike, and now he
desperately grabs the front (?) wheel with one hand as he hurtles toward that pesky truck that
just pulled out in front of him.

Quoted message said:

Carl Fogel

Carl, I suspect you have never ridden a fixie. Why would you characterize the activity of riding one
as "already fighting the bike"?

I suggest you try it! It's inexpensive, really a lot of fun, and not unsafe at all in comparison
to a freewheeling bike. (Please note that I am assuming the presence of a front brake. Using a
gloved hand on the front wheel does not count, even though it is an impressive stunt, even an
intimidating one.)

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR

Ted Bennett <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Years ago, I was commuting home and met a gentleman in his mid 60's who used a gloved hand for
braking on his fixed gear. -tom

Dear Tom,

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "grabbing a big handful of brake."

But it doesn't sound exactly practical.

There he is, both feet strapped to a fixed-wheel and already fighting the bike, and now he
desperately grabs the front (?) wheel with one hand as he hurtles toward that pesky truck that
just pulled out in front of him.

Quoted message said:

Carl Fogel

Carl, I suspect you have never ridden a fixie. Why would you characterize the activity of riding
one as "already fighting the bike"?

I suggest you try it! It's inexpensive, really a lot of fun, and not unsafe at all in comparison
to a freewheeling bike. (Please note that I am assuming the presence of a front brake. Using a
gloved hand on the front wheel does not count, even though it is an impressive stunt, even an
intimidating one.)

Dear Ted,

I froth with righteous indignation!

I have indeed ridden a fixie. It was some forty-three years ago and I suppose that I was somewhere
between two and three feet high. My steed had solid rubber tires, two in the rear, and I pedalled
the front wheel. Top speed was probably around 5 mph on a good sidewalk. There was none of this
sissified hand-brake business. If you wanted to stop, you either fought the pedals to a standstill
or else toppled over.

As I remember, a skilled rider could stand on one foot on the rear platform over the axle and push
to even greater speeds with the free foot--try that on your fancy modern fixie!

Of course, I should have made it clearer that my theoretical rider was only fighting the bike to
stop it because the truck popped out in front of him--up until then he undoubtedly enjoyed a
blissful sense of being at one with the all.

Benny Hill

"Carl Fogel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Of course, I should have made it clearer that my theoretical rider was only fighting the bike to
stop it because the truck popped out in front of him--up until then he undoubtedly enjoyed a
blissful sense of being at one with the all.

Benny Hill

There is an even more blissful connection to the all, getting rid of all the extraneous claptrap of
seat, handlebars, frame, wheels, pedals, etc. Just put your feet directly on the ground - you move
when your legs move, and stop when they stop. You have great control of your speed and breaking.
It's a metaphysical connection to the earth. This whole shoe wearing thing, though, I don't know...
kind of artificial, don't you think?

Mike Beauchamp said:

Obviously bike messengers must know what they are doing, ,I'm guessing it might be a reliability
thing? But then again, I've never had a derailleur fail on me..

Bike messengers would rather eat than buy a derailleur. The pay is very low. A fixed gear bike is
much cheaper to ride per mile.

Quoted message said:

Mike mikebeauchamp.commikebeauchamp.comOpen ↗

"(Pete Cresswell)" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Went into the city today, and noticed at least a half-dozen bike

messengers

Quoted message said:

riding fixed-gear bikes. Some with a brake, some without. Most with

cages

Quoted message said:

and straps instead of clipless.

What's the attraction of fixed-gear. I'm guessing it must be something practical if these guys
are doing it.
--
PeteCresswell

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

Quoted message said:

Mike Beauchamp said:

Obviously bike messengers must know what they are doing, ,I'm guessing it might be a reliability
thing? But then again, I've never had a derailleur fail on me..

Bike messengers would rather eat than buy a derailleur. The pay is very low. A fixed gear bike is
much cheaper to ride per mile.

Quoted message said:

Mike mikebeauchamp.commikebeauchamp.comOpen ↗

"(Pete Cresswell)" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Went into the city today, and noticed at least a half-dozen bike

messengers

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

riding fixed-gear bikes. Some with a brake, some without. Most with

cages

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and straps instead of clipless.

What's the attraction of fixed-gear. I'm guessing it must be something practical if these guys
are doing it.
--
PeteCresswell

Dear BVM,

So these riders in a hurry can afford a single rear sprocket, but two would be a "needless outlay"
and seven or eight would be extravagance?

How Leisure Came

A MAN to Whom Time Was Money, and who was bolting his breakfast in order to catch a train, had
leaned his newspaper against the sugar-bowl and was reading as he ate. In his haste and
abstraction he stuck a pickle-fork into his right eye, and on removing the fork the eye came with
it. In buying spectacles the needless outlay for the right lens soon reduced him to poverty, and
the Man to Whom Time Was Money had to sustain life by fishing from the end of a wharf.

--Ambrose Bierce, "Fantastic Fables"

See you impoverished, hurried, frugal types at the end of the wharf on the weekend!

Carl Fogel

I am not sure why some people fall when they pull a foot. I have certainly seen people fall after a
pulled foot. I have pulled a foot out in all sorts of situations, including full sprint and while on
the bank at the track and never fell. It is actually pretty easy to just relax the leg that is still
in the pedal and sit down. The problem comes when the rider fails to relax that leg and the rotating
crank then pushes the stiff leg up and they go over the bars. Now getting the bike stopped in a
hurry with only one foot in the pedals is another story. That is the reason while I don't ride a
brakeless fixed on the road anymore.
--
Mike Murray

"Carl Fogel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

How Leisure Came

A MAN to Whom Time Was Money, and who was bolting his breakfast in order to catch a train, had
leaned his newspaper against the sugar-bowl and was reading as he ate. In his haste and
abstraction he stuck a pickle-fork into his right eye, and on removing the fork the eye came
with it. In buying spectacles the needless outlay for the right lens soon reduced him to
poverty, and the Man to Whom Time Was Money had to sustain life by fishing from the end of a
wharf.

--Ambrose Bierce, "Fantastic Fables"

Dear Carl:

What was he doing with a pickle-fork at breakfast?

Bill "pizza slicer, maybe" S.

"Jay Beattie" <[email hidden]> wrote: "Other kids had equally expensive and exotic track
machines which exuded style. Where do these guys (and gals) get the money? I have never seen any of
them at the track and doubt that they are winning these things."

They are definitely not winning these things at the track since we a barely giving prizes at all at
the track. The odd thing is that they are not even riding them at the track. Even though we have an
active program and we do see a few messengers at Alpenrose, the majority of track bikes in the city
are never ridden at the track. Over the past several years I have sold 200+ track bikes through the
velodrome program. I would guess that only 10% or so have turned up to race. The good news is that
all this expansion of the track bike market for use on the road has made track equipment much easier
to get than it was a few years ago. For a while one of the biggest problems in getting people
started racing on the track was finding them a track bike. Now there are several shops in town that
carry track bikes.

--
Mike Murray Alpenrose Velodrome manager