Is a "fixie" the new mountain bike?

[Deleted member 1258]

Don't worry I'm easily amused

It still seems to be indicating that there was a certain amount of internet shops about though

Fixed that for you

 

[ColinJ]

As for pedalling technique, it's only we Brits worry about that.

Not true! The French actually have a word for it - Souplesse - and they give special prizes for it in some big races.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Not true! The French actually have a word for it - Souplesse - and they give special prizes for it in some big races.

But they don't claim it lets you ride faster.

 

[steveindenmark]

I don`t have one and wouldn`t want one to ride, but I think the clean looks look great.

I wouldn`t knock them, even though they are not my choice. As long as someone else is paying for it, they can ride next to me anytime.

I would like a really well designed fixie just to hang on my living room wall.

Steve

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I would like a really well designed fixie just to hang on my living room wall.

Steve

What a waste of a bike, a bikes for riding not hanging on walls.

 

[steveindenmark]

Not if you have as much money as me. I also have a motorbike in my living room.

Some of the fixies I have seen have been like works of art. They are nice to look at.

Steve

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Not if you have as much money as me. I also have a motorbike in my living room.

Some of the fixies I have seen have been like works of art. They are nice to look at.

Steve

It doesn't matter how nice the bike is, or how much money you've got, a bikes for riding, if you want an ornament go buy an ornament.

 

[Ian H]

In strictly practical terms there are plusses and minusses with fixed wheel. In terms of riding, it is a very different experience not having all the paraphernalia of gears and freewheels, and difficult to explain to those who haven't tried it. I've probably ridden further on fixed than most of those here and it still gives me a buzz.

 

[Boris Bajic]

It doesn't matter how nice the bike is, or how much money you've got, a bikes for riding, if you want an ornament go buy an ornament.

For a number of years I used a 44mm socket as a paperweight in my study. It was lovely to look at.

I believe it was bought to change the rear wheel bearings on a 2CV, but its real value was as a paperweight.

I would happily have a 125cc GP bike from the 90s as an ornament, or an AJS 7R or similar.

I think I know where SteveinDenmark is coming from, although I fear the wall-mounted fixie would be ridden more than looked at.

I've seen pictures of clay (GS) and wooden (Nuova 500) models used by the Citroen and FIAT designers. Either of those would get its own shrine and posh lighting.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

For a number of years I used a 44mm socket as a paperweight in my study. It was lovely to look at.

I believe it was bought to change the rear wheel bearings on a 2CV, but its real value was as a paperweight.

I would happily have a 125cc GP bike from the 90s as an ornament, or an AJS 7R or similar.

I think I know where SteveinDenmark is coming from, although I fear the wall-mounted fixie would be ridden more than looked at.

I've seen pictures of clay (GS) and wooden (Nuova 500) models used by the Citroen and FIAT designers. Either of those would get its own shrine and posh lighting.

I understand where SteveinDenmark is coming from as well, but it is still a waste of good machinery to use it as an ornament, the socket was valuable to you as a paperweight but its real value is as a tool doing the job it was intended to do. I have worked in an engineering firm where they made the models for the car industry, and other places, the amount of work that went into them was amazing. A lot of them would end up scrapped once the project was finished, most were shipped out to the company that they were built for, I always thought it was a shame to scrap them after the hours of work that went into them.

 

[Boris Bajic]

I understand where SteveinDenmark is coming from as well, but it is still a waste of good machinery to use it as an ornament, the socket was valuable to you as a paperweight but its real value is as a tool doing the job it was intended to do. I have worked in an engineering firm where they made the models for the car industry, and other places, the amount of work that went into them was amazing. A lot of them would end up scrapped once the project was finished, most were shipped out to the company that they were built for, I always thought it was a shame to scrap them after the hours of work that went into them.

I think we are singing from the same sheet, but I am doing so out of key.

The reason the socket was used as a paperweight is that 2CVs do very little damage to their rear-wheel bearings.

I am convinced that many post-war French cars only had rear wheels to stop the fuel tank dragging on the ground.

Do I need to add that I am not an engineer and never worked in the motor industry?

 

[Peteaud]

some days I ride fixed, some days I ride 8 speed brompton, some days I ride 27 gear mtb, some days I ride singlespeed mtb, some days I ride Strida, some days I ride 30 speed audax bike, some days I ride two speed hub gear with coaster brake, some days I ride 27 speed tourer, et cetera, et cetera.

It ain't what you ride that matters, it's that you ride that counts.

I nominate that for post of the month

 

[steveindenmark]

Dave if I want a bike to hang on a wall I will hang it on a wall. You buy what you want and do what you want with it. I may like it for the artistic value and I have plenty of other bikes to ride. You may like one to ride and that is fine by me.

Steve

 

[BalkanExpress]

The old pro's didn't train on fixed because they'd learnt to ride fixed, on the track, when they were growing up. Some of them were very very good at it. Hardly any road pro's these days ride on the track. Shame.

I saw this bike just the other day, it sits in a glass box between the platforms of a metro station in Brussels, it is so simple and stripped back that it is almost the "essence" of a bike.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

I had this problem 20 years ago too, but the indexing technology has come on a bit since then. The incessant hissy-rattly noise from my fixie chain every time I stand up to put some powor down (1/8" chain on 3/32" sprocket probably isn't helping) makes it actually louder than my geared bike, although I have so far resisted letting it drive me any further mad than I already am

The key advantage of fixed gear, I think, is that you can slow down while riding no-handed in traffic without having to grab the handlebars

Either you don't ride enough for your bike to require maintenance or your in denial. As for your fixed rattling when you stand up....learn how to maintain a bike and tension your chain, before it comes off and you chip some teeth.

For those of us that commute regularly regardless of the weather and just don't have enough time in life to tweek and clean gears systems....fixed gears make sense.