Is riding fixed gear as hard as I imagine it to be? What about fast descents?

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S-Express

Guest
@S-Express keep digging, if you must.

I've been to many, many 'track meets', as a competitor and in more recent times as a parent of a competitor. Not sure how many you've been to. So, no digging needed. You asked me to count how many freehubs you see at 'track meets', when I had already stated that they are anachronistic in just about every other use apart from that one.

You're very keen on criticising my understanding of the word 'anachronism', when I have already posted a dictionary definition on this thread and you have yet to offer any alternative.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Fixie
20170405_190342.jpg
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
You're very keen on criticising my understanding of the word 'anachronism', when I have already posted a dictionary definition on this thread and you have yet to offer any alternative.

Two things: 1) your understanding and the dictionary definition are not the same thing. 2) It's just your opinion. We're not forcing you to ride one, so why so vociferous?
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
I've touched the floor once or twice. Nothing worse than a skip sideways and an adjustment of speed and trajectory. It is worth knowing the limits, though.
 

ayceejay

Guru
Location
Rural Quebec
Is a carbon framed anachronism faster than a steel one?
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
For years I was a bit purist, thinking that your fixed-wheel should be your old road bike. But frames moved on, horizontal drop-outs became rare, and I got older. So before my 2015 fixed campaign I swallowed my principles and got a bespoke Ti frame built, with long, forward-facing, road drop-outs. The frame mimics the geometry of the gears (also bespoke Ti) and is a superbly comfortable ride.

Not sure I'd go for carbon unless I could get exactly what I wanted.
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
With gears, you keep your cadence rate more or less constant. With fixed this is not possible, so the cadence range becomes much wider and you get used to it. At first, and when coming off gears, the comfortable cadence range is still quite narrow, but very quickly you adjust. I always think that on a fixed or even a SS, you can ride a gear 10" lower/higher than you would be riding on gears. So riding say a 68" fixed gear, you would be able to cope with terrain that on a gears bike you would be dropping to a 58" or going up to a 78". Out side of the comfort range, it does start to hurt, but the hurting at the lower cadence makes you put more effort in to maintain speed and can increase your overall average mph.

Last season I rode two similar bikes for our 10 series. One geared and one fixed and by the end of the season, the geared bike came out quickest, but only by 20 seconds. This year my fixed set up is the quickest.
 
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ChrisEyles

Guru
Location
Devon
I always wanted to try a fixed gear bike to see what the fuss is all about, and managed to get hold of one a few weeks ago. I love it!

Of course a freewheel is "better" in many respects (as is having gears over a SS setup) and I do see the point of view of people who find them a bit of a silly idea, and I must admit that if I were to own only one bike, it wouldn't be a fixed gear.

As a newbie I was also worried about pedal strike and fast descents, and it's true, there was a short learning curve where I tried to freewheel a couple of times (once when braking and trying to avoid a land rover on a country lane), which was a bit hairy. After a couple of hours on the bike it's second nature. Fast descents are also not as bad as I feared, though I admit I haven't been over 30mph yet, and do use the brakes more than I would on a freewheel bike.

On the other hand there's something very satisfying and just plain fun about riding one that I can't quite put my finger on.

Only way to find out if it's for you or not is to try one really!
 
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