Anybody Ride Fixie?

[doodles19]

LRdriver II said:

Being in Copenhagen alot, I find Fixies everywhere. Its great alot of old steel frames are back on the road (even with pink toeclips etc..).

It aint my thing and as long as they dont chop the derailleur hangers off the old steelies, then I am fine with it. That means when they are done, I can buy them all up and return them to gears again..hehe

Thats what my beater is, old steel mtb frame converted to single speed.

[R500POP]

doodles19 said:

doodles19 said:

Uriel said:

The other reason being, riding geared bikes allows me to ride for much much longer periods of time comfortably on a wide varieties of gradient etc in comparison to singlespeeds which I find difficult to cover lots of distance, varying gradients is also an issue.

So I am quite possibly mad for thinking of doing the Bristol to London on a the fixie?

Erm. I would choose a road bike

Like this (basically my bie)

[fixedwheelnut]

doodles19 said:

Singlespeed.

Fixies are a fad imo.

Not knowing where the pedals are going to be is a major downside.

1/ Fixedwheel

2/ Not for some of us

3/ I usually find them directly under my feet

My Bikes

[doodles19]

fixedwheelnut said:

doodles19 said:

Singlespeed.

Fixies are a fad imo.

Not knowing where the pedals are going to be is a major downside.

1/ Fixedwheel

2/ Not for some of us

3/ I usually find them directly under my feet

My Bikes

Right. .


First of all OP your bike is amazing, far more fancy than my cro-moly muck about SS and my converted MTB commuter beater, I am rather jealous .

(Though. Please tell me, brakes are yet to be fitted?)


However, I am still going to be stubborn and agree with my points stated earlier. For city commuting in particular, I would still choose singlespeed over fixed. Pretty much solely because of the issue of making emergency manoeuvres. If someone for example, walks out/pulls out in front of me (being in london, this happens quite regularly). I don't want to have to worry about pedal strike as well as avoiding said obstacles.

Again, for fitness and long distance purposes, I would still choose my roadie. The fact that I can alter the power band of the gears is invaluable to me both as a tool for motivation to keep going as well as keeping up the highest speed I can manage.

Regarding fixedwheelnut's post. Can you honestly say that the much more probable likelihood of pedal strike with fixies and its associated issues do not worry you in any way what so ever? Especially when riding around town?

About fixies also being a fad. Especially round where I live, there has been a massive resurgence in fixed gear bikes, both fixies and SS. I cannot help but feel that SS remains the superior choice, sorry if you feel otherwise, but again its just my opinion.


I

Edited by doodles19 on Thursday 9th December 01:54

[doodles19]

fixedwheelnut said:

doodles19 said:

Singlespeed.

Fixies are a fad imo.

Not knowing where the pedals are going to be is a major downside.

1/ Fixedwheel

2/ Not for some of us

3/ I usually find them directly under my feet

My Bikes

Right. .


First of all OP your bike is amazing, far more fancy than my cro-moly muck about SS and my converted MTB commuter beater, I am rather jealous .

(Though. Please tell me, brakes are yet to be fitted?)


However, I am still going to be stubborn and agree with my points stated earlier. For city commuting in particular, I would still choose singlespeed over fixed. Pretty much solely because of the issue of making emergency manoeuvres. If someone for example, walks out/pulls out in front of me (being in london, this happens quite regularly). I don't want to have to worry about pedal strike as well as avoiding said obstacles.

Again, for fitness and long distance purposes, I would still choose my roadie. The fact that I can alter the power band of the gears is invaluable to me both as a tool for motivation to keep going as well as keeping up the highest speed I can manage.

Regarding fixedwheelnut's post. Can you honestly say that the much more probable likelihood of pedal strike with fixies and its associated issues do not worry you in any way what so ever? Especially when riding around town?

About fixies also being a fad. Especially round where I live, there has been a massive resurgence in fixed gear bikes, both fixies and SS. I cannot help but feel that SS remains the superior choice, sorry if you feel otherwise, but again its just my opinion.

Edited by doodles19 on Thursday 9th December 01:54

[Uriel]

I really can't see how pedal strike is an issue about town. Maybe it's because you're riding a converted MTB? A purpose built track bike is going to have a decent BB height. My bike has to be at pretty much 45 degrees before a clipped in shoe will touch the ground with the pedal at the bottom of the stroke and that's with 175mm cranks. I don't believe for a second that you get those kinds of lean angles when commuting about town.

And if you were to have someone step out in front of you and you tried to pull some kind of elk manoeuvre to avoid them, if you were travelling that fast and leaning that much, I don't believe you'd stay on the bike anyway, but if you managed it, you'd be on the other side of the road and under a bus in a second.

[doodles19]

Uriel said:

I really can't see how pedal strike is an issue about town. Maybe it's because you're riding a converted MTB? A purpose built track bike is going to have a decent BB height. My bike has to be at pretty much 45 degrees before a clipped in shoe will touch the ground with the pedal at the bottom of the stroke and that's with 175mm cranks. I don't believe for a second that you get those kinds of lean angles when commuting about town.

And if you were to have someone step out in front of you and you tried to pull some kind of elk manoeuvre to avoid them, if you were travelling that fast and leaning that much, I don't believe you'd stay on the bike anyway, but if you managed it, you'd be on the other side of the road and under a bus in a second.

Don't know wether its just my bike then, I can very easily achieve pedal strike whilst riding about town, especially when trying to carry speed round bends.

[walm]

doodles19 said:

Uriel said:

I really can't see how pedal strike is an issue about town. Maybe it's because you're riding a converted MTB? A purpose built track bike is going to have a decent BB height. My bike has to be at pretty much 45 degrees before a clipped in shoe will touch the ground with the pedal at the bottom of the stroke and that's with 175mm cranks. I don't believe for a second that you get those kinds of lean angles when commuting about town.

And if you were to have someone step out in front of you and you tried to pull some kind of elk manoeuvre to avoid them, if you were travelling that fast and leaning that much, I don't believe you'd stay on the bike anyway, but if you managed it, you'd be on the other side of the road and under a bus in a second.

Don't know wether its just my bike then, I can very easily achieve pedal strike whilst riding about town, especially when trying to carry speed round bends.

Plenty of potential reasons for easier pedal strike:
Flat pedals?
Lower BB height vs. purpose built track bike?
Fat MTB knobblies allow much faster turns than low RR road slicks?
Leggy cranks? (Fixies often come with 165mm as standard for this very reason...)

[doodles19]

walm said:

doodles19 said:

Uriel said:

I really can't see how pedal strike is an issue about town. Maybe it's because you're riding a converted MTB? A purpose built track bike is going to have a decent BB height. My bike has to be at pretty much 45 degrees before a clipped in shoe will touch the ground with the pedal at the bottom of the stroke and that's with 175mm cranks. I don't believe for a second that you get those kinds of lean angles when commuting about town.

And if you were to have someone step out in front of you and you tried to pull some kind of elk manoeuvre to avoid them, if you were travelling that fast and leaning that much, I don't believe you'd stay on the bike anyway, but if you managed it, you'd be on the other side of the road and under a bus in a second.

Don't know wether its just my bike then, I can very easily achieve pedal strike whilst riding about town, especially when trying to carry speed round bends.

Plenty of potential reasons for easier pedal strike:
Flat pedals?
Lower BB height vs. purpose built track bike?
Fat MTB knobblies allow much faster turns than low RR road slicks?
Leggy cranks? (Fixies often come with 165mm as standard for this very reason...)

My beater, the one I was talking about having this problem with is the one pictured at the top of this page.



Plenty of potential reasons for easier pedal strike:
Flat pedals?

• Yep.

Lower BB height vs. purpose built track bike?

• Most Probably

Fat MTB knobblies allow much faster turns than low RR road slicks?

• Still has MTB rims, hence the rather wide slicks that are really rather grippy!

Leggy cranks? (Fixies often come with 165mm as standard for this very reason...)

• This shouldn't be an issue, they are just generic BMX style cranks. Didn't want anything fancy on a bike that would spend 90% of its time outside in all weather during the daytime!

On my muck about fixie, I cant quite get the lean on I can with this one, but pedal strike is still very possible. I just assumed it was an issue on all bikes!

[Chicane-UK]

Ugh. Fed up with the "fixies are a fad" comment.

For petes sake - you don't have to be some hipster to enjoy a fixed gear bike. I just use one as a commuter, dress up in the full waterproofs and jackets, helmet, lights, backpack and use that to get to work. It looks like a normal road bike with the exception it's fixed. I love it, I wouldn't want to change it.. apart from maybe slightly easier gearing for some of the tougher hills

[walm]

Chicane-UK said:

Ugh. Fed up with the "fixies are a fad" comment.

For petes sake - you don't have to be some hipster to enjoy a fixed gear bike. I just use one as a commuter, dress up in the full waterproofs and jackets, helmet, lights, backpack and use that to get to work. It looks like a normal road bike with the exception it's fixed. I love it, I wouldn't want to change it.. apart from maybe slightly easier gearing for some of the tougher hills

+1. This is exactly me.
(And MTFU )

[AnotherClarkey]

doodles19 said:

walm said:

doodles19 said:

Uriel said:

I really can't see how pedal strike is an issue about town. Maybe it's because you're riding a converted MTB? A purpose built track bike is going to have a decent BB height. My bike has to be at pretty much 45 degrees before a clipped in shoe will touch the ground with the pedal at the bottom of the stroke and that's with 175mm cranks. I don't believe for a second that you get those kinds of lean angles when commuting about town.

And if you were to have someone step out in front of you and you tried to pull some kind of elk manoeuvre to avoid them, if you were travelling that fast and leaning that much, I don't believe you'd stay on the bike anyway, but if you managed it, you'd be on the other side of the road and under a bus in a second.

Don't know wether its just my bike then, I can very easily achieve pedal strike whilst riding about town, especially when trying to carry speed round bends.

Plenty of potential reasons for easier pedal strike:
Flat pedals?
Lower BB height vs. purpose built track bike?
Fat MTB knobblies allow much faster turns than low RR road slicks?
Leggy cranks? (Fixies often come with 165mm as standard for this very reason...)

My beater, the one I was talking about having this problem with is the one pictured at the top of this page.



Plenty of potential reasons for easier pedal strike:
Flat pedals?

• Yep.

Lower BB height vs. purpose built track bike?

• Most Probably

Fat MTB knobblies allow much faster turns than low RR road slicks?

• Still has MTB rims, hence the rather wide slicks that are really rather grippy!

Leggy cranks? (Fixies often come with 165mm as standard for this very reason...)

• This shouldn't be an issue, they are just generic BMX style cranks. Didn't want anything fancy on a bike that would spend 90% of its time outside in all weather during the daytime!

On my muck about fixie, I cant quite get the lean on I can with this one, but pedal strike is still very possible. I just assumed it was an issue on all bikes!

A wide bottom bracket doesn't help either.

[R500POP]

doodles19 said:

(Though. Please tell me, brakes are yet to be fitted?)

er, at the front, yes.

[fixedwheelnut]

doodles19 said:

Right. .


First of all OP your bike is amazing, far more fancy than my cro-moly muck about SS and my converted MTB commuter beater, I am rather jealous .

(Though. Please tell me, brakes are yet to be fitted?)


However, I am still going to be stubborn and agree with my points stated earlier. For city commuting in particular, I would still choose singlespeed over fixed. Pretty much solely because of the issue of making emergency manoeuvres. If someone for example, walks out/pulls out in front of me (being in london, this happens quite regularly). I don't want to have to worry about pedal strike as well as avoiding said obstacles.

Again, for fitness and long distance purposes, I would still choose my roadie. The fact that I can alter the power band of the gears is invaluable to me both as a tool for motivation to keep going as well as keeping up the highest speed I can manage.

Regarding fixedwheelnut's post. Can you honestly say that the much more probable likelihood of pedal strike with fixies and its associated issues do not worry you in any way what so ever? Especially when riding around town?

About fixies also being a fad. Especially round where I live, there has been a massive resurgence in fixed gear bikes, both fixies and SS. I cannot help but feel that SS remains the superior choice, sorry if you feel otherwise, but again its just my opinion.

Edited by doodles19 on Thursday 9th December 01:54

Brakes all mine have two brakes unless going on the track, hurtling around the North Downs you need a back brake as well to curb the speed off when your thighs start burning at 180+rpm

Having ridden fixed for the last eight years I have only grounded a pedal twice and that was on my 1960 Holdsworth Monsoon which has a low BB exaggerated by the 700C wheels on a frame designed for 27" wheels.

You adapt your riding and read the road more, I find the ability to control speed with the pedals much better in traffic.

As for long distance I find fixed good at pacing yourself and felt better after long rides on fixed than on gears, hence it became my choice for Audax rides, Paris-Brest-Paris and London-Edinburgh-London.

Club Cyclists have been riding fixed through the winter for years it isn't new maybe the inner city bling bikes {Fakengers as pretend Messengers} is.

You try it, if you like it stick with it, if not you don't

My Bikes

[Henry Hawthorne]

I ride fixed four times a week, fourteen miles a day to get to work in London. I think it's great.

Love being able to brake with my legs, never had pedal strike, fun/convenient to track stand, and I don't really see where you're coming from about the pedestrians stepping out? I'm constantly watching out for pedestrians stepping out, and if they do (which happens quite often), I've already prepared my escape route/ready to brake. It sounds to me like you might be riding too close to the kerb if you have to swerve so much it will induce pedal strike.

[AnotherClarkey]

I have ridden almost nothing but fixed since 2001 and have never had a pedal strike when riding on the road. If you have two brakes fitted I would say there is zero difference in an emergency situation except with a fixed you know if your back wheel has locked sooner.