SS Fashion or Function?

[Cycleops]

[quote="GregCollins,

I don't give a stuff what folks' motivation is for riding a geared/ss/fixed* bike so long as they are riding one.

Sounds like you're on a mission from God, or Bradley Wiggins. Sorry, same thing.

 

[colinr]

I built my Pompino up as a winter 'hack' bike to keep the roadie clean, but it gets ridden all year round because I just like it. Somehow it's ended up with some expensive parts too, it's still a 'hack' though

 

[tadpole]

I regard the fascination for fixed wheel and single speed bikes in the same way I regard people who dress up as Roman centurion or ride around on a horse drawn buggy or restore steam trains. I upgraded from a single speed when I got my first three speed, and upgraded from that to a 10 speed, I see no earthly reason to go backwards in time and play act as a throwback to the 1900s

 

[Boris Bajic]

I regard the fascination for fixed wheel and single speed bikes in the same way I regard people who dress up as Roman centurion or ride around on a horse drawn buggy or restore steam trains. I upgraded from a single speed when I got my first three speed, and upgraded from that to a 10 speed, I see no earthly reason to go backwards in time and play act as a throwback to the 1900s

That is a perfectly reasonable viewpoint. My children share it and think fixed-gear is mad or worse. They think it a little bit try-hard faux-eccentric.

But I do not. My favourite car is an asthmatic, 1100cc 1961 roadster that is hairy at 65mph and in which conversation is difficult above 45mph.

My favourite piece of kitchen equipment is a huge mixing bowl with a wooden spoon in it. Next to it is a Kenwood Major, which is useful but dull.

We have spangly-doo-dah gas central heating with all sorts of tricks up its sleeve, but I love a coal fire in winter.

I adore my geared road bike and my geared HT MTB, but am quite intoxicated (when it is going well) by my fixed-gear bicycle.

 

[tyred]

My winter fixed has 2 x brakes, dynamo lights, mudguards, wide 32mm tyres, an unfashionably low 63" gear ratio, a gas pipe frame, a rack, steel wheels and cottered cranks. It rarely gets cleaned. Fashionable it definitely isn't but I rode 2,500 miles on it in the past year but I will still be using it when the people with the fashionable "fixies" will have moved on to the latest craze.

I like it because it's fun to ride, I can leave it anywhere without worrying about it, the components are junk so I don't need to worry about road salt, etc. Total maintenance required in the past year - the bottom bracket cup came loose, easily tightened and I had to replace a headlamp bulb. In a moment of madness, I cleaned the rust of the rims and polished them with brasso

People are welcome to devote time and money to the upkeep of derailleurs but I can't be bothered. For this winter, I have built it a stablemate, from a similar frame rescued from a skip and using an AW hub so I can tackle some of my very hilly routes that are very hard work on fixed.

 

[summerdays]

I don't mind that it is "trendy", and I'd rather see them on fixed or single speed bikes than on bmx's. In the end the more people on bikes the better, especially teenagers.

 

[GrasB]

For those hipsters around cambridge with them fixed & SS do actually make sense. They're so mechanically inept if they had gears they couldn't get them close enough to properly adjusted so they'd have automatic gear changing at random intervals.

 

[Teuchter]

Like (I imagine) many people, I put mine together for a giggle and imagined I'd ride it a dozen times. That's not how it worked out.

I still love geared bikes, but fixed is quite intoxicating.

This.

I converted a cheap old 10 speed road bike I had to fixed gear through a mix of curiosity to experience what all the fuss was about (was it really the unique experience everyone claimed?) and because I enjoy a good project. If it hadn't worked out, I would have sold it for what the parts cost me and I'd have still had the pleasure of the build.

As it turned out, I did really enjoy riding it and the bike made an ideal commuter. I still prefer geared for other uses however, especially if the route is going to be particularly hilly.

 

[Old Plodder]

I'm not sure if you've got the terminology confused or not so forgive me....
I see a lot of 'SS' bikes in cities but the overwhelming majority have freewheels. Few are Fixed Wheel.

No, I know the difference, but was under the impression, wrongly it seems, that the fashion 'city SS's were 'fixies'
(I've been cycling, using various types of bikes, on & off road, since the 70's, all year round; used to average 8000 miles a year. )

 

[fossyant]

Got mine specifically for commuting. Wasn't cheap, but does exactly what it says on the tin. No messing with gears.

 

[clarion]

I bought mine (the third fixed I've had) specifically for commuting, to save my tourer and the other fixed, which is a bit older and worth keeping best (and used by my son on those rare occasions he decides to ride a bike).

It is colour co-ordinated, in black, black, black, black, black reflective, random stickers and silver. Not really thought about that.

I've never been a slave to fashion. Never will be. But some folk are, and, for all we espouse Greg's generous delight at all cycling, we do love laughing at hipsters. Fashion will move on, though. Couriers, who were a key factor in the resurgence of fixed riding, and who used to be keen on MTBs, as mentioned upthread, seem to be changing for road bikes more now. That's how things work, and that's fine. I hope that those swayed by trends remain cycling, but it might be in vain.

My fixed does not have silly narrow bars, or straight bars at all. It doesn't have unwrapped drop bars (funny how they become less popular in the winter), but bullhorns, which, I admit, had a brief period bathed in hipster glow. I also have the heresy of three speeds so I don't have to stick to the Hipster Spice Route, but can both climb and descend (moderate) hills.

My fixed is comfortable. I have taken it camping to the South Downs, out on day (and night) rides, out for shopping, pootling around and just about everything. Unlike my son, I would be unlikely to ride over the North Downs on fixed, but the simplicity means that there's not much to go wrong (now I've fathomed a couple of persistent issues).

My fixed has a prop stand. I find that anyone riding the eponymous Pearson Touchy, along with folk on carbon fibre machines, get upset at being passed by an old fat asthmatic riding a bike with hub gear, saddlebag, pannier rack and propstand. Never mind.

 

[wanda2010]

My fixed has a prop stand

My SS has a prop stand. I think they are great bits of kit and may well add them to my road bikes. I've had a few people turn up their noses/laugh when they see it but it works for me and that's all I care about.

 

[clarion]

Exactly. It also helps on the FNRttC splash'n'dash stops when there's nowhere to lean your bike at the front of Tescos or wherever.

 

[Fab Foodie]

No, I know the difference, but was under the impression, wrongly it seems, that the fashion 'city SS's were 'fixies'
(I've been cycling, using various types of bikes, on & off road, since the 70's, all year round; used to average 8000 miles a year. )

I agree it's confusing!
To me SS and fixed gear are the same thing, one sprocket and a freewheel, a 'Fixed Wheel' is the only 'Fixie' as far as I'm concerned and most single sprocket bikes (if you like) that I see whizzing around towns and cities all have freewheels. Still, they're 'on-trend' fun and if people are happy that's fine.

 

[GrasB]

What gets me, & I see this a lot around Cambridge, is riders blatantly on freewheel bikes with one, or on a few occasions even no, brakes.