Should I get a Fixie?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Aint Skeered

New Member
I've been thinking about this recently, maybe it might 'butch me up' a bit, with my team mates.

It seems anyone who owns one, feels the need to tell you, and anyone within earshot, that they own one.
You know, "Oh I might ride the Fixie tomorrow" or "Had a good session on the Fixie this morning"

WTF is that all about, You would not throw into the conversation" Oh, I might ride my 10 speed Shimano tomorrow" would you. Or " Wow that Sturmey Archer 3 speed is kicking some arse"
 

rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
I have trouble getting up some the hills with 27 gears, I'd have no chance with 1
 

Pete

Guest
It's a fashion statement, pure and simple. If you're in the business of efficient and comfortable cycling in hilly or undulating terrain, if the message that you want to put across is that cycling is a good way of getting about, forget it: use gears. If you do all your cycling on level roads, in towns or cities, if you rarely work through your gears, ditch some of the weight and get a singlespeed freewheel. If you want to be 'in' with the fixie scene, if you want to be accepted amongst fixie fetishists, get a fixie and expect plenty of 'off's...

Of course, if you're interested in doing things on the track, then it's a different ball game...
 

domtyler

Über Member
I would recommend getting a fixie definitely, one of my three is a fixie and I use it mainly for a flat commute into the city during the summer. It is actually a Dolan track bike and very aggressively proportioned, very fast, but extremely nimble, fantastic at cornering and really narrow making it perfect for busy, congested roads. Being a fixie, low speed control is also fantastic.

Sorry Pete, you're talking bollox mate and have clearly never ridden a fixed wheel bike.
 

BentMikey

Rider of Seolferwulf
Location
South London
Only if you aint skeered innit!!!

I'll get my coat...

Pete said:
It's a fashion statement, pure and simple.

<snip>

expect plenty of 'off's...

Fashion statement? It might be for some, but it's not for others, no different to gearies really. Expect plenty of offs? Only if you're particularly unco-ordinated. It's not exactly hard to ride a fixed wheel.
 

Smokin Joe

Legendary Member
Has it's advantages, great if you live somewhere flat and gives you a light bike with excellent low speed control as has been said but simply not as efficient as a geared bike. Any ride above a short distance when the wind is calm will be quicker with gears.

Yes I have ridden fixed, and fairly extensively in my youth.
 
You need to own a fixed wheel at some point if you ever wish to think of yourself as a cycling enthusiast. They provide excellent training, promote good peddling habits, are cheap to run and absolutely the best kind of bike for winter conditions because you can feel exactly what the back wheel is up to on the ice.

Oh. And they are really GOOD FUN! Lets not forget why we all started riding bikes in the first place.
 

col

Legendary Member
Cant you get a single,with a free wheel,so you can rest down hills ect?
 

Melvil

Guest
Wish I had a fixie but not very practical in Scotland!!!!!

Have you read Sheldon Brown's excellent guide to fixed riding? I'd give you the link but I can't find it...
 

Pete

Guest
domtyler said:
Sorry Pete, you're talking bollox mate and have clearly never ridden a fixed wheel bike.
Well, the second part of that remark is certainly true, unless you count my unicycle (which I haven't ridden for a dozen years anyway)...:rolleyes:

As for the first part...

I need to go back to my student days (OK playing the "oldie" card again!) when I was just getting into serious cycling, one of the technicians at the Uni (a man in his late 50s) rode into work every day on a fixie. No mean feat in Bradford, but he was no mean cyclist! I tackled him about it, we had a long chat. Seemed he'd done a lot of track work in his youth and just kept up the habit. He was still doing TT's as a veteran (and getting spectacular times!) but he was forced to do TTs on gears as the club rules didn't allow him to ride fixed. But he still trained on a fixie, said he was so used to it. So I asked him, would I learn anything from going fixed myself? He said, unless I really want to do it, and from an fixie enthusiast's perspective, don't bother, I'll just be cursing and weeping half the time. I took his advice to heart. I asked the same question of the members of the Uni cycling club (none of whom rode fixed, although some had tried it in the past). Got the same answer.

I've stayed with gears ever since, all my life in fact, and it's what I feel comfortable with and able to get on with the business of cycling in a manner, and at a pace, I feel happy with. Which is what matters to me.

If what I have said above is all "bollox" I'd be glad to hear your justification of that description.

Go into any mainstream cycle retailer. Go into a branch of Evans, for instance. How many fixies do you see being offered for sale? No doubt you can buy a fixie from Evans if you try hard enough, but they're not going to promote them for the sort of clientele they're after. Recently on a visit to a more specialist (and upmarket) cycle store, I did see a few fixies built up in the shop, true, with more knowledgeable blokes behind the counter to explain them to dithering customers. But heavily outnumbered by the more conventional geared road bikes. Which most of their customers were after.

How many fixies pass me on the road in Sussex? Or in France, for that matter? Precious few. Except in London at CMs, or on one or two ACF rides that I've joined in.

Sorry, to my mind, nothing wrong with it for those who enjoy it, but fixed wheel riding is always going to be a minority interest even amongst serious cyclists. And in your heart of hearts you know this.
 

bonj2

Guest
Pete said:
It's a fashion statement, pure and simple. If you're in the business of efficient and comfortable cycling in hilly or undulating terrain, if the message that you want to put across is that cycling is a good way of getting about, forget it: use gears. If you do all your cycling on level roads, in towns or cities, if you rarely work through your gears, ditch some of the weight and get a singlespeed freewheel. If you want to be 'in' with the fixie scene, if you want to be accepted amongst fixie fetishists, get a fixie and expect plenty of 'off's...

well said Pete.

mickle said:
You need to own a fixed wheel at some point if you ever wish to think of yourself as a cycling enthusiast. They provide excellent training, promote good peddling habits, are cheap to run and absolutely the best kind of bike for winter conditions because you can feel exactly what the back wheel is up to on the ice.

Oh. And they are really GOOD FUN! Lets not forget why we all started riding bikes in the first place.
Well you obviously don't even know the first thing about bikes!
Back to bike school I think for you, flower :rolleyes:


col said:
Cant you get a single,with a free wheel,so you can rest down hills ect?

Yes col, course you could, and you could go faster. But you might not look as cool.
 
Top Bottom