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General Thoughts On Fixies...

Vitamin C

I've been cycling my whole life and love it to bits, it's my only mode of transport and when my bike's out of action for whatever reason and I have to get the GODFORSAKEN CIE BUS I can't help but FILL WITH JAYSUSING RAGE. But anyway, that's a different story.

Just over a year ago I was looking to try something different and was considering building a fixie, when my bike was stolen from my house (yet another different story. Grr.) I decided to take the opportunity to build one.

I got the frame (old white Raleigh track frame with horizontal drop outs...for a tenner from that old bike shop at Harold's Cross Bridge. Nice!) and all the parts and had it built in a couple of days.

At the beginning I loved it, it was something completely new and as far as I'm concerned the best way to get around town. But it's getting into town that's the problem, my commute is Rathfarnham to Thomas St. which is a more or less straight downhill stretch. I find that no matter what ratios I try, on a straight or downhill, cycling a fixie only slows me down, having to be constantly three steps ahead with reducing speed...well... really reduces speed!

As I said before, I love it and I love cycling it around town or through traffic or on flats, but I'm starting to get really frustrated on straights and downhills so am thinking of converting it back to its former geared glory.

I notice they're becoming a lot more popular of late too...is there any reason for this?

Anyone any thoughts on this or on fixies in general?

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blorg

Vitamin C wrote: »

on a straight or downhill, cycling a fixie only slows me down, having to be constantly three steps ahead with reducing speed...well... really reduces speed!

I don't get the "constantly three steps ahead" bit, unless you are not running a brake? Regarding downhills, it is true, you will not go as fast as with a geared bike, or as easily. Need to work on your cadence! I use 46-17 (73") which I find optimal for just about getting up steep hills while not killing myself on the way down. I can go 35km/h comfortably on that, starts to get a bit uncomfortable above 42km/h. That's fast enough for me.

Highway_To_Hell

Only recently got a fixie and last Saturday I did my first decent ride (45Km - Killiney/Dalkey into citycentre around town doing a few jobs and back out again) and I think it was one of the most enjoyable bike rides I have had in a long time, no gear changing to worry about and the bike runs so quietly. Only had two scary moments 1. forgetting I couldn't freewheel when going down hill and 2. my attempt to bunny hop over a pothole.

In the next few weeks I will be back commuting to work a few days a week but I think doing it on my fixie will add an extra 10-15 mins to the commute time (the 30km takes an hour or so on my road bike but I think it will be a 1hr 15 on my fixie)

TinyExplosions

If you're going too slow on the downhill, run a bigger gear

It's not that much of a climb back from Thomas St to Rathfarnham, so you could easily push 80" or so -stick a ratio of 49-16 on and you're laughing... at 90rpm you're about 35k an hour, enough for anyone!

Vitamin C

Highway_To_Hell wrote: »

1. forgetting I couldn't freewheel when going down hill

This can be really f***ing scary, particularly in traffic if your feet come of the pedals! And if you cycle nothing but a fixie for ages and get back on a geared bike the opposite can happen: you stop pedalling expecting to stop but keep going towards the back of a bus or something...you only need to learn either of these things once and the memory sticks thank God!

Vitamin C

blorg wrote: »

I don't get the "constantly three steps ahead" bit, unless you are not running a brake? Regarding downhills, it is true, you will not go as fast as with a geared bike, or as easily. Need to work on your cadence! I use 46-17 (73") which I find optimal for just about getting up steep hills while not killing myself on the way down. I can go 35km/h comfortably on that, starts to get a bit uncomfortable above 42km/h. That's fast enough for me.

Yeah I had no brake initially but soon realised its importance so I put one on, but the handle bars were too small to put the brake lever comfortably so I had to stick it on the cross bar, sounds crazy but it's suprisingly ergonomic! But i still prefer to try to only use it in emergencies.

Could someone tell me what the '73"' refers to? Is it chain size? Sorry, I never really know the tech stuff, I just build bikes from scraps I come across so I never learn the lingo.

rottenhat

73" is the nominal roll-out of the wheels i.e. the distance travelled for each turn of the cranks at a given gear ratio.

TinyExplosions

Vitamin C wrote: »

Could someone tell me what the '73"' refers to? Is it chain size? Sorry, I never really know the tech stuff, I just build bikes from scraps I come across so I never learn the lingo.

It's Gear Inches -a way of expressing what gear ration you run. Bigger = harder to get going, but a greater top speed

rottenhat

Damn my ignorance, I was thinking of metres of development...well, I think you get the idea anyway.

Gavin

Brake on the top tube.. Jesus, I thought that wallies only do that to get their bike onto BikeSnob.

Having ridden fixed for around a month now, I'm not particularly impressed compared to freewheel. Front and back brakes stop me far quicker than any skid stop will do. Cycling through the city center you need your hands on the brakes at all times, to actually diminish your ability to brake strikes me as complete idiocy.

TinyExplosions

rottenhat wrote: »

Damn my ignorance, I was thinking of metres of development...well, I think you get the idea anyway.

It's fairly similar really... just a way of saying how 'ard you are -I ride 80.8" (oo-er!)

rottenhat

Ah, the shame continues...I think I'm on a flaccid 72".

Vitamin C

Gavin wrote: »

Brake on the top tube.. Jesus, I thought that wallies only do that to get their bike onto BikeSnob.

Having ridden fixed for around a month now, I'm not particularly impressed compared to freewheel. Front and back brakes stop me far quicker than any skid stop will do. Cycling through the city center you need your hands on the brakes at all times, to actually diminish your ability to brake strikes me as complete idiocy.

I can assure you it's there as a comfort thing, if you saw my bike you'd realise it's absolutely not bike snobbery, she looks like something I pulled out of a skip! And I like to keep it that way in order to deter inner city troglodytes from piking the thing. My braking ability isn't diminished in the least...safety first, especially considering my commute passes by the same danger spot that poor Chinese lad lost his life a few weeks ago, God bless him.

blorg

@VitaminC- you say your braking ability isn't diminished but unless you generally cycle along with one hand on the top tube, of course it is. You will have a longer reaction time before you start to brake, as well as the need to remove one hand from the bars in an emergency situation, precisely the last sort of time you want to be removing a hand from the bars!

There are a lot of situations where you may conceivably have to brake not just to stop dead but while simultaneously manouvering the bike in a particular direction to avoid an obstacle.

What else do you mean by "having to be constantly three steps ahead with reducing speed" unless you mean that you have to plan in advance if you want to reduce speed (due to your diminished braking ability.) Look, I like my skid stops as much as anybody but I also run brakes- on the handlebars.

You are posting here considering going back to a geared bike but to me at least your main problem seems not to be the fixed gear but the lack of an effective braking system. If you go to a geared (or freewheel) bike with your brake still attached to the top tube you will be in an even worse situation as you will have completely lost any ability to augment your meagre hand braking system with your legs!

Why not just buy a brake lever that fits your bars? Or bars that fit your brake lever?

Vitamin C

blorg wrote: »

@VitaminC- you say your braking ability isn't diminished but unless you generally cycle along with one hand on the top tube, of course it is. You will have a longer reaction time before you start to brake, as well as the need to remove one hand from the bars in an emergency situation, precisely the last sort of time you want to be removing a hand from the bars!

There are a lot of situations where you may conceivably have to brake not just to stop dead but while simultaneously manouvering the bike in a particular direction to avoid an obstacle.

What else do you mean by "having to be constantly three steps ahead with reducing speed" unless you mean that you have to plan in advance if you want to reduce speed (due to your diminished braking ability.) Look, I like my skid stops as much as anybody but I also run brakes- on the handlebars.

You are posting here considering going back to a geared bike but to me at least your main problem seems not to be the fixed gear but the lack of an effective braking system. If you go to a geared (or freewheel) bike with your brake still attached to the top tube you will be in an even worse situation as you will have completely lost any ability to augment your meagre hand braking system with your legs!

Why not just buy a brake lever that fits your bars? Or bars that fit your brake lever?

Yeah you're actually 100% right...I just kind of liked the idea of keeping as many parts original on the bike as possible. Maybe I'll scrap that notion and get a small break lever and put it in its rightful place. I'm just a stubborn c**t when it comes to these things. I think I'll take yours and others advice and chance the braking system and ratios and give it a go again. To be honest I just realised I've really been lying to myself when telling people that the break on the top tube is just as effective!

Cheers lads

steinone

Gavin wrote: »

Brake on the top tube.. Jesus, I thought that wallies only do that to get their bike onto BikeSnob.

Having ridden fixed for around a month now, I'm not particularly impressed compared to freewheel. Front and back brakes stop me far quicker than any skid stop will do. Cycling through the city center you need your hands on the brakes at all times, to actually diminish your ability to brake strikes me as complete idiocy.

Well for me it is the control, it may sound weird but not to have to rely on a mechanical braking system is a relief to me.
I find that I have better control braking on my fg than I did on my previous geared bikes.
And skid stopping is a common misconception, skid stopping looses you traction thus making it slower stopping you are better off just slowing your legs.
Skip stopping is the way to go, or a good foot retention system with a good slowing motion.

Halfrauds

Single Speed = Fashion Victim

Fixie = Not a fashion victim

simple really:P

Im am sick of looking at people posing on these frankensteined SS, floating about town like they think people give a ****. Thank god they are only a phase, because when the have a spill and rip their new prada jeans and get their snot green top dirty they will give up.

tossers:o

******this is my opinion**********

on a more technicl note,
The bain of my existance, vertical dropouts on a SS or a fixie, whats the craic with this, apart from being a bitch to get decent tension on the chain(IMO is extremly important if both your drive and brakes rely on this tension) whats the craic with a wheel either popping out or going out of alignment with the frame??

tis nice to see the proper horizonal jobs with the luxury of a chain tensioner:D

crazydingo

I love my fixie!
I find it hard to enjoy cycling geared bikes now because I don't get that feeling of "oneness" that I get on the fixie.
It's fantastic riding a bike that feels like it is an extension of your body

BostonB

crazydingo wrote: »

I love my fixie!
I find it hard to enjoy cycling geared bikes now because I don't get that feeling of "oneness" that I get on the fixie.
It's fantastic riding a bike that feels like it is an extension of your body

I tried a friends fixie and it very nearly became an extention of my body.

crazydingo

Is this in the mangled heap in the middle of the road way? Or "this is awesome, I'm not gonna give it back" way?

NeilMcEoigheann

fixed gear riding is perfectly safe in town, and because of the lack of gears/other distractions there is more attention to the taxi planning to cut you up at the next left,
i run 81 gear inchs and cycle knocklyon (on the mountain side) to mountjoy sq every weekday 22.4km round trip not a problem and much more enjoyable than regular cycling,

BostonB

crazydingo wrote: »

Is this in the mangled heap in the middle of the road way? Or "this is awesome, I'm not gonna give it back" way?

LOL, the former. Interesting though.

DirkVoodoo

Right, well unfortunately I wasn't sold a pair of Prada jeans with my singlespeed, so I may be in a minority here.

I've had a total of 2 minutes on fixie and I'm not really sold. I don't like the thought of my rear wheel locking up and endangering me if some gremlins grab a hold of my drivetrain.

Secondly, whenever I'm cycling along and I'm coming up to a light, making a turn, etc. I relax my legs and coast. Going about 5 km/hr outside my house and making small circles I was suddenly aware of how difficult I found it to stop suddenly. I mean, I could brake sure, but I wondered how well I would be able to stop in an emergency.

I suppose its just like learning to ride a bike again and it will take adjustment, I'll try it out in traffic and over a decent length ride before deciding.

flickerx

steinone wrote: »

Skip stopping is the way to go, or a good foot retention system with a good slowing motion.

I suspect you will be blasted out of it for this comment when other people wake up tomorrow and read it.

And I have to say I'd probably be in agreement with them, despite having rode brakeless for a year or so... its lunacy not having one.

Gavin

steinone wrote: »

Well for me it is the control, it may sound weird but not to have to rely on a mechanical braking system is a relief to me.
I find that I have better control braking on my fg than I did on my previous geared bikes.
And skid stopping is a common misconception, skid stopping looses you traction thus making it slower stopping you are better off just slowing your legs.
Skip stopping is the way to go, or a good foot retention system with a good slowing motion.

Using your feet to stop and using the chain is still 'mechanical'.

Maybe I have spindly legs, but it is bloody tough to slow the bike down when going at speed on a reasonable gear, 48-16.

Halfrauds wrote:

Single Speed = Fashion Victim

Fixie = Not a fashion victim

I think you're a bit confused here. A singlespeed freewheel is a practical bike, low maintenance, no messing, perfect for a city with no real hills. A fixie requires skills to make it as practical as a freewheel.

NeilMcEoigheann wrote:

fixed gear riding is perfectly safe in town, and because of the lack of gears/other distractions there is more attention to the taxi planning to cut you up at the next left,

Lack of gears/distractions is the same for a singlespeed freewheel. Fixed gear riding isn't as safe as freewheel, for the unskilled (which would be me)

I haven't come across any of the zen/awesomeness yet at all. Riding fixie for me is the same as freewheel except I have to spin my wheel around when I stop. I can trackstand on a freewheel much easier than a fixie, but I'm workin on that.

Brakewise, I have front and rear and use them in the same manner I did while freewheeling.

blorg

When you get more used to it there are advantages to a fixed over a freewheel. You can modulate your speed (especially at lower speeds) using your legs. You also get a very good sense of back wheel traction which I found very useful for when it was icy. I wouldn't be without a handlebar brake though.

There are also downsides though, one of the primary ones being that you can't control your pedal position- makes it more difficult to squeeze through gaps if there is a kerb your pedal could catch on, also means you can't lean over so much in corners. Going down steep downhills is tiring and you don't have as much control over the bike if your cadence is something crazy.

abcdggs

I'm presently on a single speed. only have it about a week and the plan is to flip the wheel to a fixie, but i'm a bit apprehensive. not really sure if i'll be good enough to cycle fixed well. must say i do love the single speed though (no prada jeans either btw)

rottenhat

abcdggs wrote: »

I'm presently on a single speed. only have it about a week and the plan is to flip the wheel to a fixie, but i'm a bit apprehensive. not really sure if i'll be good enough to cycle fixed well. must say i do love the single speed though (no prada jeans either btw)

Give it a couple of days, you'll be grand - it's not exactly learning to play the piano. It's not any harder than learning how to use gears correctly - in fact, given the number of people I've seen cross-chaining over the past couple fo months, it may even be easier.

Vitamin C

Halfrauds wrote: »

Single Speed = Fashion Victim

Fixie = Not a fashion victim

If somebody has been cycling on the road for years, either of these options are a) something fun and new to try when they might be getting a little bored of the same ol' same ol' or b) a no messing straight forward bike that that is nice to build and nice to ride.

Granted they have become a bit of a statement for some, but as you said yourself this is only a phase.

Pjordanoz

It seems everybody's problems with riding fixies stem from a alack of practice. You can control your pedal position with practice, slowing down is easier on a fixie, sure you don't get up to such big speeds knowing you have to slow down with your legs, but you're also less likely to slow down so much either, its just much smoother.

And yea singlespeeding is another great way to go if you don't fancy praciticing and learning how to get the most from a fixie as lets face it, a lot of people just have a bike to get form a to b cheaply and quickly.

Keep on riding guys and come play bike polo in naas...

abcdggs

Keep on riding guys and come play bike polo in naas...

Hope i'm not hijacking the thread, but i'm intrigued. what is this bike polo?