I found an awesome video about hipsters wanting to ride CX! hehe
To be fair, I have a track bike and cx bike.
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/5684963/hipsters-discussing-cyclocross
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Im just a fat guy that bikes erryday. I have a 2013 schwinn tourist and a 2012 trek 3500.
Keep pedalin’.
I ride my dads old serotta. That bike is a piece of awesomeness.
lol, haven’t seen that one yet. Good stuff
I have a fixed gear bike too, but I still have brakes and platform/clipless pedals on it. And I only ride it as a commuter when I don’t feel like gearing up, or to practice rounding out my stroke. What I ride normally is a 2009 felt f85 w/ a selle san marco concor light and look pedals.
If this was supposed to be about fixys I also ride a cheap fixe gear. I also do a bit of cross country and some really really really really really really mellow downhill.
looking to get a fixed gear bike for some exercise and getting around town. any suggestions on what to get? big shot bikes looks nice, I was thinking about getting one of their on sale bikes.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I’m not a biker, but I just got a new load bike. It’s pretty nice. 2 gears, premium aluminum frame, carbon fiber fork and seat. It was only $250 because it’s parts come from all sorts of brands. It rides better than my mom’s dolce which was like $1000. Even my mom’s jealous. Only weord thing about it is it looks like a frankenstein bike. Even the 2 wheels dont look the same.
I’d highly recommend not getting a fixed gear bike for getting around town. Despite what hipsters will tell you, there’s a reason we have gears. Climbing hills, or even just coasting, are all things that are pretty much impossible with one. I’d suggest getting something from bikesdirect. They come dissembled, but if you’re unable to assemble it yourself, any bike shop will be able to do so pretty reasonably. Or if you don’t want to buy something new, a good bike off craigslist will work just fine. I got my felt which I’ve used for a few races and charity rides off of craigslist for around $500. Just make sure you get a bike that’s your size. Go to any cycling store and ask them to fit you. It should be free.
And make sure you don’t get a department store bike. ie: huffy, next, denali, cheap schwinn (their vintage stuff is fine because it’s from before they sold out, and their higher end stuff is okay, just don’t get their walmart bikes)
Do you have any pics? And what kind of components do you have on it?
Edit: didn’t mean to double post ><
I was going to copy this and paste it into my last post, but I hit submit out of habit
I got a track/fixed gear bike from Bikesdirect.com. I got the '12 Motobecane Track and it was only $279 with free shipping! It has a flip-flop rear hub so you can turn the wheel around and use it as a fixed gear or as a single speed (so you can coast without having to pedal). It also comes with one brake just in case you do.
He could get a fixed gear wit a flip flop hub so he could coast and get a bigger back sprocket so climbing would be easier.
I never will get the whole fixed gear thing… And I live in Portland! I’ll take my gears, breaks, etc.
I know bikes pretty well. used a trek (pretty cheap, but I was younger) until I was 17. I haven’t really had a bike since. I liked the idea of a fixed speed/single speed bike cause of the simplicity. I am a larger person (6’4", 270 lbs.). after I posted last night I did some research and found out that although way more simple, fixed gear/single gear costs just as much as a mountain bike might, so maybe I’ll go that route. finding a larger frame may be difficult used, I’ll check out bikes direct.
The main reasons fixed are popular for around the town commuter/delivery bikes, are two fold.
One the reliability of them. There is nothing to break or fall out of tune. I have had one for well over 10 years now and have not fixed anything on it other then a flat once, and replaced the cranks because the ones I got on the bike where crappy. Wore out tires are the most common thing you need to replace, and not even those that often if you don’t skid all the time.
The other is in the way you can adjust your speed. It enables you to move in and out of traffic really well.
My mountain bikes in the same time, I have went through three.
I mean destroyed three of them. All where good bikes kona, trek, rockymountain.
All of them needed tuning often, to keep them shifting right, and breaking right.
you can get cheap fixed gears or you can pay a ton it depends on how you go about getting one. All you really need to do is buy a cheap road bike and replace the back wheel, and take everything for shifting off. I got a velocity rim, kogswell hub, and had it laced at a local shop. all in all it was about 70$ wheel, I paid 35$ for the bike. That is 105$ total. That’s perty cheap and you are not going to find a quality mountain bike for that cost. What I suggest to you is, Do not get a track bike. They are not designed to take hard turns, and are sketchy as all get out. For street use they suck big time, compared to a road bike with a track hub.
See that makes more sense once explained. Yeah tuning and maintenance is always going to come into play on geared riding.
I would also say to stay away from mountain bikes as commuters, as they’re significantly slower than a road bike. I rode a full suspension xc bike for about 2 years while I was saving up for a good road bike, and it was awful. I could ride some dirt, sure, but switching over to a road bike increased my average speed ~10mph. Granted that’s wearing clipless shoes, but the rest of my gear was the same. Not to mention climbing was next to impossible.
Sorry, but this tells me you’re riding very, very wrong. You shouldn’t be going in and out of traffic on a bike, that’s how you get hit, and that’s why drivers hate cyclists so much. And I’m not sure how exactly you can “adjust your speed” better without gears and brakes than you can with them.
I’ve stayed at the side of the road where I’m supposed to be riding for 4 years now and haven’t had any problems. And I’ve owned many bikes, and only once have I “destroyed” one, which was due to me riding where I shouldn’t have been. It was fortunately a very slow speed accident and I got away without any damage, but my frame was tweaked beyond repair.
As far as maintenance, If you get something decent, it doesn’t need tuning that often. I’ve had my felt for almost 2 years now, and I’ve only had to fiddle with my derailleurs once and brakes twice. and even when it does need maintenance, if you can’t handle it yourself (which it’s actually incredibly simple) most bike shops do tune ups on things like that for as little as 10 bucks.
Way to assume stuff how do you take a left hand turn, you are not one of those stop and use the cross walk guys are you?
sounds like you don’t spend a ton of time on your ride, you haven’t wore out tires and break pads in 2 years? No chain stretch? Your cables haven’t wore through housing pieces?
When you say going in and out of traffic, I picture someone swerving in and out of traffic, not simply making a left hand turn. Yes I’ve worn through brake pads and tyres. But that’s maintenance that every cyclist does, not just roadies. When you were talking about maintenance, I assumed you were talking about maintenance that you wouldn’t do on a fixed gear, ie: derailleur adjustment. The brake adjustments I was referring to in my last post was replacing cables, and re-centering my brakes afters truing my wheels. I haven’t replaced my chain yet, as I haven’t needed to. I have and use a chain wear indicator fairly often.
You still didn’t explain though how not having gears or brakes (especially brakes, that’s the one I’m really curious about) is better than having them. Just as an example, what do you do without brakes if… a kid runs out into your path? A guy opens his car door? Someone turns right in front of you? I understand the whole “simplicity” thing, but simplicity doesn’t actually make something more functional.
A wooden fixed axle is simple, and requires no maintenance. Does that make it better for string tricks than a modern 1a throw? It’s good in its own field, but there are better alternatives for other styles. (read: fixed gear bikes are great on the track, but road bikes which were designed to be ridden on the road are better for it.)
I ride a fixed gear as my commuter, but I have a road set up as well as a super nice mountain set up (Specialized Rock Hopper Comp 29’er) I really don’t understand the hate people have towards fixies. First of all, they are very simple. If you’re commuting, you don’t have to worry about everything that could fail you, because if you’re moving the bike is working. Also, you can track stand, which is very convenient when you are at a red light on a busy street, since it allows you to start as soon as the light is green.
No need to turn this into the ever popular fixed vs geared debate, I don’t think anybody wants this thread to be locked