Fixed & Freewheel

[Zen]

After seeing a rear wheel of a bike that enables the rider to choose between fixed gear & freewheeling, I've been trying to figure this out.

The pedals of a fixed-gear bicycle revolve whenever the rear wheel turns; coasting is impossible but you could brake like a coaster brake, right?

So I'm thinking that a real purist with a freewheel wouldn't have any brakes. that they'd have to do a Flintstone stop

Then I remembered that this bike did have brakes.

What a dolt. At least I figured it out.
Go ahead. Have a laugh at me. I did.

But I still wonder why anyone would choose to ride a fixed gear?

[Kalidurga]

But I still wonder why anyone would choose to ride a fixed gear?

I don't ride one, but I think I can understand the appeal of it. There's something very pure about it: If you pedal, you go. If you don't pedal, you don't go. It's self-locomotion at it's most elemental, and there's a simple beauty to it. It's zen, if you will (which means you should get it! )

I'm sure this is a gross generalization, but the impression I have is that there's a little hippie in most fixie riders, a kind of "back-to-nature/natural" attitude. I think I'd get a kick out of riding a fixie, but I've got myself convinced that I don't have the muscle to handle it

[Zen]

I was misunderstanding the concept of a fixed gear. I sure wouldn't want to have a bike with constant pedaling.Why not just ride a bike with a coaster brake configuration like when we were kids?

You can coast, and you can brake.

Freewheel makes sense, as long as there are handbrakes. Fixed gear, I don't get.

[Teddy]

Other than racing the track, I'm not sure why one would ride a fixed gear bike either. However I can definitely see the appeal...and would want fixie to train on later ...when I learn how to ride better. My boyfriend races velodrome and his track bikes are all fixed gear. You have to constantly pedal, and to brake you go up track. He told me the biggest challenge in the beginning is to remember to keep pedaling - if you stop pedaling you'll go over the handlebars. Needless to say, this probably only happens once -- after that I imagine it's forever committed to memory. He also has a fixie which is fixed gear with brakes. That one he trains on - typically on the road. From hearing him talk about it, it's as Kalidurga described - a zen type of thing. Fixed gear bikes, I suppose, appeal very much to the purists among us. And they are truly beautiful in their simplicity.

[Zen]

So this is actually the same as a child's tricycle.
Heh. How about that.

[Teddy]

Hahahaha! Exactly!

[smilingcat]

Fixed gear bike on the road are required by law in many states to have a brake on the front (if not all). The fixed gear is considered to lack brakes and you need brakes on the road.

Braking by using one's feet on the fixed gear is rather poor compared to caliper brakes.

I don't know about the zen thing, the ones I know have this air of ahem arrogance about riding on the track.

Personally, I'm a spazz on such thing will most certainly hurt myself on such contraption.

besides, I don't have the kind of finance to own a road bike, a road bike for the trainer, a road bike for the crit, TT bike, mtn bike, downhill mtn bike, track bike. No gots with cash.


smilingcat

[I love fixies]

I have riden a fixie for 2 years now and I love it, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I feel free when I ride it, everything else feels weird to me. Kinda like going from stick to automatic when driving, you're still reaching for the clutch when you know it's not there.
I feel calm when I ride, esp. in the "zone". I love that it "makes" me petal, instead of coasting. Although I have a brake on mine I hardly use it. I like stopping by resistance, I feel rebellious around other riders when I see they have gears. Most of the guys I know, I hang out at a bike shop enough to be on payroll, won't or can't ride my bike. They say I am crazy and to me that says alot, like I have finally found the one thing I am better at than the guys . Kind of an ego stroke. They ride down mountains and constantly try to convert me, but they wont hop on mine.

Most fixed gear bikes that do have a free-wheel option, do have a brake. As cool as Fred was I don't think converse were made for that kind of wear.

For me fixie is the only way I ride, 12 miles a day to work, r.t., 9 miles for coffe, 15+ miles to downtown. It's rewarding, in the end to know I can do it. At first I was scared, I didn't know how to stop, it took me a week to master it, now it will take a lifetime to get me off of it. I love my guy for alot of reasons but one of the top is getting me hooked on fixies.


I'm one of the cool kids that rides a fixie!

[I love fixies]

I don't ride one, but I think I can understand the appeal of it. There's something very pure about it: If you pedal, you go. If you don't pedal, you don't go. It's self-locomotion at it's most elemental, and there's a simple beauty to it. It's zen, if you will (which means you should get it! )

I'm sure this is a gross generalization, but the impression I have is that there's a little hippie in most fixie riders, a kind of "back-to-nature/natural" attitude. I think I'd get a kick out of riding a fixie, but I've got myself convinced that I don't have the muscle to handle it

You have to have guts to ride one...the muscles come later.