SS Fashion or Function?

[Boris Bajic]

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.

Bloody cyclists!

You are of course aware that they pay not a penny of Road Tax.

I might add, while we're here, that it's one thing to have brakes and quite another to use them. Do you ever see so-called cyclists stopping for red signals?

Equally maddening is the way they carve through traffic while everybody else has to wait patiently in a queue.

It's really not cricket.

 

[Rob3rt]

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.

Agree, this is my only real gripe with the fashion of it. A lot of these numpties have seen someone riding a fixe with only a front or no brakes, then not realised it actually has no free wheel, all they notice is, "no gears". So in an ignorant attempt to jump on that bandwagon, create a hackjob with 1 or no brakes and a freewheel.

Whenever I come up behind someone with no rear brake, I tend to assume they are riding fixed and treat them like any other cyclist, but the moment they stop pedalling and freewheel, my whole opinion changes and I give them a wide berth and get away sharpish. If they are too ignorant to realise the difference between fixed and single speed then I don't hold up much hope of safe cycling!

 

[Andrew_Culture]

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.

Dear lord! I spend more time maintaining the brakes on my SS than I do my fancy knickers speed bike!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Back in the late 1980's I put together a Fixed using an old frame, just out of curiosity, in a couple of weeks I was hooked and used the bike for commuting, general running around and some club rides, after a few years the thread in the bottom bracket expired and I scrapped it. Five years ago I brought my Pearson and got hooked all over again, the bikes done over 15000 miles and has been used for commuting, general running around, as a winter bike and on club and forum rides. A fixed makes a great commuter, winter bike and a hack run about.

 

[RedRider]

A neighbour of mine ticks every hipster box there is. He's a mover and shaker in international bike polo circles, makes films for a living, has a veritable posse of bearded compadres who skid up to his house every day and he rides fixed, fixed, fixed. Sometimes he's colour coordinated often he's riding something beastly he threw together the week before and yeah, there's cards between his spokes. The thing is, he loves bikes. His small flat has frames hanging all over, there's sprockets for coasters, he builds wheels for fun. You need a tool he's got it. Need to carry stuff? He'll offer you his trailer. He's passionate about fixed gear bikes.
It's not just a fashion, it's a way of life. Who cares if they're young and trendy when they love bikes that much?

 

[GrasB]

Bloody cyclists!

You are of course aware that they pay not a penny of Road Tax.

I might add, while we're here, that it's one thing to have brakes and quite another to use them. Do you ever see so-called cyclists stopping for red signals?

Equally maddening is the way they carve through traffic while everybody else has to wait patiently in a queue.

It's really not cricket.

Do I have a problem with bikes not requiring VED? Nope
Do I have a problem with people jumping red lights? Yes - cyclists & motorists alike.
Do I have a problem with filtering? In principle no, but there are some example of moronic filtering & obstruction of other people by inept filtering about which I do take issue with.
There are people riding around cambridge without brakes. I've seen people doing a panic left turn at the bottom of castle hill because they couldn't stop due to the lack of brakes. I've also seen someone ride into the side of a car because their front brake cable snapped. Oh yes very safe & are doing wonders of the image of cycling. So before you look like a assuming you know someones opinion I suggest you actually stop & think about things first.

 

[wanda2010]

Lighten up GrasB. Boris was being ironic/funny/amusing, as were the rest of us.

At least, I think he was.......................

 

[apb]

Fashion, Function and scratching an itch.

I recently built my own single speed for fashion and function. I bought a old steel frame from the bike station for £40. Good, old, cheap, 60" frames are hard to come by so when i saw this frame i just bought it. Thinking, if i don't do anything with it before christmas then i never will. so i'll sell it.

(Fashion)
After i bought the frame, i had a vision of what i wanted it to look like. I wanted it to look cool. I want people to look at that bike and admire the simplicity and beauty of thin steal frame.

(Function)
I wanted to build a bike that took me 15 minutes to clean. I wanted a bike that functioned well with layers of mud and dirt on it (because i was to busy on the W/E to clean it). I wanted a bike that was light and responded quickly. I wanted a bike that glided (hence i spent £80 on hubs alone, don't tell the wife).

(Scratching and Itch)
I wanted to build a bike. I wanted to know about what BB went with what crank set, chain tension, Spoke lacing, Spoke tension, free wheels, cogs, chain lines. Before i built my bike i had never put on Bar tape. I wanted a bike that i didn't have to take to the bike shop because i didn't know how to fix it.

Now i have a bike that glides like nothing i could imagine. (except up hills, it makes me work like a bastard)

http://www.cyclechat.net/useralbums/single-speed-project.283/view

Building a bike is nerdy and personal and for me not cheap. I would do it all over again.

 

[3narf]

Singlespeed bikes are great; mine gives me a warm feeling because I'm as fast as 99% of people with geared bikes (you can't help getting fit on one), plus it's simple, almost maintenance free and relatively light.

I suspect, and it's only an opinion, most people who ride fixies do it for fashion reasons. I guess there are advantages but mainly related to training.

 

[tadpole]

Laurens ten Dam did/does some of his his winter training on a fixie

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Lighten up GrasB. Boris was being ironic/funny/amusing, as were the rest of us.

At least, I think he was.......................

Is BB ever serious? I enjoy his slightly cracked take on things and second your plea for tolerance!

 

[Boris Bajic]

Lighten up GrasB. Boris was being ironic/funny/amusing, as were the rest of us.

At least, I think he was.......................

I was.... Thank you.

 

[GrasB]

Lighten up GrasB. Boris was being ironic/funny/amusing, as were the rest of us.

At least, I think he was.......................

Not going to lighten up on THIS subject considering the consiquences

 

[Boris Bajic]

Not going to lighten up on THIS subject considering the consiquences

Getting in an entirely serious fashion back to the OP, the very reason I spend so many sweating, aching hours of misery on my hateful and slow fixed-gear fixopholous fixie is just that:

To lighten up.

For the record, if anyone in Cambridge really is riding freewheel single-speed bicycles without any brakes (you suggest there may be several) then I must open a shoe-repair business in that city. They must be taking iches off their shoe leather on every trip.

 

[Rob3rt]

Plimsoles don't have any leather on them