What is the advantage of a fixed gear?
- Thread starter Unchained
- Start date
Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:
no benefit to me as I am an old fat lazy guy who likes coasting. :lol:
I only ride for enjoyment and coasting is part of the reward for hard pedaling. That "cheater fixie" just seems to be really just a single speed bike like my corvette with hand brakes. I dont mind a single speed bike as long as Im riding on a flat surface and have a good gear ratio.
Unchained said:
Here are some pics of the setup I have on mine right now. I have a flip-flop rear hub so that I can use both a fixed cog and a single speed freewheel:
16 tooth bmx freewheel
16 tooth fixed cog
I am riding freewheel right now as there is just too many potholes/construction/suicidal pedestrians in my area to make riding fun.
Just noticed all the construction 'mud' on the frame from riding in the rain yesterday
If you got a lot of hills around you, you won't want to ride the fixed gear. Part of the reason that I never got around to building one for myself. Also, by the time I got it working, the fixed gear trend will have passed, hipsters will all be riding little pink barbie bikes or something, and I would be uncool with my outdated fixed gear bike.
honestly I used to build fixed gear bikes all the time usually to order for college kids. It wasn't until early this year that I started riding a fixed gear bike myself. I don't ride to much or in the city or around traffic too much. I usually do 5-9 miles a day of fairly easy fairly flat terrain. The advantage of a fixed gear bike to me is the lack of coasting. It is a way better workout (in my opinion) and to sound cliche you do feel more at one with the bike. I ride with a brake and clips ( although they are missing in this pic) I am also building a custom cannondale mountain bike with a flip flop rear hub to ride ss on the trails or fixed on the street
I love my fixed! Yes, it's unsafe to ride with no real brakes and your feet clipped in on a busy city street, but what great fun! Sure my knees will pay for it later, but you should see the size of my leg muscles :lol: . The best bit for me is going for a ride out with geared roadie types and blowing their tyres off, sure they can zoom off on the down hill bits where I top out at 28mph or 35mph if I want to hurt the next day, but get to a bit of flat or even better a nice climb with a big hard kick at the end and it's bye bye as you gain 15 yrds on the every time they drop a cog and at between 18 to 32 gears that's a lot of ground to be given :lol: The other good bit is all I do when I get back is put a drop of lube on the chain, whilst they have to lube around 10000 different bits on their bikes, adjust the brakes, the gear shift cables and who only knows what else.
Chaley
Chaley
chaley is so right, it gets no better than doing proper geared roadies on an old fixie
i wont ride with no brakes (too many hills) but there is some satisfaction in never stopping peddling
i was attracted to fixies just out of interest but have pretty much fallen in love with it
does anyone else think that it is so much easier to go no-handed on a fixie than with a freewheel, or is that just me?
i wont ride with no brakes (too many hills) but there is some satisfaction in never stopping peddling
i was attracted to fixies just out of interest but have pretty much fallen in love with it
does anyone else think that it is so much easier to go no-handed on a fixie than with a freewheel, or is that just me?
Philphine said:
If you get a true fixed-gear hub, it will have threads for the cog, and smaller reverse threads for a lockring. That way it will never unscrew. Some people go the cheap route (probably what I would do) and thread a track cog on a regular freewheel hub, and then use a lockring from a 3-piece bottom bracket with some loc-tite (it's the same threads) to keep the cog on. Most "flip-flop" hubs will have straight threads for a freewheel on one side, and track threads on the other, so you can turn the wheel around and use a freewheel if you want. They do make hubs that are free on both sides, as well as fixed on both sides.
Notice the stepped threads on the left side, and straight on the other:
(EDIT) Also wanted to add, just because you see threads on both sides of a hub doesn't mean it's for fixed gear riding. Newer BMX hubs have standard English threads on one side, and smaller Metric threads on the other, to use freewheels smaller than 14T. They also make "southpaw" BMX rear hubs, that are made for left-hand-drive bikes and have regular threads on the right, for regular bikes.
Plain freewheel threads on both sides:
English on one side, smaller metric on the other:
They also make Tandem hubs that have threads on the left side, these are made for old Drum or Band brakes, but can be used as a flip-flop if you're desperate. Some of these have disk rotor adapters that thread on the left hand side, too.
Tandem hub:
Lots of choices, make sure you know what you're getting!
hahahaha!JoeyMac said:
Dude, you could buy up all the local pink barbie bikes and make a killing, just have to get the trend going!!! :lol: ~Adam
i've only been ridin' mine for about 2 months and it's a real kick in the pants to ride. i dont live in a city, so i ride in a relativly safe residential neighborhood.
it's like ridin' a motorcycle w/ the foot brake and shifter on the oposite side than usual, or a foot clutch/hand shift. it's different and kinda wierd at first, but once ya got it ya got it.
fixed gear advantage- yer dumb non-bike ridin' friends won't ask to ride it
fixed gear disadvantage- when yer drivin' in yer car and see someone on a roadbike you look and when they start to coast you say AWWWW.
or they're pumpin' along and when you get close enuff you see the derailer and than you say AWWWW. 8)
it's like ridin' a motorcycle w/ the foot brake and shifter on the oposite side than usual, or a foot clutch/hand shift. it's different and kinda wierd at first, but once ya got it ya got it.
fixed gear advantage- yer dumb non-bike ridin' friends won't ask to ride it
fixed gear disadvantage- when yer drivin' in yer car and see someone on a roadbike you look and when they start to coast you say AWWWW.
or they're pumpin' along and when you get close enuff you see the derailer and than you say AWWWW. 8)
Living in the upper midwest I don't really get to see some of the fixie crowd that get many in the cycling community upset. I ride mine a few times a week, give my hips and knees a break for a while and get back on it. Many of my frame customers turn my stuff into fixed gear bikes, so I guess that they help my personal economy.
beatcad guess i must be one of your non riddin buddies cause i juts dont get it. i get the whole clean look thing and making a bike as simple as it can be but coasting is a good thing and try going around a corner fast but since you cant coast you cant lean over very far before your pedals hit the ground, oh and then there is the over lap issue on some frames when you turn to far your foot hits the front wheel, then theres the........... look to each his own but the original question was what is the advantage of a fixie? the only one i can say honestly would be it is more simple than a normal geared road bike and looks better because it does not have all the gears, and cables. well let me ask you this if you want the best of both worlds why not go to a coaster brake hub where at least you would have some sort of real brakes, you can coast, AND it still looks like a fixie. if you wanted to get real creative toss a bendex kickback 2 spd in there. sorry i will stop now this is just my 3/4 cents on the subject.
Thinking about it now, there is one advantage, namely oval track races that you can enter if you're young and strong. Unfortunately, even an obsolete Paramount Gold frame is usually over a thousand, and you aren't going to be competition on a road bike.
oh yea for TRACK racing they are great but somewhere along the line the name got changed from TRACK bike to fixed gear to hide the fact that they are not ment for the street at all. sorry sorry again i am ranting and yes i do know some modern single speed frames have geometry more ment for the street and are not racing frames at all.
I don't see a problem with owning a fixie, it is what it is. I think people get upset when it's taken as a "purist" thing, and they look down their noses at you for riding a bike with a freewheel and good brakes. I see nothing wrong with either. I would ride one just for the experience, and if I liked it a lot, I'd ride it more often. But it couldn't replace ALL my bikes, it's too limited.
Fixies can be cool, they have their place. But it's still a bike. :mrgreen:
Fixies can be cool, they have their place. But it's still a bike. :mrgreen:
thank you it is again one of those to each his own thing and if you like it then cool i personally think they are dangerous and have seen a lot of them come into the shop needing new forks or whole new bikes because they hit a car or something else. i guess they have their place and thats cool but dont look down at someone because they have brakes, or are freewheel or whatever. if you think its cool then its cool but dont expect everyone else to. heck 99% of people who look at boardtrackers think they are cool but i will be honest if your over 5'9" unless it is a long frame they are not much fun to ride and probably think they are silly too.
