A crime has been committed...

[Boris Bajic]

My elder boy (who is about my height) refuses to have anything to do with fixed-gear riding.

He thinks it is great silliness and thinks I look absurd when I ride thus.

So... I have bought a freewheel sprocket to go on the other thread of my flip-flop hub.

I shall fit it this evening....

I think this is a great crime and erodes the simplicity and elegance of the concept. But it is part of my evil plan to get him riding fixed.

I hope the Committee of Fixed-Gear Absolutists will overlook my swerve into the land of the freewheel and realise that behind the apparent crime lies a greater good.

And that's the case for the defence, M'lud.

 

[tyred]

I blame the parents

 

[colly]

Sounds to me like you are becoming less fixed in your ways.

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

Can you let him freewheel for a wee while and change it to fixed when he's not looking, during a cake stop maybe?

 

[PpPete]

Wait a few weeks...someone else at school will get a fixed, and then it will be all the rage.
It's already happening round our way.
You would not believe what my nipper wants for Christmas... a powder coat job on an old steel frame with horizontal drop-outs that had been languishing unloved at the back of our garage.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Assuming he's old enough, treat the lad (and yourself) to a track cycling taster course. It might put riding fixed wheel into a fun context for him.

 

[TheDoctor]

[QUOTE 2138446, member: 45"]Fixed is for fashion victims. The aplLe of the bike world.[/quote]
Burn him!!!

 

[biggs682]

on my 2 nd fixed built bike i find them ideal for my commuting , and great fun to ride

 

[fossyant]

This sort of sin can't be overlooked. Freewheels belong on geared bikes.

 

[Boris Bajic]

Well... I put it on it last night. He has yet to ride it, but I have. He is aware the part was bought. He's 16, so he communicates in shrugs and grunts. I am still re-learning the language.

This much I know: I am crap at re-linking chains. I didn't used to be, but am now. I think it is an unskill acquired with age.

The bicycle looks funny. There is a sprocket on the wrong side. Every time I look at it, it looks funny.

Good things about it:

1. I have re-discovered the inner child. I kept on zipping the freewheel round while the bike was on the stand. Its 'ticka-ticka-ticka' noise had me fascinated like a stupid cat watching falling leaves.

2. The freewheel is 50/18 rather than the 50/20 in the proper side. So it will go a little, tiny bit faster. Which is not what it is about at all.

But it does look funny.

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

My hybrid has the loudest freewheel noise and I swear you can hear me coming a mile away. I love it though and find it quite relaxing, especially compared to the ninja-like silence of my road bike.

 

[Old Plodder]

The freewheel is 50/18 rather than the 50/20 in the proper side.

Clever that, making the freewheel into a higher gear........

 

[wheres_my_beard]

Why do you want him riding your bike? Especially as you have reservations about the look of your bike. Aren't you worried about him trashing it if he does ever ride it? From experience with my nephew (who returned a bike with a smashed up front wheel and a nasty gash on the paintwork, after a "freak" accident, without really explaining what actually happened), it may be best to keep your pride and joy out of teenage hands particularly considering that you are worried about how it looks now...

 

[TheDoctor]

^^This.
I don't like *anyone* riding my bikes, unless I trust them. It's a short list, that's for sure...

 

[Boris Bajic]

Why do you want him riding your bike? Especially as you have reservations about the look of your bike. Aren't you worried about him trashing it if he does ever ride it? From experience with my nephew (who returned a bike with a smashed up front wheel and a nasty gash on the paintwork, after a "freak" accident, without really explaining what actually happened), it may be best to keep your pride and joy out of teenage hands particularly considering that you are worried about how it looks now...

Golly... Well, he's my son.

His road bike was once mine. He really likes it.

His older and younger siblings also use bikes that are (or were) mine. My fixie is really an old dog of a steel Claud butler road frame with all the dings and scratches that come with age. If he wraps it round a lamp post, my concern will be for him, not the bike.

I'm not sure any of my bicycles qualifies as my 'pride and joy'. The 'looking funny' bit was about the two sprockets, not scratches.

Bicycles are there to be ridden and riding bicycles often involves scratching, denting or otherwise altering them. Having children involves spending lots of time, energy and money helping them to develop into curious, inquiring, energatic, sparky adults.

I do not have the option to be precious about my bicycles, or the inclination as it happens.