Q: Fixie's... Explain???

[cloggsy]

Ok... I'm really struggling with the concept of 'Fixies.' Don't get me wrong, I have seen some truly stunning examples of Fixie bikes but...

What type of riding are they best used for?

What if you're knackered and you want to free-wheel for a while?

Expand and discuss (please?)

 

[Herzog]

Fixed gear bike are good winter-riding (i.e., no rear mech/cassette to get clogged up), and the rider feels connected to the road (allowing a better assessment of grip levels). Depending on fitness levels, fixed gears can be ridden anywhere; a friend of mine recently rode in the Alps on a fixie.

Depending on anticipated terrain, you can change the gearing easily. If you fancy freewheeling, get a SS cog (i.e., on with a freewheel).

 

[Bigsharn]

Personally, I've just had a fixie conversion done on my old racer because I need to improve my riding technique... As most people do, I pedal then freewheel while I catch my breath, which isn't good technique... It's also the spare bike, because there's a hell of a lot less to go wrong with a fixie (as Herzoq said, nothing can get jammed, and if the brakes fail you have a plan B that doesn't end in A&E).

 

[cloggsy]

... but surely a fixie isn't a fixie if it has a free wheel, then it is just a single speed?

I'm strangely drawn towards this fixie...

 

[Dave Davenport]

From Sotonia CC Spring newsletter;

A Fixed Wheel Convert

Riding fixed wheel has long been a popular choice for winter training and indeed, many of Sotonia’s more senior members rode nothing else in their halcyon days, the only gear shifts being those made between winter, summer and racing when sprockets would be changed to give a circa 66”, 72” & 82” gear respectively.

Whilst there have always been a few riders keeping the fixed faith, the last few years has seen a massive surge in the availability of fixed / single speed frames & bikes which has been almost exclusively stimulated by fashion. Yes, driven by the whole ‘messenger’ scene riding a bike without gears has suddenly become trendy. Of course, if you really want to be cool you’ll have short straight bars, no mudguards, be wearing a Rapha jersey and have the right leg (only) of your jeans rolled up! Oh, and you’ll need to be riding up Camden high street for the full hipster image.

For those of us who aren’t young metropolitan graphic designers, riding fixed has always been about the practical benefits of a simple, robust drive train that will cope with the worst the British winter can throw at it and the training benefits of having to labour up the climbs and spin your legs like a loon on the descents. It should also help to develop a smooth pedalling action.

Whilst I’ve been well aware of the supposed benefits of going fixed for some time it had just never really appealed, surely you’re in the ‘wrong’ gear 90% of the time? This all changed about four months ago when I was given an early ‘80s steel frame set with horizontal drop outs and having most of what I needed knocking about the garage, decided to build it up as a fixed. I reasoned that if I didn’t like it I’d be able to get a good price for it on E Bay.

As it turns out, I haven’t ridden anything else since. I’ve found not having to think about gear selection quite liberating and the climbs to be much less of a problem then I’d anticipated. Admittedly, descending steep hills has been a bit of a learning curve and has led to some hairy moments but I’m getting there (I fitted a rear brake after the first club run outing). I shall be getting my summer bike out for an airing soon and it will be interesting to see what difference, if any a few months of fixed riding has made.

On a recent club run there were six of us sans gears, perhaps it’s time we started our own group, with our stop at a trendy espresso bar of course!

Dave Davenport

 

[smokeysmoo]

The correct terminology is a riding fixed gear, NOT a 'fixie' This seems to be a 'cool' name adopted by the hipster brigade that have adopted fixed gear bikes as inner city fashion statements, but it's not cool and it's certainly not correct. Rant over

As for riding, you really do get the whole connected feeling going on, man and machine in perfect harmony, well, puffing and panting up hills kind of harmony, but there's nothing else quite like it

There is a definate learning curve when you first ride one, and you generally only forget once that you can't actually freehweel, I did anyway, after that experience I made sure I didn't forget again.

Now I can jump on my Langster Steel even if I've not ridden it for a couple of weeks and I just sync with the bike and my riding style adjusts automatically.

I'd recommend anyone to give it a go, and I would always advocate the use of brakes. I have both front and rear, most insist you don't need a rear one, and complete knobs insist you don't need any. My feeling is that I'd rather have them and use them minimally/not at all under normal circumstances, but when a cock in a car pulls out on me I want all the stopping power I can find.

I built a fixed gear out of an 80's Peugeot, then having been bitten by the bug, and as the Peugeot was a tad too small, I bought my Langster Steel.

Give it a go, you can do it on the cheap, and even if you don't like it you should pretty much get your money back on fleabay if you advertise it to the 'fixie' brigade

 

[gert_lush]

I do around 100 to 150 miles a week on a "Fixie" - 77" gear with a couple of hills in the way.

I think you are asking for a bit of a pro's and con's list:

Pro's
1, Usually very lightweight bike (if well built, mine is around 6kg - Reynolds 531 SL Steel frame)
2, Very little maint
3, great fun to ride
4, develops a great pedalling style and promotes fitness and strength - constant pedalling and having to get through and up everything!

con's
1, No freewheel if you fancy a break from pedalling
2, no gears - you have to MTFU to get up hills or MTFU if it gets windy
3, can be daunting to ride at first

All in all, I use mine 5 days a week all year round. The frame is battered, but the bike is light and I do very little maint. I also found that I was really bloody fast on a geared bike when I went racing after riding fixed for a few months! In Fact, I kicked the bums of a few "triathletes" on their £5000 Specialized bikes (I was on a £100 steel framed beast!) on a Sportive.

Key points of fixie build:

If you buy a factory built fixie, it is probably going to be quite heavy and more tailored towards look than useability. Home built fixies tend to be stripped down and very lightweight. The frame I used is a very short wheelbase TT frame, the bike itself is light, stiff and very agile. I put 40mm deep V wheels on the bike to make it look more bitchin' - if I had any sense I would have gone with lightweight track wheels. Gear inch and picking the right gear for your route is essential - I used to ride near 90" gear, but I now have a new route to work and had to drop the GI to near 80" to make it more useable and to stop my knees popping out of the sockets!

It is knackering to ride and can be painful in a headwind or on hills, but I love it and it feels even better when I kick the ass of a few geared bikes with dudes in "team kit" mounted.

 

[smokeysmoo]

I do around 100 to 150 miles a week on a "Fixie" FIXED GEAR - 77" gear with a couple of hills in the way.

I think you are asking for a bit of a pro's and con's list:

Pro's
1, Usually very lightweight bike (if well built, mine is around 6kg - Reynolds 531 SL Steel frame)
2, Very little maint
3, great fun to ride
4, develops a great pedalling style and promotes fitness and strength - constant pedalling and having to get through and up everything!

con's
1, No freewheel if you fancy a break from pedalling
2, no gears - you have to MTFU to get up hills or MTFU if it gets windy
3, can be daunting to ride at first

All in all, I use mine 5 days a week all year round. The frame is battered, but the bike is light and I do very little maint. I also found that I was really bloody fast on a geared bike when I went racing after riding fixed for a few months! In Fact, I kicked the bums of a few "triathletes" on their £5000 Specialized bikes (I was on a £100 steel framed beast!) on a Sportive.

Key points of FIXED GEAR build:

If you buy a factory built FIXED GEAR, it is probably going to be quite heavy and more tailored towards look than useability. Home built FIXED GEARS tend to be stripped down and very lightweight. The frame I used is a very short wheelbase TT frame, the bike itself is light, stiff and very agile. I put 40mm deep V wheels on the bike to make it look more bitchin' - if I had any sense I would have gone with lightweight track wheels. Gear inch and picking the right gear for your route is essential - I used to ride near 90" gear, but I now have a new route to work and had to drop the GI to near 80" to make it more useable and to stop my knees popping out of the sockets!

It is knackering to ride and can be painful in a headwind or on hills, but I love it and it feels even better when I kick the ass of a few geared bikes with dudes in "team kit" mounted.

That's better

 

[brockers]

That's better

I'm getting a bit over the whole fixed thing tbh, as I find it's pretty impractical for most rides. It's pretty lumpy where I like to ride necessitating a 63'' gear (I'm a slight build and prefer spinny gears) and anything higher gets my left knee twingeing on the long draggy climbs. And I've never really got that 'I feel so connected with the bike/road' malarkey either: it's just different, that's all. It does make me feel trendy and metropolitan though, which in all honesty is why I started riding the things.

I agree that it's a great way to get strong quite quickly, but it's quite a crude way of going about it, and I'd be worried about the long term aspects of pushing too big a gear viz a viz kneez.

 

[fossyant]

Fixed gear rider here - well it's a fixed gear road bike, two brakes and panniers. I do about 150 miles a week on it. Advantages listed above. Great for training and building fitness. Also teaches you to spin a bit more.

My bike isn't a trendy 'fixie'.

 

[Bicycle]

I built my fixie out of curiosity and an old 531 roadbike frame about a year ago.

I don't regret building it for a moment, or riding it.

Having said that, I can see very little practical use for such a machine.

Certainly it helps with pedalling technique, but that's not much of a reason.

It also stops you from free-wheeling when you grab a drink, take a peep behind you or crest that massive hill you've just struggled up.

There is a strangely addictive feel to riding fixed-wheel. Personally I see little real, quantifiable point to it, but I believe it has improved the following:

1. My ability to maintain high cadences (150+) without bouncing in the saddle. Riding more smoothly at 150 seems to make me ride more smoothly at lower cadences too.

2. My ability to grind away in a seemingly high gear when there's no option.

3. My ability to continue pedalling the whole time the rear wheel is turning. That might sound a silly one, but it's surprising how often we stop pedalling, even for a second, when out on a longish ride.

4. The fixie also seems to help me to learn how to keep a nice even-ish pressure on the pedals throughout the stroke. This particularly on shallow climbs where I spin at about 50-70 rpm.

There may be more benefits, but like many people I built mine largely to see what all the fuss was about, as I had an old frame kicking around.

I fail to understand why people get overly excited by fixies; they are huge fun, but so are good pasta, the books of Damon Runyon and fornication.

I'd build one all over again if I didn't have one. I'd also initially remove the rear brake and then put it straight back on after my first ride.

The best thing (for a fool like me) is that my fixie makes me giggle when I ride it in a way that no bicycle ever has before.

 

[smokeysmoo]

I built my FIXED GEAR out of curiosity and an old 531 roadbike frame about a year ago.

I don't regret building it for a moment, or riding it.

Having said that, I can see very little practical use for such a machine.

Certainly it helps with pedalling technique, but that's not much of a reason.

It also stops you from free-wheeling when you grab a drink, take a peep behind you or crest that massive hill you've just struggled up.

There is a strangely addictive feel to riding fixed-wheel. Personally I see little real, quantifiable point to it, but I believe it has improved the following:

1. My ability to maintain high cadences (150+) without bouncing in the saddle. Riding more smoothly at 150 seems to make me ride more smoothly at lower cadences too.

2. My ability to grind away in a seemingly high gear when there's no option.

3. My ability to continue pedalling the whole time the rear wheel is turning. That might sound a silly one, but it's surprising how often we stop pedalling, even for a second, when out on a longish ride.

4. The FIXED GEAR also seems to help me to learn how to keep a nice even-ish pressure on the pedals throughout the stroke. This particularly on shallow climbs where I spin at about 50-70 rpm.

There may be more benefits, but like many people I built mine largely to see what all the fuss was about, as I had an old frame kicking around.

I fail to understand why people get overly excited by FIXED GEARS; they are huge fun, but so are good pasta, the books of Damon Runyon and fornication.

I'd build one all over again if I didn't have one. I'd also initially remove the rear brake and then put it straight back on after my first ride.

The best thing (for a fool like me) is that my FIXED GEAR makes me giggle when I ride it in a way that no bicycle ever has before.

Is my OCD getting out of hand?

 

[skudupnorth]

I bought an off the shelf Boardman fixed/SS and have not looked back at the choice,great ride,light,perfect for any sort of riding including a few lumps which i was tested on during my last 212km Cotswold Audax !
I changed a few factory items to suit me including a Brookes B17 saddle,Profile aero bars with Sram bar-end brake levers and during the winter i chuck on a set of Crud musguards....perfect !

 

[wheres_my_beard]

Ok... I'm really struggling with the concept of 'Fixies.' Don't get me wrong, I have seen some truly stunning examples of Fixie bikes but...

What type of riding are they best used for?

What if you're knackered and you want to free-wheel for a while?

Expand and discuss (please?)

Fixed gear bikes can be used for most riding that you would already be doing. Due to the usual nature of the snappy geometry and slim tyres they are generally suited to road riding, and city roads. However, some people do ride off-road fixed gear bikes, with a build oriented to that use.

I use mine for commuting, popping into to town,and weekend jaunts. But fixed gear bikes do turn up at very long distance road races, and are of course used in velodromes, where they can achieve insane speeds.

If you want to freewheel, just disengage your feet from the pedals, like so.

(this is not a fixed gear bike.)

 

[Jezston]

Is my OCD getting out of hand?

Actually ... isn't the correct terminology fixed wheel?