Nev
captain
Reged: 05/03/04
Posts: 376
Loc: Never where I want to be
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Anybody have a fixed gear in the stable? An old track bike maybe? Anyone? Hello?
There's a photo of mine in my gallery:
http://www.bikefanclub.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1645&size=big&password=&sort=1&cat=3004
Just an old steel club fuji. Nothing out of this world.
But I tell you what, it sure is a pleasure to ride. Longest rides so far is a 20 mile loop out of my driveway. I can do the whole thing without touching the brake. On the few steep downhills I just ease myself down. I'm really learning to spin especially on the long straights with a slight decline, speed becomes faster than I can keep up with. Uphills I cruise right up surprisingly easy. 42x16. Besides the pure-joy riding of it, I've noticed it's helping me on my geared bike, too, spinning easier gears faster and cruising up hills I previously had to really push on.
Fixed is sweet. Pure. Quiet. And a little addicting. I know I'll be fixing other bikes in the future. I'll often take it out at night. Lights on the bars, driveways and sidwalks in my neighborhood making one big salom course. Or in the rain, learning track skids. It's all good. Everyone should have at least one.
Anyone else?
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skagwayroadie
contributor
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 141
Loc: Alaska
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Hey Nev...Yeah...my SPIN bike at the Rec Center!!! IT is FIXED in more ways then one! Try spining them cranks at 140+ RPM, it aint easy, not matter how long you have trained, but one does gain a certain measure of efficiency. I still prefer rollers, but how about roller training with a fixed gear! Okay, getting silly, I know!!
...Mark
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Nev
captain
Reged: 05/03/04
Posts: 376
Loc: Never where I want to be
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Quote:
skagwayroadie wrote:
Hey Nev...Yeah...my SPIN bike at the Rec Center!!! IT is FIXED in more ways then one! ...Mark
I remember the first time I took a spinning class and got jumped up off the seat when I wanted to coast. Same thing happens on my fixed gear when I stop paying attention ("I'll just coast around this corner.")
I turned another guy onto fixed riding. He's building up a bike now. He recently borrowed a fixed ride and here are his exact quotes on the experience.:
[edited to conform to FCC guidelines]
Quote:
flatline wrote:I borrowed someone's fixie for a couple of days, and Jesus Tit!y F#cking Christ, it's like learning to ride all over again.
What a g@dd@mn blast though, I'm going to start MAKING time to get mine up and running.
Riding this thing is having a g@dd@mn epiphany. I never realized how much of a sloppy rider I was until I hopped on this fix. This thing has a mind of its own and it'll be DAMNED before it cuts you any slack on your riding technique.
I still ride my other bikes. Will never give them up. But in my mind during the day I'm mostly on my fixed, pedaling, one gear, forward. Check these fixed beauties.
Sweet:
Drool:
Righteous:
True:
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terry
new member
Reged: 12/18/03
Posts: 47
Loc: Southeastern MA
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don't post stuff like this anymore-it just makes me want to cry, especially that vanilla. sold my windsor pro & a 1970's paramount after knee surgury. had bad knees for yrs. but after surgury the pain associated with stopping a fixed would leave me crippled for days. saddest day in my cycling life when they left my stable. i should have kept them just to look at-what a fool i was.
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flythebike
captain
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 272
Loc: N. Virginia, USA
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Those sure are some pretty fixies in those pics!
I'm building up a Calfee Luna fixed gear. Quite the project. I want it to be my dream fixed gear bike (having had a Spectrum Track bike and a Pinarello conversion in the last 10 years). Frame only weighs 3 pounds with bottle cages. I'm going to order a Campy Record HS today (Kings are great but perhaps overkill for this bike). I've got a lightly used fork coming, an Alpha Q Cross fork, that I hope isn't cut too short, it is going to be close... A 32 will barely fit in the back and this fork should allow for a 35 so the bike will be snow capable.Phil Wood 20 spoke front wheel with bladed spokes and a Sun Mistral rim, should give me a fast front end...still need to dig up a front cantilever brake and associated hardware...there are lots of hills around here and having a front brake just makes it less tedious (and safer - I've got a wife and kid now). I rode a track bike as a DC messenger for 3 with no brakes, so I've really got nothing to prove about riding brakeless...Trying to work out the crank situation today need to talk to somebody when his shop opens...have a Thompson seatpost, will mount a Fizik Arione Saddle (all black) probably a Salsa Stem and a ITM Millenium Bar. I have a Suntour Superbe Pro rear track wheel with a new Surly 16 tooth cog and lockring, BMX 1/8 chain (just heard that garage door chains are all the rage). I want to get a (preferably Phil) flip-flop hub for the back and build it to another (32 hole) Sun Mistral rim that I have on order...but those Phil hubs are two bills so I may have to wait a week or two until the cash flow improves a bit. Plus then I'll need two more cogs and lockrings (double fixed please).
Then when all that stuff is built I can unload my current fixie as a road bike...I'm going to repaint it (a Pinarello - you know how that original paint is) and stick the old Campy 8 speed on it and eBay it. I may or may not keep the old Suntour hubs I have (front needs to be rebuilt - I got hit by a car last year and it potato chipped) as snow wheels. They're built with MA40s, which is overkill for the commuting that I'll do on this bicycle. I built them that way for messing around the mean streets of DC and they were up to the task!
I'll be glad when the challenge of this project is conquered and I can get out there on the smooth silent steed!
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