dkahn400 said:Bob Downie said:I am not sure about the flywheel effect described for fixed wheel
riding. Where is the extra momentum stored? It can't be the wheels as
these are common to both fixed and free-wheels. Is it in your legs? As
these never stop moving I guess that you could conserve energy that way,
as opposed to the stop-start pedalling on a free-wheel bike.
There's not much stored energy in the wheels. I think it's the kinetic
energy of you and your bike that keeps your feet moving through top
dead centre. You still have that energy with a freewheel of course, but
it's not putting anything back into the pedalling. This sounds a bit
like a design for a perpetual motion machine so I'm not sure how real
this is. It may be that it simply helps to smooth out the pedalling
action.
That's basically it - it helps push the pedals round the dead centres.
Ironically, given their touted benefits for improving pedalling action,
fixies allow you to stomp on the pedals with impunity at low rpms. If
they do promote smoother pedalling, it's because you have to spin like
crazy downhill.
Everyone should try a fixie on the road at least once - a few pointers
from experience:
(1) Don't stop pedalling. Ever. If you forget this rule, you will be
hoisted out of the saddle and doing a series of kangaroo jumps down the
road until you remember. Danger points for forgetting to pedal are
tight corners, sitting back down after riding out of the saddle, any
unplanned stop and (yes, I did it) crossing the finish line of the club
"10".
(2) If you can't trackstand, always come to a halt with your clipped-in
leg in a starting position. If it's at bottom dead centre you will look
and feel a total [censored] when the lights change. If you [censored] it up, you
can hold the front brake on, lift the rear wheel and turn the crank, but
this may destroy the uber-cool courier image you were aiming for ;-)
(3) The fixed wheel is good enough to be a brake in legal terms, but
unless you are a superhuman trackie, it ain't gonna save you going down
Rosedale Chimney when your front brake cable snaps. Either grab the
front tyre if you're wearing mitts - or simply aim for the softest,
fluffiest thing in the landscape.
(4) If you smell something like burning Bakelite when descending a long
hill and trying not to spin out, that'll be your front brake pads.
Consider fitting two brakes if you ride in hilly country, and/or don't
overinflate the front tyre. Fixies can be very hard on brakes because
you can't just let rip downhill; you need to constantly brake to
maintain a manageable cadence. It only takes 30 seconds or so of
relentless braking to get the pads smoking hot.
(5) Keep your chain tight and sort out your chainline if it isn't
straight. People have literally bent their rear triangles through 90
degrees due to a thrown chain, and needless to say, this tends to stop
the bike in a rather rapid and clumsy fashion.
