Author Topic: A fixed rider admiration thread  (Read 19423 times)

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #25 on: 05 June, 2008, 05:35:40 pm »
It is not that hard, as others have noted. Speed is good, accelerations less so. Speed bumps are no problem. Fixed climbs well, better that you seem to think; I certainly use 72'' (nominal) here for pretty much everything, 65'' or less in then worst of my part of the Peak District (rarely because it is a pain downhill; I cramped on a hilly 100k!). Smallest gear is a 39x25 on my geared bike and I do use it in the Peak District. However I am more powerful as a result of over 5 years of fixed gear riding too. I like fixed; in fact I like it so much that I currently own three one of which is my TT bike. They are nice. Fastest speed for me is ca. 36-37 Mi/h (180RPM I computed back then).
Frenchie - Train à Grande Vitesse

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #26 on: 05 June, 2008, 05:43:17 pm »
Most of the seriously hardcore fixers here ride smaller gears than the newbies. They can spin.....

Well if you ask me, souplesse (something well worth having) is the ability to turn the peadls at a constant angular velocity, not at silly cadences.

Not really sure about that. Watching guys spinning at close to 200 rpm who have been riding fixed for 20, 30 or even 40 years plus is much more impressive than reading a load of pretentious old wank.....

Your posts aren't that bad bobb...
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Lizzie

  • Quite harmless
Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #27 on: 05 June, 2008, 07:31:33 pm »
 A fixed/free drive would get round this, but would you ever trust one?  Imagine it suddenly selecting "fixed" at 50mph - it'd rip your legs off  :o

But isn't that what the Langster is - fixed and single speed? How would it be possible to get the wrong side ... or are you just trying to scare me, rogerzilla? (it's working, by the way ;D)
Hill Slug

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #28 on: 05 June, 2008, 07:51:11 pm »
 A fixed/free drive would get round this, but would you ever trust one?  Imagine it suddenly selecting "fixed" at 50mph - it'd rip your legs off  :o

But isn't that what the Langster is - fixed and single speed? How would it be possible to get the wrong side ... or are you just trying to scare me, rogerzilla? (it's working, by the way ;D)

Someone can come along with more technical details soon - but the Langster has a freewheel sprocket on one side and a fixed sprocket on the other side, so to swap between the two you have to stop, get off, take off the wheel and turn it around.

The wotsit that Roger is talking about changes between "fixed" and "free" by means of a switch or button - so you change when riding the bike, turning the pedals.  I wouldn't trust it either.

Lizzie

  • Quite harmless
Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #29 on: 05 June, 2008, 07:53:23 pm »
Phew - thanks  :)

Hill Slug

border-rider

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #30 on: 05 June, 2008, 10:06:50 pm »
Ah, I've just remembered.  When other fixie riders hit a speed bump at the bottom of a big hill at around 35mph... what happens?
Depends on the frame geometry.  On the Frankendale (lazy MTB geometry), not much.  On the Fuji (sort of track geometry), you do a faceplant.

Yep

it's why i use laid-back geometries & fat tyres on the audax fixie. My track bike allows me to climb White Horse Hill on 85" :o but overall it's slower because you can't let it go on descents.

The MC descends like it's on rails, and soaks up bumps.

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #31 on: 05 June, 2008, 10:16:33 pm »
I normally ride up the hill home on 39x17 but on my fixed I was doing it on 44x17 with same amount of grunting more or less.  I say was, as a I haven't restarted using my fixed since my crash, the high cadence and back chat from the bike is worrying me for the ride down the hill.

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #32 on: 05 June, 2008, 10:45:05 pm »
Most of the seriously hardcore fixers here ride smaller gears than the newbies. They can spin.....

Well if you ask me, souplesse (something well worth having) is the ability to turn the peadls at a constant angular velocity, not at silly cadences.

Not really sure about that. Watching guys spinning at close to 200 rpm who have been riding fixed for 20, 30 or even 40 years plus is much more impressive than reading a load of pretentious old wank.....

Impressive it might be (in a circus performer dicing with death sort of way), but efficient it ain't.
Profit or planet?

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #33 on: 06 June, 2008, 12:06:22 am »
Ah, I've just remembered.  When other fixie riders hit a speed bump at the bottom of a big hill at around 35mph... what happens?
Depends on the frame geometry.  On the Frankendale (lazy MTB geometry), not much.  On the Fuji (sort of track geometry), you do a faceplant.

Yep

it's why i use laid-back geometries & fat tyres on the audax fixie. My track bike allows me to climb White Horse Hill on 85" :o but overall it's slower because you can't let it go on descents.

The MC descends like it's on rails, and soaks up bumps.

Which explains why I got away with it on FrankenFixie ;D    Thanks to the builder  ;)

alan

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #34 on: 06 June, 2008, 08:03:29 am »
About 12 months ago Peliroja allowed me to have a go on her fixie around the carpark at the pub on last years Pie Run.
It felt very strange but induced a grin bigger than Cheddar Gorge.

I spent the next few weeks contemplating the purchase of a fixie but hesitated due to having all the same concerns as you have now.
Eventually Marj pursuaded to me buy a Langster whilst we were in a shop in Helston on holiday last year.
I changed the rear sprocket to a 17t to give me 65"( I think) to cope with the "fully-formed" hills hereabouts where I live.
I now prefer to ride the fixed other than my geared Trek.
It gives great grins,a sense of satisfaction & goes uphills with much less effort than you expect.That flywheel effect is a strangely pleasant experience.
Don't fret about spinning downhills.If it gets too much  just use the brakes.
So I suggest:-
if possible, borrow one to try before you buy
doing that,if you don't die
jay eff dee I

In my case Peli has a lot to answere for ;)
Thanks Peli :thumbsup:

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #35 on: 06 June, 2008, 08:47:20 am »

So I suggest:-
if possible, borrow one to try before you buy
doing that,if you don't die
jay eff dee I



TO try out on fixed, no hills mind, one can have a taster session at a velodrome.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #36 on: 06 June, 2008, 09:34:47 am »
If you have a low gear and a lot of steep downhills, two brakes are a good idea.  The speed that a rim heats up when used for drag braking is terrifying, and when I can smell the pads burning, I worry about what's happening to the pressure in the front tyre.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Plodder

  • More of a lurker than a poster!
Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #37 on: 06 June, 2008, 10:49:19 am »

So I suggest:-
if possible, borrow one to try before you buy
doing that,if you don't die
jay eff dee I



TO try out on fixed, no hills mind, one can have a taster session at a velodrome.

It was a couple of sessions at the velodrome at Calshot that tempted me. Once I'd bought my LeMond Fillmore and stuck a fixed sprocket on it, I didn't ride anything else for six months.

You won't regret it.
Quote
The Portsmouth Wednesday Night Pub Ride Group - "a drinking club with a cycling problem".

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #38 on: 06 June, 2008, 11:27:16 am »
If you have a low gear and a lot of steep downhills, two brakes are a good idea.  The speed that a rim heats up when used for drag braking is terrifying, and when I can smell the pads burning, I worry about what's happening to the pressure in the front tyre.

Since the early days I've always had two. Mine's a jack of all trades bike and needs to be practical. 'Pose factor' has never influenced what equipment I use.

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #39 on: 06 June, 2008, 01:25:26 pm »
I had two brakes for a bit but the back one started doing something Peculiar & I CBA to fix it, so I took it off instead.  (Although that was getting on for a year ago & I still haven't removed the cable & lever & retaped the bars, oops.)  I only ride fixed around London, though, so it's not remotely a problem.

urban_biker

  • " . . .we all ended up here and like lads in the back of a Nova we sort of egged each other on...."
  • Known in the real world as Dave
Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #40 on: 06 June, 2008, 01:37:40 pm »
I love my Langster. It has filled two spaces in my bike shed, fixie and lightweight racing bike.

The standard Langster has a 69 inch gear which has been fine for me here just North of Pompey, don't have any problem riding it up Portsdown Hill for example. Like others have said, the hardest bit about riding fixed is getting used to downhills. Up hills really are relatively easy. I have to say I wouldn't recommend fixed to anyone who is not already an experienced cyclist.

Riding fixed still has the ability to scare the pants off me on occasions, partly because I'm fairly new at it  but that's part of what makes it so much fun. 
Owner of a languishing Langster

alan

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #41 on: 06 June, 2008, 02:11:03 pm »
I love my Langster. . 

 me too.My Langster that is...not yours

Chris S

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #42 on: 06 June, 2008, 02:20:47 pm »
I've been riding fixies for about two years, and have clocked up around 14,000km on the Pompino I bought from (ACF) Ed eighteen months ago. I still find a hankering for a freewheel when I'm at the wrong end of a 300 audax, and I'm still too heavy for hills to be anything other than Bloody Hard Work.

But - I prefer fixed to free now.

Lizzie

  • Quite harmless
Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #43 on: 06 June, 2008, 04:00:25 pm »
Thanks Everyone,  :thumbsup:

The Langster looks maybe the best bet for me, so that I can chicken out and use the single speed - though it's pretty flat round here, so hills aren't too much of an issue.

Don't suppose anyone has 49cm size that they could measure the top tube from seat to handlebars for me, (I don't trust the geometry diagrams on the Specialized site?).

 :)
Hill Slug

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #44 on: 06 June, 2008, 04:10:35 pm »
If you have a low gear and a lot of steep downhills, two brakes are a good idea.  The speed that a rim heats up when used for drag braking is terrifying, and when I can smell the pads burning, I worry about what's happening to the pressure in the front tyre.

I wonder if anyone has tried using a real drag brake on a fixed in hilly terrain.  It'd be rather heavy, but I must say I've sometimes wished I had one when descending in the dark where I regularly commute near Bristol.

alan

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #45 on: 06 June, 2008, 04:48:04 pm »


Don't suppose anyone has 49cm size that they could measure the top tube from seat to handlebars for me, (I don't trust the geometry diagrams on the Specialized site?).

 :)

My Langster measures 49cm from centre of bottom bracket shell to top of sloping top tube where it meets the seat tube.
If this is the frame size under consideration I can check the measurement you need.Do you want (to be precise) the horizontal measure from centre of seat post to handlebars ?

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #46 on: 06 June, 2008, 06:30:36 pm »
Thanks Everyone,  :thumbsup:

The Langster looks maybe the best bet for me, so that I can chicken out and use the single speed - though it's pretty flat round here, so hills aren't too much of an issue.

Don't suppose anyone has 49cm size that they could measure the top tube from seat to handlebars for me, (I don't trust the geometry diagrams on the Specialized site?).

 :)

If you want to try it first I could let you have a go on my Pompino. Its a Large, but I could always put the seat down ;)

Lizzie

  • Quite harmless
Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #47 on: 06 June, 2008, 07:02:47 pm »
My Langster measures 49cm from centre of bottom bracket shell to top of sloping top tube where it meets the seat tube.
If this is the frame size under consideration I can check the measurement you need.Do you want (to be precise) the horizontal measure from centre of seat post to handlebars ?

Thanks Alan,

I think the Specialized bike size is determined by the top tube length, so your bike would be either their 52cm or 54cm...too big for me, I'm afraid.

So, in theory, the bike I'm looking for should have a 49cm top tube (and 43cm seat tube), but I need to know where the 49cm is measured from and to.

If that makes muddled sense  ;D
Hill Slug

Lizzie

  • Quite harmless
Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #48 on: 06 June, 2008, 07:08:31 pm »
If you want to try it first I could let you have a go on my Pompino. Its a Large, but I could always put the seat down ;)

Hi Aidan!

That's so kind of you, but I'd be really scared of falling off (a dead cert  :-[) and damaging it. 

I'm thinking of going for the Langster and starting off with the single speed then, having got used to that, biting the bullet and having a flip fest.



Hill Slug

Re: A fixed rider admiration thread
« Reply #49 on: 06 June, 2008, 07:20:04 pm »
Don't worry its made of On-Ones super solid, idestructo, gas piping steel tubing. Nothing harms it!  offer's there if you want it!

And dont worry it's nowhere near as bad as people say, I took to it like a duck to water, just dont forget to stop pedalling!!