Single speed/fixie riders
lucyrose_
Posts: 55 Member
Hi! I ride a single speed bike to work (about an 8 mile round trip) I love my bike... I've riden geared road bikes in the past but it's so much lighter and less, cluncky, and as i'm not riding epic distances it's perfect for me. It also has a flip rear hub so I can turn it into a fixie... but i'm not sure i'm confident enough for that yet?! My boyfriend rides fixie and the difference in his stamina and leg muscles from when he rode single speed to fixie is incredible! Does anyone else ride single speed or fixie on here?!
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Yep, I have a Specialized Tricross that I'm running fixed. It's got Schwalbe ice tires on at the mo' (in anticipation of the ice that hasn't arrived), but normally I use it exclusively on road, despite it being a crosser. Furthest ride I've done on it is a metric century, but if the weather isn't nice enough to take my son on the tandem (see profile pic), I'll be doing my first 200km brevet on it next month.
I love riding fixed.0 -
Used to have a On-One il Pompino that I ran fixed gear up until a couple of years ago, but had to get rid because of a knee injury - caused by falling off, I hasten to add, nothing to do with the fixed per-se - but it just meant that I couldn't spin out on the downhills, lost all the "souplesse" - so, it had to go...
Was great for winter riding though - certainly kept me warm - the whole "no freewheeling" bit just keeps everything pumping and the circulation running0 -
I recently converted my old Cannodale MTB to a single speed, I'm using a single cog on the old wheel, so it free wheels, but I will be building a new wheel for this bike sometime soon, and then I'll be able to do the flip flop from single speed to fixie :bigsmile:
I have a buddy here who is really driving the fixie thing with our group, he is a big time advocate, and had the chops to back it up, he does use a brake on the front wheel, I'll use them on BOTH wheels, as the cops here have come down hard on fixies without brakes recently, there was an incident where a fixie rider hit an old lady, and the old lady died, stupid rider to get on a public street without a front brake on your bike. You want to ride brakeless and be cool, go to the track!
I'm using my single speed to bomb around Tokyo, as there are no real hills in Tokyo and I've wimped out and run lighter gearing, the SS is the perfect bomb around Tokyo bike, also it is OLD as in a 1988 SM700 Cannondale, so no one touches it, too old school :bigsmile:
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I ride my single speed on the days where I just want to spin rather than using my geared road bike. I do enjoy it because of its simplicity and I know what speed I am going when I keep a certain cadence. But I go back to the geared bike for long distance or when I know I am doing some climbing.0
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I commute just under 12 miles round trip in downtown Chicago on my single speed.
'Echo' has the flip hub as well. I want to try and eventually ride 'her' fixed, but when I test rode other bikes before they flipped the hub, I couldn't stay balanced. LOL! It is something I will try when it is sunny & dry, read sometime in the summer. I think those that ride a true fixie are crazy & awesome. I really, really like having brakes and when I get tired I really like to coast.
More power to those that do!
** I have to learn to resized my pix... Hot mess.0 -
I hope to start building a single speed soon. I have an old 80's huffy road frame that I'm going to base it on. I think I'll keep gears on my mountain bike though, haha.0
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I had a Boardman Comp-SC, which was SS/Fixed (flip-flop). I used it in SS mode for a while then tried fixed. It was fine for a shortish flatish commute but I just didn't use it at the weekend on longer rides because I need every gear I can get for hills. Fixed was just one more thing to have to worry about in heavy London traffic, so SS was best (for me). Sold it about a year ago - no regrets.0
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