Tom Sherman wrote:
> Claire wrote:
>> Over yonder: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/bik/637385956.html
>
> Please explain to me again the attraction of fixed gears.
>
I don't know, or more to the point, I don't know the attraction in
somewhere like SF. Boston is pretty flat, especially tooling along the
Charles, so gears are pretty optional. In icy weather, a fixer with
studded tires is about as practical as you can get.
I think much of the original appeal of fixers was that they're really
cheap to build, especially if you go with the suicide package --
locktite and no brakes. It gave you something to do with bike boom era
jetsam cluttering up your garage, the beater/errand bike you could
cobble together in a couple of hours and not ever worry about being
boosted when you left it unlocked in front of a store. Ride hard, put
away dirty. To me, the current rash of high zoot, fresh from the factory
fixers are rolling oxymorons. But that's just me.
Anyway, I like mine with 2 brakes (I've never done a skid stop in my
life -- a waste of nice tires). I also like fenders, as beaters, by
definition, are ridden in ****. Rear wheel is cheap & sturdy with a real
track hub (low end, but still a splurge), front wheel is whatever is
spare at the moment. Rather than skinny, chopped down, hipster bars I
use wide butterfly (think stairmaster) bars because they work best for
standing climbs (something you do all the time on a fixer, even in Boston).
I don't know why I like it, I've ridden it for several years now, and it
always seems to be the first bike I reach for when I'm not going out for
an all day ride. That said, I have a friend who is a long distance rider
(brevets/BMB, etc.) who rides fixed exclusively. I can almost understand
that.
Fixers are not compatible with shoelaces or short attention spans. I
have had the occasional fixed moment, but never anything close to a
crash. I prefer a fixer for urban, weave through the gridlock, riding,
but my favorite times are like last night, riding along no-hands with a
tailwind on a flat road -- dead quiet and feeling closest to just
floating along with no bike at all -- bugs-in-the-teeth pleasant.