# What fixie "tribe" are you?



## Twenty Inch (26 Sep 2008)

What fixie “tribe” are you?

According to the latest Cycle magazine, fixie riders can be divided up into 4 tribes: messengers (speaks for itself), fakengers – usually city boys who look like messengers but are clean and have new kit, hipsters from Hoxton and Shoreditch who ride in skinny jeans, and fraudax riders – full mudguards, pannier rack, found on the Dunwich Dynamo and commuting from South London.

I’m definitely in the Fraudax camp, I laughed out loud when I read it, as it’s me to a T. 

What do other forum members identify with?


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## yello (26 Sep 2008)

Closest to fraudax... but I have no rack on the bike nor do I commute. So really, none of them!


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## domtyler (26 Sep 2008)

If I had to pick one it would have to be Fakenger. 

This is on account of the fact that I cycle into a job in the city on a fixie (sometimes), I don't actually try and dress up like a cycle courier. Honest!


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## GrahamG (26 Sep 2008)

I was reading that last night too. The Fraudax label cracked me up - I'm a mixture of that a fakenger, no rack but mudguards and two brakes but with a courier bag


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## ChrisKH (26 Sep 2008)

I'm in the fifth tribe. Unfixed. 

Read the article on the way in. Guy who bought the LeMond fixed mostly because it was fashionable struck me as a bit funny. But what would I know. Never been a fan of fashion. And he is on a bike.


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## Twenty Inch (26 Sep 2008)

ChrisKH said:


> I'm in the fifth tribe. Unfixed.
> 
> Read the article on the way in. Guy who bought the LeMond fixed mostly because it was fashionable struck me as a bit funny. But what would I know. Never been a fan of fashion. And he is on a bike.



That was funny - bought it because it goes with his Apple and Muji kit. I wonder what his road rash will go with?

And was anyone else a bit peeved at the final crack about fixie riders moving on to segways or unicycles?


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## Rhythm Thief (26 Sep 2008)

I'm in the tribe which keeps their fixies in pieces in the shed. But when I did ride it I used it mostly for commuting, and I was probably a cross between a Fraudax rider (Raceblades) and a Fakenger (only one brake). But I just enjoyed riding it ... I must put it back together one of these days.


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## GrahamG (26 Sep 2008)

That cracked me up aswell. Apple, Muji, fixed wheel - I can spend money to make me cool!!

However, if you think about it, he's being totally honest just saying "yep, I'm a fashion victim" it's far classier than someone in denial.


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## palinurus (26 Sep 2008)

I haven't got a fixie. If I did have one I'd use it for commuting and so I'd have guards. It'd look fraudax.

When my cross bike is built I may not require the extra flexibility of gears on the commuter bike- currently also used for general winter riding- so maybe I can fix that.


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## Will1985 (26 Sep 2008)

Hmm....certainly a cross between fraudax and fakenger for me. Sometimes I'm out in full lycra, the bike is usually clean anyway, but other times I am in rolled up jeans or a pair of Humvees and a t-shirt...just depends on what I'm doing. Don't have a rack, but do have mudguards (not on at the moment).


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## GrahamG (26 Sep 2008)

Don't worry, Will. No aspect of any cycling culture will ever penetrate Birmingham


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## Greenbank (26 Sep 2008)

No aspect of any cycling culture will ever penetrate Birmingham.

HTH.

I would be a Fraudax but I actually do ride Audaxes on this.


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## Joe24 (26 Sep 2008)

I'm of the tribe that rides his in lycra, sometimes baggy shorts depending on where i'm going. Dont have a rack or mudguards.
So none really


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## dudi (26 Sep 2008)

I dont really fit into any of those...

I have a pared down steel frame, no extras. one brake and a big gear. set up as a TT-type bike (full TT bar-set and deep profile rims). used for speedy commutes and simple fast weekend riding. I ride it in full lycra, except for the commute, when i put on some baggys to spare the blushes of the girls I work with. 

I'm bemused by this "fashion" rubbish. never have undersood it.


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## Nick G (26 Sep 2008)

Closest to a fraudax. I commute into the city on an un-pimped converted racer with mudguards, I wear lycra and I come in from north not south London. Never done the Dunwich Dynamo, however. What's it like?


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## Fab Foodie (26 Sep 2008)

Well Fraudax without the rack... though It had one once... and I've never Audaxed either... maybe that makes me just a fraud then.

But... having commuted on a circa 1949 vintage fixed in London long before so called messenger chic bollox I somewhat resent being pigeon-holed. It's not easy being a trend-setter


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## NickM (7 Oct 2008)

Well, given that Twenty Inch is riding my old bike, I suppose I must once have been a Fraudaxer... glad you're still enjoying, it, TI 

I have recovered from the fixed thing and now have a proper appreciation of the efforts of the inventor of the freewheel, whoever that was* 



Fab Foodie said:


> ...It's not easy being a trend-setter



Oh, I dunno... I am now avant garde, as I shall shortly be taking to the streets on the Next Big Thing, a Torpedo Duomatic 



*further research shows that it was patented by one William Van Anden in 1869, but first commercialised by that nice man Ernst Sachs in 1898 - so that's when the rot set in!


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## Fab Foodie (7 Oct 2008)

NickM said:


> Well, given that Twenty Inch is riding my old bike, I suppose I must once have been a Fraudaxer... glad you're still enjoying, it, TI
> 
> I have recovered from the fixed thing and now have a proper appreciation of the efforts of the inventor of the freewheel, whoever that was
> 
> ...



That's truly retro-niche! I've not seen such a device before, but I like it... do you have the whole folding bike?


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## mickle (7 Oct 2008)

I've a vintage Bendix Red Band sitting on my bench awaiting a bike to go on it. Wickedest.


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## NickM (7 Oct 2008)

Fab Foodie said:


> That's truly retro-niche! I've not seen such a device before, but I like it... do you have *the whole folding bike?*



Eeeeeewww, no  I reckon the rear hub is the only good bit of that particular machine!

My Duomatic (which, once regreased, will be good as new, having languished unused in the shed for donkey's years) will see service in a stripped-down Moulton Mark 3 (the better to cosset my ageing neck and shoulders), in a quasi-Vic Nicholson stylee... with low-profile bars, a Flite and 16" Schwalbe Stelvios. I doubt that I will see anything quite like it on my commute


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## spandex (7 Oct 2008)

Messenger me as I was one but I ride SS


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## spandex (7 Oct 2008)

mickle said:


> I've a vintage Bendix Red Band sitting on my bench awaiting a bike to go on it. Wickedest.





Did have it's at my house now making my book case look cool


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## zimzum42 (7 Oct 2008)

dudi said:


> I dont really fit into any of those...
> 
> I have a pared down steel frame, no extras. one brake and a big gear. set up as a TT-type bike (full TT bar-set and deep profile rims). used for speedy commutes and simple fast weekend riding. I ride it in full lycra, except for the commute, when i put on some baggys to spare the blushes of the girls I work with.
> 
> I'm bemused by this "fashion" rubbish. never have undersood it.


This is me too, essentially a roadie who rides a fixed......


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## ComedyPilot (7 Oct 2008)

How about a category for a roadie that is waiting for his fixed to be delivered so he can blast his legs and get fitter.


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## Joe24 (7 Oct 2008)

ComedyPilot said:


> How about a category for a roadie that is waiting for his fixed to be delivered so he can blast his legs and get fitter.



Wonna be hipster?


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## Fab Foodie (7 Oct 2008)

NickM said:


> Eeeeeewww, no  I reckon the rear hub is the only good bit of that particular machine!
> 
> My Duomatic (which, once regreased, will be good as new, having languished unused in the shed for donkey's years) will see service in a stripped-down Moulton Mark 3 (the better to cosset my ageing neck and shoulders), in a quasi-Vic Nicholson stylee... with low-profile bars, a Flite and 16" Schwalbe Stelvios. I doubt that I will see anything quite like it on my commute



Excellent! Love the Moulton. I hurtled around on one as a kid, great bikes, really great. Love to see pics of the final build.


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## marxist_fixie (22 Nov 2008)

Well...i am not a messenger and don't wear skinny jeans [i wish]...don't have mudguards and don't live in south London.....from north London...so that was never happening!....I come from the smoke but not a city type....but i did work in Hoxton once!...and i am def not a hipster....tin plated dinosaur tis me.....so there must be Miscellaneous category.....for those that like to cycle just for fun.up and down hills...smiling at people and talking to sheep and cows..but i would happily commute again to work on my fixie.....so i am starting a new tribe.....Because a fixie just looks and feels just the ticket...called the aesthetic fixie...anyone want to join


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## NickM (24 Nov 2008)

You have _sheep_ and _cows_ over there in North London? 

signed: a bemused South London resident







<thinks...> actually, we have plenty of sheep and more than a few cows down here, but they are all of the two-legged variety...


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## Dave5N (26 Nov 2008)

GrahamG said:


> Don't worry, Will. No aspect of any cycling culture will ever penetrate Birmingham


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## thebrowncup (28 Nov 2008)

*fixie tribe*

i'm new to this forum...actually live in America, a couple hours from chicago. just posted a couple pics of my first fixed s/s conversion of '75 schwinn varsity. problem is all my pics are 2.5mb's. for some reason, I was able to down load 3 of them even though they are over the size limit. anyone have ideas? I'd like to be able to post pics of the end result.


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## Christopher (28 Nov 2008)

browncup
You can upload them to flickr or any other photo website & then link to them here. There's a thread on how to do just that on the forum somewhere but I can't find it.

As for the OP, who cares? At least you're riding, and not stuck in a traffic jam in a car or crammed into a Tube carriage


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## ShannonBall (28 Nov 2008)

I'm in the **** You And Your Tribes tribe


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## Tynan (17 Dec 2008)

them fessengers are a scream, so many of them too, took me a long time to realise what was going on

absolutely full on everything, just too bloody clean and smart and too bloody slow


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## Twenty Inch (18 Dec 2008)

ShannonBall said:


> I'm in the **** You And Your Tribes tribe



Hmm.

Hope you were being humourous and slightly ironic. If not that's a really sad post.


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## GrahamG (19 Dec 2008)

COming back to this one - to increase my 'fraudax' credentials, I've just fitted a knackered old green saddle bag (complete with YHA sticker!) to this:


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## Pottsy (19 Dec 2008)

I'm currently in the 'no-longer-in-a-fixie-tribe' tribe at the moment as my Pompino was stolen a couple of months ago.


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## Paul_Smith SRCC (29 Dec 2008)

Twenty Inch said:


> What fixie “tribe” are you?
> 
> According to the latest Cycle magazine, fixie riders can be divided up into 4 tribes: messengers (speaks for itself), fakengers – usually city boys who look like messengers but are clean and have new kit, hipsters from Hoxton and Shoreditch who ride in skinny jeans, and fraudax riders – full mudguards, pannier rack, found on the Dunwich Dynamo and commuting from South London.
> 
> ...


Fraudax and proud 


Paul_Smith
www.corridori.co.uk


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## spandex (29 Dec 2008)

Now that is a nice bike


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## NickM (2 Feb 2009)

Fab Foodie said:


> Excellent! Love the Moulton. I hurtled around on one as a kid, great bikes, really great. Love to see pics of the final build.


Well here it is, finally all done - now if only the white stuff would just go away I could test ride it


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## GrahamG (3 Feb 2009)

That just flat out rules.


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## Joe24 (3 Feb 2009)

NickM said:


> Well here it is, finally all done - now if only the white stuff would just go away I could test ride it



WOW!!!
I want one


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## NickM (4 Feb 2009)

Thank you very much, chaps   

Get you down to your local cycle jumble, and you never know...

Mine is a Moulton Mark 3, preferred to the earlier Series 1 and 2 versions for its triangulated rear end. However, it has Series 1 forks, preferred to the Mark 3 ones for their better construction (no pressed ends for me!) and more normal over-locknut dimension. The other crucial part is the Torpedo Duomatic rear hub with its coaster brake, because there's nowhere to mount a caliper brake on an unmodified Mark 3 rear triangle. My front brake is a Tektro R556, but if you used Alex Moulton 17" rims (rather than my bike's 16" ones) a 57mm drop caliper would work fine. Tyres are 349 Stelvios.

The credit for building it belongs mainly to my good friend Andy, who solved all the Raleigh-related difficulties* 

Happy hunting! 






*mainly to do with the non-standard bottom bracket


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## Origamist (4 Feb 2009)

Very nice Moulton, shame about the kitchen tiles!


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## Twenty Inch (6 Feb 2009)

That is lovely. Can I have it when you've finished with it?


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## NickM (8 Feb 2009)

I'll leave it to you in my will, if you like


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## emab (17 Feb 2009)

hipster, because all i have are jeans and i like to do silly skids.
I just like my bike and ride it in the most practical way (i.e. not changing clothes in my school's toilets).


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