fixed gear Q?

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike? They seem
to be popular in these newsgroups. What makes them special? Or
are they just fun in a different kinda way?

~Rob

"~R" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike?

There is absolutely no benefit, and the people who use them are insane.

Thank you for asking.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Claire Petersky said:

"~R" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike?

There is absolutely no benefit, and the people who use them are
insane.

They do, however, have freakishly healthy knee ligaments. (The [censored].)

Bill "cables" S.

~R said:

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike? They seem
to be popular in these newsgroups. What makes them special? Or
are they just fun in a different kinda way?

~Rob

Mechanics aside (you can get from Sheldon, as well as what I'm about to
say), they are so much fun. You can control every aspect of your speed
by controlling your cadence. I finished converting my Peugeot about two
weeks ago and I can't stop riding. I had to force myself to take a day
off.

It is definitely a different cycling experience and it's quite fun. Not
being able to coast makes you much more aware of your terrain since
you have to anticipate obstacles further in advance. I still ride my
geared bike, but not nearly as much - there's a time and place for
everything.

--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 01:04:54 GMT,
<[email hidden]>, "~R"

Quoted message said:

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike?

Is there any benefit to having poetry?
--
zk

Bill Henry said:

~R said:

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike? They seem
to be popular in these newsgroups. What makes them special? Or
are they just fun in a different kinda way?

~Rob

http://sheldonbrown.com/fixeda.html

All questions will be answered...

Sheldon is my LBS and tried to convert me for years. I thought fixers
were utterly dumb (never having ridden one). Sheldon may have all the
answers to the mechanical questions, but he can't really explain why
some people like them so much.

A few years ago I finally took his advice and let him build me a fixer.
I've ridden several thousand miles since then. I also can't explain the
appeal of one. It's sort of like switching between a stick shift and an
automatic. The first is a bit more bother, but makes you feel more
connected. A lot of people could never understand the appeal of a manual
transmission -- some are like that with fixers.

When I first started riding fixed I rode it almost exclusively for
months. Now I switch and pick the fixer for certain kinds of rides. It's
the bike I use when the weather is beautiful and I just want to revel in
the feeling of being on a bike.

Zoot Katz said:

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 01:04:54 GMT,
<[email hidden]>, "~R"

Quoted message said:

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike?

Is there any benefit to having poetry?

You can't compare the two...

One is the culmination of the human spirit, soaring free.

The other is a bunch of words on paper.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

Paul Hobson wrote:
:: ~R wrote:
::: Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike? They seem
::: to be popular in these newsgroups. What makes them special? Or
::: are they just fun in a different kinda way?
:::
::: ~Rob
:::
::
:: Mechanics aside (you can get from Sheldon, as well as what I'm about
:: to say), they are so much fun. You can control every aspect of your
:: speed by controlling your cadence. I finished converting my Peugeot
:: about two weeks ago and I can't stop riding. I had to force myself
:: to take a day off.
::
:: It is definitely a different cycling experience and it's quite fun.
:: Not being able to coast makes you much more aware of your terrain
:: since
:: you have to anticipate obstacles further in advance. I still ride my
:: geared bike, but not nearly as much - there's a time and place for
:: everything.

Have you done a century on a fixie?

Ravi wrote:
:
:: i rode a fixed gear bike in the local velodrome, i feel in love with
:: it
:: and now i have finished building myself a fixie out an old Schwinn
:: Varsity 🙂 As long as you choose a suitable gearing, your knees wont
:: suffer.
::

And how does one do that?

Roger Zoul said:

Paul Hobson wrote:
:: ~R wrote:
::: Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike? They seem
::: to be popular in these newsgroups. What makes them special? Or
::: are they just fun in a different kinda way?
:::
::: ~Rob
:::
::
:: Mechanics aside (you can get from Sheldon, as well as what I'm about
:: to say), they are so much fun. You can control every aspect of your
:: speed by controlling your cadence. I finished converting my Peugeot
:: about two weeks ago and I can't stop riding. I had to force myself
:: to take a day off.
::
:: It is definitely a different cycling experience and it's quite fun.
:: Not being able to coast makes you much more aware of your terrain
:: since
:: you have to anticipate obstacles further in advance. I still ride my
:: geared bike, but not nearly as much - there's a time and place for
:: everything.

Have you done a century on a fixie?

I'd love too. But if I do any centuries in the near future, it'll be on
the geared bike. You?

\\paul
--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

Roger Zoul said:

Ravi wrote:
:
:: i rode a fixed gear bike in the local velodrome, i feel in love with
:: it
:: and now i have finished building myself a fixie out an old Schwinn
:: Varsity 🙂 As long as you choose a suitable gearing, your knees wont
:: suffer.
::

And how does one do that?

I left the geared bike in one gear and road around for about a week,
trying never to coast. I had a fairly good idea going into it, but I
actually had to go down one lower to make it up the hills (42x18). Then
when I converted my fixie, I went back up one gear (to 42x16) since the
straight, simple drivetrain is (/seems to be) so much more efficient.
It's worked out well thus far. There are a couple hills I really have
to push up, but I haven't spun out of control yet.

On the topic of knees: front brake! front brake!! front brake!!! saved
my ass a couple of times already.

\\paul
--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

Claire Petersky said:

"~R" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike?

There is absolutely no benefit, and the people who use them are insane.

Thank you for asking.

Claire, c'mon! we should be encouraging him!!!

less gears, more beers!
--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

Quoted message said:

:: Varsity 🙂 As long as you choose a suitable gearing, your knees wont
:: suffer.

And how does one do that?

It is like you are do not to push a bigger gear than you are comfortable
with.

One general logic is to get the lowest gearing that will get you up the
hills. You gotto remember a single gearing will not take you over any
terrain - this can only be achieved by an ideal set of legs (which has
max. strength and max speed).

Find the gearing that you can comfortably ride over the hills you want
to do and get that on your fixie. Too high a gear will make going up
hills tougher and too low a gear will make your RPM very high on the
downhills. It is a balance between the leg strength Vs leg speed.

kind of create a profile of the gears you ride and use
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/ to corresponding gear inches and get
a similar gear on your fixie.

On my geared bike, i spend most of my time on 42x(15,17) - corresponds
to 73.9, 65.2 inches respectively. on the fixie, i have a 39x15 which is
a 68 inch gear.

+ravi

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article 1126721395.861739@sj-nntpcache-3 said:

Quoted message said:

:: Varsity 🙂 As long as you choose a suitable gearing, your knees wont
:: suffer.

And how does one do that?

It is like you are do not to push a bigger gear than you are comfortable
with.

One general logic is to get the lowest gearing that will get you up the
hills. You gotto remember a single gearing will not take you over any
terrain - this can only be achieved by an ideal set of legs (which has
max. strength and max speed).

Find the gearing that you can comfortably ride over the hills you want
to do and get that on your fixie. Too high a gear will make going up
hills tougher and too low a gear will make your RPM very high on the
downhills. It is a balance between the leg strength Vs leg speed.

kind of create a profile of the gears you ride and use
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/ to corresponding gear inches and get
a similar gear on your fixie.

On my geared bike, i spend most of my time on 42x(15,17) - corresponds
to 73.9, 65.2 inches respectively. on the fixie, i have a 39x15 which is
a 68 inch gear.

_ The fixmeup java app does a pretty nice job of showing you
speed/rpm ranges for a given gear. If you have a speedometer on
your current bike, then tracking high/low/avg will give you a
very good idea of what fixed gear is appropriate. I aim for
at least 50-60 rpm at the low end and 120 rpm at the high end.
I think to start out with anyway, it's much better to have too
low a gear than too high[1]. After a few hundred miles you'll
likely want to change gears anyway.

http://www.peak.org/~fixin/personal/fmu/php/index.php

_ Sheldon't 42x15 seems pretty stiff to me, I don't remember
Massachusetts being that flat. There is a fixed gear division
in Furnance 508 mile race in California, there's a web page
that interviews the entrants and goes into some detail about
their gear choices.

_ Booker C. Bense

[1]- As long as you have a front brake.

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Roger Zoul said:

Paul Hobson wrote:

Quoted message said:

Have you done a century on a fixie?

Couple of years ago I did a metric on a fixed gear. I was just planning
to go down to the start and help out, but then had the opportunity to do
the metric route as well. Since I also road to the start and back, the
day turned out to be ~90 miles. Almost counts.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Accept risk. Accept responsibility. Put a lawyer out of
_`\(,_ | business.
(_)/ (_) |

Claire Petersky said:

"~R" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike?

There is absolutely no benefit, and the people who use them are insane.

few benefits:
* pedaling in circles much more natural
* better bike handling,
* do not need to stop pedaling when going over bumps,
* spinning smoothly at higher RPMs
* you can increase the speed by just spinning faster - incase your hands
are in aerobars or other wise - cannot make the gear shift.

and more obivious:
* you can keep spinning no matter how far the headwind or how long the
hill is [basically builds endurance for keeping the legs spinning]

* In case of derailler cable breaks, you are still in familiar territory.

+ravi

Paul Hobson said:

trying never to coast. I had a fairly good idea going into it, but I
actually had to go down one lower to make it up the hills (42x18). Then
when I converted my fixie, I went back up one gear (to 42x16) since the
straight, simple drivetrain is (/seems to be) so much more efficient.

Seems to be only. A fixed gear is not significantly more efficient than a
derailleur bike. But, on a fixed gear you don't have a choice of shifting
down, so you go up with what you have.

Also, in order to go up a given hill, it takes the same amount of energy
input no matter what gear you use. Of course, it is easier on the body to
do it in a lower gear, but you can usually manage it on a fixed gear with
any reasonable gear ratio.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | "What am I on? I'm on my bike, six hours a day, busting my ass.
_`\(,_ | What are you on?" --Lance Armstrong
(_)/ (_) |

If you forget to keep pedaling, the results are interesting, to say the
least! But it really gets you in shape.

"~R" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Q:? Is there any benefit to having a fixed gear bike? They seem
to be popular in these newsgroups. What makes them special? Or
are they just fun in a different kinda way?

~Rob

I don't ride a fixie but think I understand the fascination.

The comparison I draw in my own life is a switch I did from shooting
compound archery equipment (pulleys, cables - Rube Goldbergesque
contraptions) to building and shooting longbows.

Stick, string, twang. I'm just as accurate with the longbow as I was with
the compound. (I shoot 275/300 in a standard FITA round, if anyone wants to
know). That came with practice.

I expect the attraction of the fixie is the same simplicity - less fangled
technology.

"Perfection is not achieved by adding.
Perfection is achieved by taking away." - Zen Buddhism

Chris

p.s. Mark: your poetry comparison had me LOL too 😉