Fixies - I just don't get it

[botchjob]

Ha ha, you fixie riders are a VERY sensitive bunch. Just prodding mild fun. Two wheels are better than four, even when used as a fashion accessory.

I were right about those bars though.

 

[Herzog]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-ra.../2013/jun/19/portlandia-spoofs-cyclists-video

 

[Venod]

Apologies if this has been posted before, there is some interesting stuff on the site in the link.

http://www.fixedwheel.co.uk/

 

[nilling]

First time this year on fixie for commute; Strava PR and three 2nd Fastest times

 

[HLaB]

I've got a question. The advice when using a road bike is to maintain cadence, even when that means switching down when going up hills because otherwise you'll eff up your knees. So how come not (because you can't) switching down on a fixie doesn't eff up your knees?

That's only some people opinion but I think the lower gear of the fixie allows people to cycle at a cadence high enough to avoid damage; it seems to have worked for me I've had less knee problems since going clipless

 

[fossyant]

Ha ha, you fixie riders are a VERY sensitive bunch. Just prodding mild fun.

We only like to enlighten the uneducated !

 

[Dave Davenport]

People who've never ridden fixed always say 'the climbs must be hard' when it's actually the descents which take the longest to master.

 

[Boris Bajic]

What's odd is that those of us of a certain age started with no gears, then got three, then five... and unless we were seriously keen on cycling it stopped there.

You used what you had and that was all you had. This whole fascination with having a vast spread of ratios is (relatively) new.

My poshest road bike has 20 gears, between 53/12 and 39/23. That's fantabulous for me, although a mountain would be a challenge.

But at twelve I was cycling up serious hills to the cinema with one gear or three...

I do like having clickety-click access to insane numbers of gears ergo-wotsits or similar on road bikes and MTBs, but nothing qite matches the slo-mo strain up a monster hill and the AAAAAAAAAARGH! descent at 170+rpm the other side.

 

[ayceejay]

If you were up and down hills all day every day riding fixed would be a daft option given the choice.
As a training tool riding fixed is second to none.
For shear riding pleasure (in a Spartan way) riding fixed is second to none.
For posing at traffic lights it is second to none.

As a fashion accessory it is beyond my ken so anyone can do it or not and the result will not slow the orbit of the sun one little bit - will it?