# Is a single speed not fixed?



## User (15 May 2014)




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## oldfatfool (15 May 2014)

[QUOTE 3083393, member: 30090"]Is a single speed not fixed?[/QUOTE]
No. hth


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## Spinney (15 May 2014)

[QUOTE 3083393, member: 30090"]Is a single speed not fixed?[/QUOTE]
I think a fixed is also a single speed, but a single speed is not necessarily a fixed. But to avoid confusion, a single speed that is not fixed is referred to as a single speed, and a single speed that is fixed is referred to as a fixed.


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## oldfatfool (15 May 2014)

[QUOTE 3083416, member: 30090"]
Wrong. hth.[/QUOTE]

Really?

Fixed = no freewheel, you can't stop pedaling whilst the bike is moving.
Single speed = no gears.
In theory you could have a fixed bike with multiple gears.


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## Spinney (15 May 2014)

oldfatfool said:


> Really?
> 
> Fixed = no freewheel, you can't stop pedaling whilst the bike is moving.
> Single speed = no gears.
> In theory you could have a fixed bike with gears.


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## oldfatfool (15 May 2014)

[QUOTE 3083487, member: 30090"]So a single speed bike has no gears? So what gear am I riding then? Am I even riding a gear? I'm not quite sure.[/QUOTE]
yadda yadda yadda yadda pedant ok single speed = 1 gear single


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## Saluki (15 May 2014)

oldfatfool said:


> Really?
> 
> Fixed = no freewheel, you can't stop pedaling whilst the bike is moving.




Sure you can. You lift both feet off the pedals, lift them up and out and yell "Wheeeeeeeee" at the top of your voice. Or is that just me?


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## oldfatfool (15 May 2014)

[QUOTE 3083501, member: 30090"]...with a fixed wheel or freewheel. We got there in the end.[/QUOTE]
So fixed and single speed are two different bikes. Glad we sorted that out for you.


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## oldfatfool (15 May 2014)

[QUOTE 3083521, member: 30090"]Try again, I've never disputed that they are two different bikes of course they are two different bikes. 

Fixed and single speed are not two different bikes are they Fool? [/QUOTE]

Make your bloody mind up. Like what you did with the "Fool", however miss placed


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## oldfatfool (15 May 2014)

Sincere apologies to the OP.

[QUOTE 3083544, member: 30090"]

Referring to a single speed bike with a freewheel as a 'single speed' is factually incorrect [/QUOTE]

Which fact is incorrect?

Single speed bikes with a freewheel are universally known as Single-speed.

[QUOTE 3083544, member: 30090"]I

you can also get single speed bikes with a fixed wheel.[/QUOTE]

Which are universally known as Fixed

But the next time you are down the Ferkin and Feckit with your pals from the MG owners club with their anoraks and adenoids please feel free to tell them you are riding a single speed with a fixed wheel on a flip flop in case you fancy a change!


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## Venod (16 May 2014)

Its fixed wheel or free wheel they are both single speed, more annoying than 29er wheels they are 700 ****ing c


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## youngoldbloke (16 May 2014)

oldfatfool said:


> Really?
> 
> Fixed = no freewheel, you can't stop pedaling whilst the bike is moving.
> Single speed = no gears.
> In theory you could have a fixed bike with multiple gears.


Yes you can - the fixed 3 speed


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## tyred (16 May 2014)

Must try and track down one of those Sunbeams with a bottom bracket gear just to add to the confusion


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## palinurus (16 May 2014)

Singlespeed: forward
Fixed: forward and reverse


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## marzjennings (16 May 2014)

[QUOTE 3083574, member: 30090"]Which is incorrect as single speed bikes can also run a fixed wheel.

''Fixed'', fixed what?[/QUOTE]

As mentioned. The name 'single speed' generally implies a 1 gear bike with a freewheel hub and 'fixed' a 1 gear bike without a freewheel hub. 

Apologies if you're new to cycling or this planet, or slow.


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## simon.r (16 May 2014)




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## deptfordmarmoset (16 May 2014)

Anyhow, single speeds aren't single speed, are they? They go faster or slower. That's more than a single speed, by my reckoning. 

On the other hand, in French it can be single speed, because they use vitesse to mean speed and gear.

I hope I've clarified matters somewhat...


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## Sharky (16 May 2014)

Now which camp are you going to put a Sturmey Archer 3 speed fixed gear bike in?

Cheers Keith


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## deptfordmarmoset (16 May 2014)

Unless it falls off, all wheels are fixed, though.


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## Acesand8s (22 May 2014)

As i understand the terminology is like this: a Fixie is a fixed-gear-bike-with-no-brakes, or, a fixed gear bike has a single ring and a single cog where the cog is fixed to the wheel. Yet there are fixed gears that are instead fixed to the wheel via a synchronizer and have interier hub gears, as far as a single speed it is abike with one ring and one cog or another set up where there is only one set resistance for the rider to pedal. But there are still some exceptions.


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## Acesand8s (22 May 2014)

Technically User is not correct regarding if it is the wheel or hub, ad a special hubed wheel is needed, yet that pretty much means the whole wheel since it is almost always faster and cheeper to just by a different wheel when the hub is not what you need than it is to completly re-spoke a wheel hub. And that hub is the difference, sort of. If you try to single speed a new road bike with verticle drops, HERE IS THE DIFFERENCE: a single speed is just getting rid of the shifting capability and keeping a little chain tension, but you can keep the same hub. But trying to put on a fixed hub wheel is a nightmare, because the reverse tension is extremely hard on the tensioner, if it is a spring or wheel hanger single speed kit, thus in these fixie conversions the solution is to add a horizontal drop kit of some kind or even mod the frame.


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## GrasB (22 May 2014)

tyred said:


> Must try and track down one of those Sunbeams with a bottom bracket gear just to add to the confusion


There are various hub-gear & multi-speed crank hubs one could have that allows for more than one gear with a single chainring & single rear sprocket! 

You can even have a gear ranged hub which is steplessly adjustable between the top & bottom ratio (free wheeled)


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## Dan B (22 May 2014)

My single- sprocket no-freewheel bike is ridden on the road, so to avoid confusion and engender clarity I refer to it as my "road bike"


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## Sharky (22 May 2014)

I only took my bike into the LBS to check the brakes and it came out fixed


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## martinclive (23 May 2014)

I can do anything from 0 to 30mph on my 1 gear bike so how is it a single speed?


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## benb (23 May 2014)

So if a spoke breaks and I fix it, am I then riding a fixed wheel?


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## derrick (23 May 2014)

It's lucky we ain't talking rocket science.


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## Archie_tect (23 May 2014)

Perhaps we should... things might become a lot clearer.


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## youngoldbloke (23 May 2014)

A single speed bicycle may have a fixed wheel, but, on the hand, might have a freewheel. A fixed wheel bicycle is usually single speed, but might not be, and cannot freewheel. Flip flop hubs are threaded to take a fixed cog on one side, and a freewheel on the other - thus the same bike might be either fixed gear, or not .......


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## 4F (23 May 2014)

Fixed is fixed and single speed isn't, hope that clears the matter up


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## ayceejay (23 May 2014)

If a bike has a chain ring and a chain that connects it to a cog in the back wheel and doesn't have any gear options by way of a derailleur it is stuck or fixed in that one gear ratio until such times as the chain ring or cog is exchanged for one with a different number of teeth. If the rear cog that is attached to the wheel has an interior thread that is fixed but has some bearings between it and the cogs teeth allowing it to move against the flow freely but is fixed going forward this is known as a "freewheel" if there are no bearings in the cog meaning that both forward and backward movement is tied to the movement of the chain ring. this is known as a "fixed' or 'track' cog. Modern terminology insists that one system is a single speed and the other a fixie.


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## derrick (23 May 2014)

What is it called if i have a freewheel cog with bearings in it, then i decide to weld the moving parts together the bearings are still inside, what would you call that.


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## ayceejay (23 May 2014)

derrick said:


> What is it called if i have a freewheel cog with bearings in it, then i decide to weld the moving parts together the bearings are still inside, what would you call that.


Honest answer Derrick? I would call that a mental problem.


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## young Ed (23 May 2014)

oldfatfool said:


> Really?
> 
> Fixed = no freewheel, you can't stop pedaling whilst the bike is moving.
> Single speed = no gears.
> In theory you could have a fixed bike with multiple gears.


some people these days ride a 3 speed 'fixie' (no free wheel ) they do this by using a internal gear hub such as a rohloff or that shimano one!
but in this case three speed fixie's are still so rare that than you say 3 speed fixie rather than just fixie as the term fixie is usually taken to be single speed fixie
Cheers Ed


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## yello (23 May 2014)

In French, a 'fixie' (as they are becoming known as - but I'm not sure there's a Hoxton set as yet... I digress) is what the older generation refer to as a 'pignon fixe'. Literally, a fixed cog or sprocket. No mention of a gear at all. 

There are other examples of terms that have a common usage understanding that don't make sense logically, but we'd be here all day if we started picking everybody up on that. Personally speaking (and how else could I speak? See what I did there?  ), when someone says 'fixed gear', I know in all likelihood what they mean - they like cream cheese.

What was it that Wittgenstein said? Something like 'there are no philosophical problems, only linguistic ones'. But what did he know? I doubt he ever rode a fixie.

Or perhaps it was Humpty Dumpty? Words mean exactly what I choose them to mean, no more and no less. But then we all know what happened when HD rode a fixie.


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## Venod (24 May 2014)

"What is it called if i have a freewheel cog with bearings in it, then i decide to weld the moving parts together the bearings are still inside, what would you call that"

A bodged job.


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