Fixie bike aesthetics/culture

[shootingstar]

Ok..maybe I'm using the wrong lingo, but anyway tell more about the aesthetics of fixie bikes-- the must haves, the "look", desired components, etc.

After hearing 2 guys tonight raving on about theirs and boasts of barrelling up the long hills past all other cyclists with gears, etc... really am just a baby here about all this. Of course no bike rack would ever be installed on one, right?

[Biciclista]

It depends on the kind of Fixie. My son has a Raleigh fixed gear bike. IT had a rack when he bought it, it's a commuter bike.
and yes, being always in a higher gear, they DO go up hills faster than those of us with choices.

[PamNY]

Here (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/nyregion/thecity/29gear.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2) is a New York Times article about fixie culture in NYC.

Inasmuch as I am 58 years old and very much in need of granny gears, I can't vouch for the accuracy of this piece.

Pam

[Irulan]

well, since this thread is useless with out pictures,

[Tuckervill]

I was so appalled the other day. I went into the bike recycle place and they had a very tiny '70s Bridgestone frame there. It wasn't anything special, but converted to fixed gear. They wanted $300 for the stupid thing!

I very much doubt any woman small enough to ride it is going to want fixed gear--or want to pay $300 for it.

I was hoping the fixed gear craze had not quite hit it hard here, but it has.

Karen

[Irulan]

I very much doubt any woman small enough to ride it is going to want fixed gear--or want to pay $300 for it.

why would you assume that a woman wouldn't want a fixie? We ride every other kind of bike out there...

[Eden]

I guess short people can't be hipsters :rolleyes: (either that or we are so weak we couldn't handle a fixie...)

Sorry for the sarcasm Tuck, but as a small woman I did find that comment tweaked me a bit...

[Tuckervill]

Because I live in Arkansas. In the Ozarks. I think if there was one woman out there who this bike would fit, who wanted a fixed gear, she would know about the bike recycler and would have already bought that bike and it wouldn't have been sitting there for weeks, unsold. I think they were taking a chance when they built that bike up as a fixed gear, and they're going to regret it.

When I said, "any woman small enough", I meant from the available pool of women cyclists *around here*.

Karen

[Zen]

Small bikes are hard enough to find without taking a rarity and converting it to sell to what would be a microscopic sliver of the short person population.

If you really want to learn about fixie culture, start reading BSNYC (http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/). He's not strictly fixie though he does offer humorous insight.

[Eden]

Maybe he's going to put it on ebay if he can't find a local buyer. Around here its not unusual for a decent quality older bike to go for at least $150 before its been fixed up or cleaned up at all.

[Tuckervill]

I feel the same way about this bike and its prospects to be sold as I do about the huge historic house behind me. The woman who bought it 6 years ago bought it with company relocation money (the other company bought their old house), and when she wanted to sell and move to another town because the high school here focused too much on "agriculture", it wouldn't sell. Even though she redid the pool and jacuzzi, restored everything to pristine, etc., etc. She still lives there, 3 years after putting it on the market.

This house would be snapped up in Austin or Charleston at twice the price--but AROUND HERE, you buy a house like that to die in. The buyers who want old houses are few and faaaaar between, no matter how beautiful the house is. This is Wal-Mart country--most buyers want new, plastic and disposable.

A $10,000 Italian bike is not going to sell around here, either. Neither is a tiny little '70s Bridgestone over-priced fixed gear.

Karen

[Tuckervill]

Small bikes are hard enough to find without taking a rarity and converting it to sell to what would be a microscopic sliver of the short person population.
.

Precisely.

Karen

[MartianDestiny]

I guess short people can't be hipsters :rolleyes: (either that or we are so weak we couldn't handle a fixie...)

Sorry for the sarcasm Tuck, but as a small woman I did find that comment tweaked me a bit...

Eden I agree. As a very short women actually LOOKING for a fixie/singlespeed frame small enough...

Maybe the shop has miscalculated the local market (or who knows maybe you have). Seems pretty reasonable for a national market though given what I've seen while casually looking (heck, I can't seem to get a beat up, but decent, old frame for that, much less a whole bike).

With the ridiculous prices on "vintage" bikes/frames in my size, I'll personally just go new more than likely, but apparently there are people out there spending tons of money on them...

[Grog]

Are you sure it's fixed? Maybe it's just a single-speed bike.

Also sometimes replacement parts are just not available for such bikes, and conversion is the only way to keep a beautiful frame on the road.

We have a spectacular old steel Miyata racing bike in the basement. It's no longer possible to update it as a geared bike: the parts are totally worn out (by about 75,000 km of riding) but we can't get the proper cogs and chainrings for it anymore. Most bike shops are also not very good at fixing it, and we're not especially good at DIY. It will most likely become a single-speed bike in the coming year. I am mentally ready to pay in the $300-500 range for the repairs/update. Sadly, it's too big for me to ride. Such a beautiful machine.

I'm pretty short, and I'm sort of in the zone where I wouldn't go out myself to get a single-speed bike (I wouldn't want a fixie I think) but I'd seize the opportunity if I found one my size just sitting on a floor. And I don't think $300 is expensive for an older, good quality bike that has been put back together nicely. Just a pair of new tires would reach over $50, not to talk about pedals, handlebar tape, labour etc.

Maybe they just felt like creating this bike. I see no reason to be appalled about it. I love the simplicity and elegance of single-speed (and fixed-gear) bicycles. It's the very essence as it gets to the idea of a human-powered machine. I can understand the cult around it, even though I don't partake in it.

[PamNY]

Maybe they just felt like creating this bike. I see no reason to be appalled about it. I love the simplicity and elegance of single-speed (and fixed-gear) bicycles. It's the very essence as it gets to the idea of a human-powered machine. I can understand the cult around it, even though I don't partake in it.

Exactly what I thought. I love seeing a beautiful fixie.

Pam

[newfsmith]

Riding in a group with others on fixies I can see several advantages for urban riding.
1) All of the fixies I've encountered have at least 1 brake so they are street legal.
2) Being able to easily track stand is a real advantage in traffic, and fixies are much easier to do that on.
3) They accelerate quicker, especially if they were actually track frames before.

The going price for a reconditioned fixie in the Boston area starts at $300. There is a sizable market for small fixies for women and boys. While I don't see many with racks, the riders all have large Chrome, Bailey or Timbuk2
messengers bags. Most of the ones I see use Planet Bike Superflashes on the bags and a PB 1W LED headlight on the bars. About half use cages on the pedals. Simple, light fixies are much easier to carry upstairs to a triple decker apartment.

[PamNY]

2) Being able to easily track stand is a real advantage in traffic, and fixies are much easier to do that on.

That does look like a handy skill. I always feel slightly envious.

Pam

[shootingstar]

So which TE members here have a fixie/single speed? I realize there has been the odd photo posted here and there in past.

Does anyone have a stable of several?

[lunacycles]

I have 2--one fixed, one free. Here's one (single speed). http://lunacycles.com/UnaCanyonRoad.html
http://lunacycles.com/UnaCanyonRoad.html

[PamNY]

What a beautiful photograph! Oh, and beautiful bike.

Pam

[newfsmith]

What is that bike's name? Jackrabbit? I agree, a fabulous photo of a gorgeous bike.

[SJCzar]

I have a single speed / fixed gear that I use mainly for my commuter bike. It has the option of being a fixed gear, or flipping it over to a free wheel. I use it with the free wheel.

I love riding that bike. It feels so comfortable and carefree. I really enjoy the quiet and simplicity of not shifting. I call him my "easy breezy sweet little single speedy". It's perfect for tooling around the city. There is only one hill on my route back home that I sometimes stand up for - and even that's more for just a position change, not because the gearing would be too difficult for it.