Davidc
Guru
- Location
- Somerset UK
The word fixie has been around since at least the 1960s, and there was a fashion for them around 1967/68. Loads of them at school.
I tried one but never liked it. What I did have as an n+1 was a singlespeed. Its freewheel was as silent as a fixed wheel, the only cables were for brakes, and being built from a 30 year old 1930s frame, front wheel off a wreck, rear wheel bought for a tanner (6d) from a mate who upgraded to 5 speed gears, and other second hand parts for the rest, it had zero value and meant I could leave the Holdsworth at home when appropriate.
If the current move to fixies, most of which seem to be mis-named singlespeeds or have flip-flops, is a fashion then great. If it gets people onto bikes and keeps them away from things with engines it's good for the rest of us (more bikes around), it's good for the riders (health, their wallets), and the only down side I can think of is more difficulty finding bike parking.
Douglas adams was right that a visitor from another planet would assume the motor car was the dominant life form - roll on the day when instead they'd think humans had 2 wheels and a chain instead of legs!
Edit: When I was young, mad, and endowed with immortality (as are all 16 to 21 year old males) my friends and I always found fixies and singles much easier to deal with than geared bikes when going home from the pub - sober of course - we'd never have ridden under the influence - my nose seems to be getting longer ....
I tried one but never liked it. What I did have as an n+1 was a singlespeed. Its freewheel was as silent as a fixed wheel, the only cables were for brakes, and being built from a 30 year old 1930s frame, front wheel off a wreck, rear wheel bought for a tanner (6d) from a mate who upgraded to 5 speed gears, and other second hand parts for the rest, it had zero value and meant I could leave the Holdsworth at home when appropriate.
If the current move to fixies, most of which seem to be mis-named singlespeeds or have flip-flops, is a fashion then great. If it gets people onto bikes and keeps them away from things with engines it's good for the rest of us (more bikes around), it's good for the riders (health, their wallets), and the only down side I can think of is more difficulty finding bike parking.
Douglas adams was right that a visitor from another planet would assume the motor car was the dominant life form - roll on the day when instead they'd think humans had 2 wheels and a chain instead of legs!
Edit: When I was young, mad, and endowed with immortality (as are all 16 to 21 year old males) my friends and I always found fixies and singles much easier to deal with than geared bikes when going home from the pub - sober of course - we'd never have ridden under the influence - my nose seems to be getting longer ....
