I started to ride a fixed-wheel bitza a few months ago and am slowly getting more and more into it.
It's a tired 80s Claud Butler that I had no other use for.
It's been an absolute hoot to ride. I did the fashion-victim thing and inverted the bars, having hack-sawed them into bullhorns... Tragic, but true (although good for misers.. you can do both sides with half a roll of bar tape).
I've also learned some things I hadn't expected to...
1. On a bike with freewheel I always stop pedalling for a second or so at the top of a big climb. I must have done this for years but had never noticed.
Doing it on a fixed-wheel bike is funny in a slightly scary way... You're hoiked up out of the saddle and feel as if someone is trying to pop your kneecap off. I've stopped having that little 2-second rest now... Whether it was a bad habit or not, I do not know. But now it is an ex-habit.
2. With back/neck/shoulders stiff from years of falling and crashing, I'd fallen into the habit of stopping pedalling when having a look over my shoulder.
Again, a fixed-wheel bike quickly discourages this sort of behaviour... Another habit of years has bitten the dust.
All the stuff about difficulty slowing quickly from high speeds and getting into a pickle on steep, fast descents was alarmning but expected.
And... I seem (slowly) to be learning all the good habits you get from riding fixed-wheel: flexibility, smoother pedalling and all that stuff....
But I was wondering if anyone else had a list of things they 'didn't expect to learn from riding fixed-wheel'.
It continues to be a huge giggle, but those unexpected lessons keep popping up when I'm thinking of something else.
It's a tired 80s Claud Butler that I had no other use for.
It's been an absolute hoot to ride. I did the fashion-victim thing and inverted the bars, having hack-sawed them into bullhorns... Tragic, but true (although good for misers.. you can do both sides with half a roll of bar tape).
I've also learned some things I hadn't expected to...
1. On a bike with freewheel I always stop pedalling for a second or so at the top of a big climb. I must have done this for years but had never noticed.
Doing it on a fixed-wheel bike is funny in a slightly scary way... You're hoiked up out of the saddle and feel as if someone is trying to pop your kneecap off. I've stopped having that little 2-second rest now... Whether it was a bad habit or not, I do not know. But now it is an ex-habit.
2. With back/neck/shoulders stiff from years of falling and crashing, I'd fallen into the habit of stopping pedalling when having a look over my shoulder.
Again, a fixed-wheel bike quickly discourages this sort of behaviour... Another habit of years has bitten the dust.
All the stuff about difficulty slowing quickly from high speeds and getting into a pickle on steep, fast descents was alarmning but expected.
And... I seem (slowly) to be learning all the good habits you get from riding fixed-wheel: flexibility, smoother pedalling and all that stuff....
But I was wondering if anyone else had a list of things they 'didn't expect to learn from riding fixed-wheel'.
It continues to be a huge giggle, but those unexpected lessons keep popping up when I'm thinking of something else.