What is the point in a fixie?

[MommyBird]

My hubbie is fixated on fixies right now. Belt drives too. I am sure the constant pedaling would get old fast and he would flip the hub.

We would like to get commuter/sightseeing bikes for our RV trips, and think a 3 or 8 speed would be good for me with a fixie as an equalizer for him.

[Catrin]

This is interesting, and I've confused single-speeds with fixies. For some reason I thought they were the same thing

[Cataboo]

Sheldon Brown has a great article on his site about fixed gear bikes, their advantages, etc.

I don't have a fixie, because I'm cheap and weak enough that I do need my gears. But I have been severely tempted by them.

Fixed gears strengthen/work on your bike handling skills - they also work on and imrpove your cadence. You can't coast - you can't put on your brakes and coast around a turn... (well, some of them do have brakes if they're smart) ... But it comes down to, you need to anticipate that a hill is coming or a turn is coming and use your feet to get yourself to the cadence or speed that you can handle that hill or that turn.

Everyone that I know who has gotten one has said that they're great fun.

[Catrin]

NO BRAKES

Ok...my heart rate has slowed, I just had this little image of what that would be like for me...obviously they are not for beginners like me!

[Triskeliongirl]

My understanding is that its also an easy way to recycle a vintage frame, you don't have to worry about finding out of date components since you simplify the drive train so much.

[martinkap]

Hi all, I am a member of SF Fixed gear as well as NYC Fixed gear forum. I am not sure about the SF, but the NYC Fixed gear forum is accessible only by invite and it is hidden from search engine, so not many people can find much about it unless introduced by someone else to it.
It seems that there is a confusion in some terms.

Here is what I understand.

Fixie - A name for any bike which does not have deraileur (or does not appear to have gears). Typically used by someone who does not own one.

Road Frame - A frame from a road bike which has dropouts (the place where is the rear wheel bolted in) either horizontal with an opening coming forward (older frames) or circular (newer frame). Road frame has attachments for shifting cables, has holes for derailleur etc.

Single speed bike - a bike which has only one cog in the back but can coast (ie, one can ride forward without rotating the peddals). Those bikes need to have brakes (at least one - typically front one). Some single speed bikes have a 'back' brake which means that they have to attempt to pedal backwards to brake.

Track bike bike - a bike which consists of 'track frame'. The sure way how to recognize a track frame is to look at the rear dropouts. The dropouts are horizontal and the opening is pointed backwards. That is to make sure that if one pushes (pedals) really hard, the tension of the chain cannot cause the rear wheel to slip out of the drop-outs (as it can happen if the wheel was in the older road frame with horizontal dropouts but facing forward). Track bikes do not have a brakes. The true track bikes have undrilled forks (there is no hole to put a front brake in) and undrilled rear brake bridge (if there is any). Also the width of the rear wheel stays is smaller. The only way to stop track bike is to resist the constant rotation of pedals. One can either resits gradually and stop slowly or stand up and lock knees and essentially stop the pedals with the rear wheel in rotation and skid to the stop.

Many guys will ride a track bike on the street without or with the front brakes. Among very young ones, more street cred have bikes without the front brakes but general fixed gear community encourages having a front brake. For that one has to either drill the fork to be able to attach it or to buy a special "Keirin' brake which can be attached differently.

Most common are so called Conversion bikes - bikes which utilize old road frames with horizontal dropouts. They can be find cheap, made from amazing steel and can look very classy. They are already driled to accommodate both, front and rear brakes. One problem is that the track wheel (wheel with just one cog) is slightly narrower in width than the space between dropouts and the dropouts are facing forward, so the bikes might be not as safe when hard pedalling or skidding to a stop. The rear wheel might actually slide forward out of the dropouts due to the chain pull.

Conversion can be also a 'single speed bikes' - that means that they have one cog but can coast. Many wheels accommodate the option by having fixed gear cog on one side and coasting cog on the other.

That said, I am riding conversion with BOTH brakes and 'fixed gear' cog. It is still my favorite ride. I rode many centuries on ratio 48/16. Yes, it is quite a workout. Because of the rear wheel issues (rear wheel slipping out), I recently bought a true 'track frame' which I am going to be using instead of the conversion frame I had. I will still use BOTH brakes (I am too old to skid), the frame is drilled already for them.

Anyway - sorry for the long post. I thought you might find it useful.

Martina

[Atlas]

Aesthetically they are very appealing, clean lines without any cables, and they can be fun to ride for short distance, but I get annoyed with them rather quickly. Mostly because I live in a college town and there are a lot of people who pick up bikes out of the trash and want to make them fixed. (Half of this sentiment comes from my boyfriend who is a bike mechanic and has to deal with these stuck up students frequently).

I've ridden one before and understand the 'one-ness'. It is neat to feel the immediate connection between the motions of your legs and the movement of the bicycle, especially when slowing down. That said, I'll stick with a single-speed for the clean lines. I like coasting down hills.

[Biciclista]

both of my sons own fixies. My older son got one because he hates dealing with changing gears. his is geared low. My younger son is very strong and has HIS fixie geared high (so he can ride much faster, or slower with a lower cadence) I think he has his more for street cred, as he also has a road bike with multiple gears.

I honestly had that same question in mind when i read the ride report of a friend of mine who just finished a 300 kilometer Randonneur ride on a fixie. He finished the ride with barely minutes to spare... 19 hours and 58 minutes. The cut off was 20 hours. Most people were in bed long long before that. I will share with you a part of his ride report:

"I drank some hot cocoa and ate some banana bread, then I was off! It was ~12:30 a.m. and I needed to cover 28 miles by 3:00 a.m. It was, indeed, a fairly decent tail wind. I realized I could still make the 20 hour time limit, if I stayed steady. But, after a while I was struggling to stay awake. This didn't help my speed.

I struggled on, occasionally dozing off, occasionally being awakened by having drifted onto the rumble strips. Then I'd try to pick up my speed ... until I became drowsy again.

Finally I saw the lights of Sedro Wooley. Now I smelled the barn and no longer struggled to fight off falling asleep."

[SadieKate]

This is interesting, and I've confused single-speeds with fixies. For some reason I thought they were the same thing

They can be.

A fixie has a single speed/rear cog but is called a fixie as there is no freewheel (no ability to coast). A bike commonly called a singlespeed has the one gear but also has a freewheel. A fixie is a singlespeed bicycle byt a singlespeed bike is not always a fixie.

As far as no brakes, some fixies have a single front brake added by the smart people who live in hilly terrain. You still use your feet to slow the bike sort of like a coaster brake.

[kmehrzad]

My hubbie is fixated on fixies right now. Belt drives too. I am sure the constant pedaling would get old fast and he would flip the hub.

We would like to get commuter/sightseeing bikes for our RV trips, and think a 3 or 8 speed would be good for me with a fixie as an equalizer for him.

A folder would be an ideal bike for your RV trips. Depending on how much $$ you'd want to spend, the Bike Fridays are top of the line folders, however, Dahons are not a bad choice either. In fact, I prefer the fold of a Dahon over the BF.

[kermit]

I have a single speed and love it. I wanted a steel bike for rougher roads in Georgia and found one on bikes direct. The thing is a blast. I can still coast but I love the ride of steel and am even considering a steel road bike. My husband calls it a trophy but it's just another steed in the barn!

[kmehrzad]

I have a single speed and love it. I wanted a steel bike for rougher roads in Georgia and found one on bikes direct. The thing is a blast. I can still coast but I love the ride of steel and am even considering a steel road bike.

I won't go back to aluminum ever again. The ride on a steel bike is significantly better.

[Blueberry]

A folder would be an ideal bike for your RV trips. Depending on how much $$ you'd want to spend, the Bike Fridays are top of the line folders, however, Dahons are not a bad choice either. In fact, I prefer the fold of a Dahon over the BF.

And Bike Friday actually will make you a fixed gear folder if you want

I have enough knee issues - so I've not been willing to take the plunge. I might try a singlespeed. Maybe.

[kmehrzad]

Hmmm, a fixed gear Bike Friday ... no, I think I'll stick to my geared NWT and PR.

Blueberry, depending upon where you live (hilly vs. not-so-hilly), why not give a singlespeed a try? It'll take a little getting used to wanting to shift the gears but then realizing there aren't any.

[PamNY]

Wow, fascinating discussion. Thanks for all the information. I see so many of these bikes in NYC that I have gotten really curious about them. Catrin, yes, there are people riding brakeless bikes, often without helmets, in NYC traffic. Go figure.

A question -- if there's just one brake, why a front one? I'm really curious about this for two reasons -- first, I want to understand bikes better. Second, I have gotten into a heated argument in my kick scooter group. I've been riding a Xootr for nine years and never once even thought about tossing myself over the handlebars when I use the front brake. The people in this group are aghast; they apparently are routinely sailing over their handlebars and are switching to scooters with only a rear foot brake.

Three of these cheap brakeless wonders have almost made me crash my bike in the past six weeks which cannot possibly be a coincidence. I personally think if you can't operate a hand brake safely you probably shouldn't be on a scooter, but I've kept that thought to myself (so far).

I'd love to add info from the bike world to my pro-front brake argument.