Fixie & Single Speed - Why am i doing this??
Please help, i have join the following, it was either cylco-cross or fixie/single speed... and i have gone for the single speed option (with flipflopper if i have the nerve!).
Love to hear why there is such a cult following - it seems there are a few geniuine reason why cyclists are on them:
1. Bike couriers: less maintenance, riding in flat city area...
2. Uni students: it is cool to have one, it is cheap...
3. It hardens you up
None of these really fit me - so why do i do it?
I want to be hip! something to do during winter before i purchase the next real bike!
All comments taken on board!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Wombat on -
Hi Marc. I have a single speed with free-wheeling hub. I got it with the idea that I might go fixed, (if I got the nerve too!) but after trying someone else's, decided my knees would definitely not handle it. I still have the single speed and when I get gears on that (very soon) I plan to put the single speed set up on another frame.
I have found the single really good to ride. I ride with my daughters to school most days. I have a tag-along bike attached to the back for my youngest and it is just a simple bike to ride. No mess, no fuss.
On the fitness side, it has helped me to increase my fitness, both in terms of cardio on the flats and spinning down hills, and in starting to climb hills, where I have seen significant improvements over time riding up the hill at Flinders Uni and being now able to do that without having to walk at all.
I would say to anyone who rides on the flats, commutes on the flats or wants something simple and cheap to ride around with the kids, go a single speed with a freewheeling hub. It is the Bomb!
Hope this helps.
Enjoy the ride.
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Permalink Reply by Doddsy on -
If you want to be hip you need to ride a bike so thats a good start.
Single speeds are normally lighter and more efficient at a comfortable cruising speed.
Less maintenance, less rattles, better value.
If you have the right ratio you can't choose the wrong gear, meaning you'll always be relatively quick off the mark instead of trying to take off at the lights pushing 53*11.
If you want to go faster you have to pedal faster (none of this fancy pants, clickity clack stuff), Its point and shoot with a single speed (better for your cardio).
Great on short hills (instead of changing gears and slowly getting up the smaller inclines its much better to get out of the saddle and grunt it up the summit.)
Chicks dig single speed riders.
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Permalink Reply by Teddles on -
Getting around on a Fixie really toughens you up. I first rode one two maybe three years ago and thought to myself WTF are these guys doing. A few weeks later it was hard rubbish at my mates area, while walking home from the local on a warm monday night we pulled two scrapped bikes out of the trash and took the rear wheels to my mate who welded it up at his work shop. I went from there.
Riding a brakeless fixie through the streets gives me the rush that I get from going D/H very fast. It took me several weeks to sort my skills before I was comfortable enough to ride in the city, everyday I get more and more comfortable riding one and get better predicting what traffic is gonna do, as well as watching traffic lights to keep on top of them.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Warner on -
It's natural for most of us to want to challenge ourselves in some way, and some cyclists find it appealing to make bikes more difficult to ride by removing gearing and freewheels, and more dangerous by removing brakes.
Others (like me) prefer the challenge of chasing similar or stronger riders up hills and down technical descents, or riding in fast groups on the flat, and just want the bike to help as much as possible. A third group are MTBers, who find their challenge in the terrain they tackle.
But if we're commuting or shopping, we're probably not looking for any challenge at all except not getting hit :-)
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Permalink Reply by Helen on -
Hi Marc,
My cousin has a fixie cost her $2000 and she loves it.....
she uses it to commute in the city as she's a student...
she says she finds it easier than having to change gears.
But she lives at Flagstaff Hill....and i'd hate to see her coming down the hill....
wow too scary.....
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Permalink Reply by Darren S. on -
Hey Marc, I am doing the same as you....looking at either building or buying a fixie(probably buying, because i'm lazy) for commutting purposes. Not sure exactly what drew me to this decision, but hopefully I get some benefit out of it. I like the idea that Doddsy put forward...hopefully chicks really do dig it :)
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Permalink Reply by heather on -
Back in the old days, in my youth...
I learnt to ride on my elder sister's old bicycle. No gears. No brake cables - pedal backwards. Heavy bicycle but sturdy. I cycled in bumpy paddocks over long grass and thought nothing of the effort. There was a nearby hill that I cycled up and then down to 'blow dry' my hair - electrical appliances were few for 32 volt. I think similar bicycles encouraged the invention of the MTB, now with multiple gears.
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Permalink Reply by Alexander Langman Hender on -
I'd say that the call of fixed / ss is because they -are- real bikes.
Geared bikes are miracles of modern technology; I own and love a couple for sure
But a fixed gear or single speed is about making the bike an extension of the legs and an intimate connection to the road / track / single track. My steel track bike is the most direct method of converting my effort into forward movement that I can imagine or have ever experienced.
A gearie turns you into a motor. A fixie (or ss) turns you into cyclist.
But run brakes; much of the fun goes out of riding if you have to be on a constant uber-alert level with no safety net. Unless you're rocking bar spins and tricks, it's just machismo to go brakeless.
And if you do decide to flip that hub over, don't be afraid to run a low, low gear. My fixed commuter / cross-bike is about 62 gear inches (42 x 18). Way to low for the track but perfect for spinning around the city, the hills and so forth, without hurting knees that aren't used to back-pressure from the pedals.
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Permalink Reply by Marc Przybylski on -
AWESOME - excellent comments all round, so many fixie / SS riders out there with so much to say!
(I just re-read my comment "I WANT TO BE HIP!" is that the deifinition of lame or what!??!)
Well, i will be hitting the streets tonight - then doing my usual Grange to Newton run.
Thanks for your comments again - may have to post my lungs and legs on the forum next week if i dont make it ;)
___________________________
GETIN FIXED (SS ... for now)
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Permalink Reply by Alexander Langman Hender on
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If you want to be really hip, come along to Fixed Gear Tuesday.
Tuesday night from around 6.30, starting at the Exeter on Rundle Street, then riding somewhere between 20 and 60 kays with adventures (skate parks, Crafers, Edwardstown velly, et cetera) and then back to the Wheatsheaf.
SS or fixed both very welcome. In fact all are welcome but there's a definite bias towards simple bikes (we're simple minded).
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Permalink Reply by Marc Przybylski on
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sounds like fun! except for the skate park - i can hear the ambulance now!
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Permalink Reply by Alexander Langman Hender on
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