mpemburn
Well-Known Member
In my reckless youth, having wild ideas and a spare frame, I built a fixie bike.
This was the era of deep horizontal dropouts on road bikes, so it was easy to set proper chain tension. Screw a single gear onto the hub (not “freehub”—those came later) and remove the small chainring, and you’ve got, if not a “real” pista, then an acceptable substitute.
It was late fall of some year in the 1970s, and I’d decided that fixed gear was the way to maintain my fitness in the off season. I had probably kept the brakes on, but I soon discovered that back-pedal braking was easily as effective. I have a vivid memory of steaming down a hill that intersected a busy road, and using main muscle to stop before merging with disaster.
As a senior citizen cyclist, this kind of riding seems a little too risky. For one thing, there’s a lot more traffic than formerly. Still when I see a fixie bike, my heart rises up to meet that youth that once I was and I think, “Well, why not?”
I leave you with this beautiful specimen on the rack in my LBS. It belongs to the owner’s main squeeze.
This was the era of deep horizontal dropouts on road bikes, so it was easy to set proper chain tension. Screw a single gear onto the hub (not “freehub”—those came later) and remove the small chainring, and you’ve got, if not a “real” pista, then an acceptable substitute.
It was late fall of some year in the 1970s, and I’d decided that fixed gear was the way to maintain my fitness in the off season. I had probably kept the brakes on, but I soon discovered that back-pedal braking was easily as effective. I have a vivid memory of steaming down a hill that intersected a busy road, and using main muscle to stop before merging with disaster.
As a senior citizen cyclist, this kind of riding seems a little too risky. For one thing, there’s a lot more traffic than formerly. Still when I see a fixie bike, my heart rises up to meet that youth that once I was and I think, “Well, why not?”
I leave you with this beautiful specimen on the rack in my LBS. It belongs to the owner’s main squeeze.