Introduction to the 2023 edition, as I wrote this a while ago: To answer the first question, STILL YES.
Is a freewheeling manifesto necessary? As the rider of an unfixed, some would mistakenly say broken singlespeed, I think so! The main problem with manifestos is they're often very wordy and people get bored before they know why they're supposed to be revolting.
Ever since Sheldon Brown described coasting as a "pernicious habit", a significant minority of cyclists have taken him seriously. These cyclists ride bikes which can't coast because they've had the fun removed. (The fun is located in the rear hub.) Everybody else, from the Flintstones to Ma Walton, knows that coasting is why bikes were invented; if early models couldn't coast, it's simply because technology was a bit slow to catch up with its promise.
Fixed gear riders will secretly acknowledge the truth of the following statement:
Pedalling is the lazy man's coasting.Think about it. (Just not too hard, or it will make your head hurt.) When you're riding fixed there is no element of free will: you pedal or die, much like sharks. This is "fun" in the same way galley slaves regarded rowing as "a lark".
Also, it's
easy. How can I say this when pedalling, especially non-stop-pedalling, especially non-stop-pedalling-at-150rpm-down-a-hill-like-there's-no-tomorrow because-indeed-there-may-not-be can seem so hard? Because you have no choice. Your legs are only doing what they must to keep the pedals from breaking your kneecaps. That's some fearsome fun!
What I mean when I say pedalling is the lazy man's coasting is that riding fixed in the above horrifying scenerio is accomplished by relaxing the legs in question and, in effect, ceding control of them to the bicycle. True
fixe artistes soon learn to disconnect all motor control below their waist. Ergo their "laziness", which is not meant as a slur but merely as the most accurate descriptor of the state of locomotion without conscious effort. While it's true that theoretically they put in effort to climb the hill in the first place, everybody knows that the fixed drivetrain is the only true example of perpetual motion in the world, each turn of the cranks powering the next, again no effort required.
Freewheeling, on the other hand, requires a continuous series of decisions to do
something rather than
nothing, else progress eventually ceases. Not only is it very philosophical, it's far more zen than fixed could ever hope to be. Each and every pedal stroke is a command from the brain that the legs are free to disregard whenever it suits them – which could happen at any moment. Therefore coasting, which at first blush appears to be rather indolent (or pernicious as some would have it), is the always temporary state of repose between sweaty mental gymnastics. Think of that galley slave being whipped: that's the brain talking to the legs of a free man. Does that sound remotely lazy?
If none of the foregoing convinces you, ask yourself, do you really want this to be your end stage?
Tour de France originator
Henri Desgrange“I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailleur? We are getting soft. Come on, fellows. Let's say that the test was a fine demonstration--for our grandparents! As for me, give me a fixed gear!"
“Hope I die before I get old," he added.
It has just occurred to me that a manifesto is a declaration of policy and aims. The former is so easy it hardly requires a declaration – the policy is freewheeling. As for aims:
• Educate the masses
• Gain political influence
• Force a referendum
• Destroy all copies of "Can't stop, don't want to"
Premium Rush• If we're lucky, to be parodied by Armando Iannucci
Remember: fixed = brokenSheldon Brown (July 14, 1944 - ?) was or is a bicycle mechanic and a recognised authority figure, WWSD ["What Would Sheldon Do?"] having become a self-policing strategy in the cycling community. His technical knowledge is the stuff of legend, and
The Times of London described his beard
[1] as "a magnificent chin curtain his hero Abraham Lincoln would have sported if Mary hadn't threatened to secede."
Biography
Brown was born in Boston in the back of a bike shed. His formative years were spent tinkering. He quickly worked his way up to bodging
[2] and before he could even shave had graduated as a Crackerjack mechanic, where he sometimes joked he got his diploma.
Brown had a particular talent for disassembling then reassembling bicycles with enough parts left over to make another bicycle. This became a small family business. It later merged with Harris Cyclery, where Brown spent the rest of his publicly known career as the tech guru and webmaster. He briefly lived in France in the late 80s where he was often mistaken for an Amish missionary.
In 2006 Brown was forced off upright bicycles due to motor neuropathy. The following year he was diagnosed with multiple scloerosis and in February 2008 was widely reported to have died of a heart attack. However, his doctor later confessed to having accidentally signed a prescription for Viagra instead of a death certificate, so Brown never officially expired.
There have been unconfirmed but persistant reports that Brown currently resides in the English seaside town of Hastings,
[3] where he is the tech guru at the Hastings Home for Retired Hipsters & Couriers,
[4] repairing wheelchairs and dispensing advice to some of those influenced by his actual missionary work for the fixie religion. He is said to have arrived with Elvis
[5] with a busload of tourists from France where he had moved after the hospital mixup, "rumours of my demise greatly exaggerated."
Awards
• The "Genius, But Modest" medal given by the (Frank) Nobel committee of Stockholm, New Jersey
• Proclaimed Top Hat King by the Massachusetts Milliners Association, which is a largely honorary title
• Droit du seigneur rights in the Côte d'Azur
Notes
1. Beards come in all forms, some more beardlike than others. The study of facial hair is a fascinating field in its own right.
2. Bodging is accepted as college credit in the better schools.
3. Hastings is said to be twinned with New Orleans. Nobody in New Orleans seems to be aware of this. New Orleans is in fact twinned with Juan-les-Pins, in France. So there is a connection there. There is however no connection to Austin.
4. Couriers often ride fixed, when they're not trackstanding. The Home has a special room set aside, filled with residents who have remained perched on their unmoving bikes for years.
5. Elvis had a bike he called Hound Dog. This is one way that facts rise from fiction.
Resources
Sheldon Brown's Commercial Products
SheldonBrownBlog
Some pics grabbed from Sheldon's site 
Every episode of The Waltons, last seen running on a short loop on the True Entertainment channel, starts and ends the same way, with
the family conscientiously unpacking Chinese goods and stocking shelves in their hometown Bentonville Arkansas store, then after an honest day's commerce, counting down the register to see if enough profit has been made so that they can give some lucky orphan a trip to Disneyworld a grown up John-Boy plugging the Great Depression, then after a hard day learning lessons in its moral crucible, those members of the family who had benefited the most from the wisdom of the mountain saying goodnight to each other. Thin walls.
Here we see Olivia in a very rare state: uninhibited joy
Having just bought a bike from Ike (who's hard not to like), she practically floats home
into the arms of her tickled family. Only her husband John seems worried, about the impression a freewheeling woman will make on the good townsfolk. Bikespotters: the bike doesn't figure prominently in the story except as a symbol of her apparent restlessness. In the end, Olivia decides that her role as wife and mother is fulfilling enough that cycling is surplus to requirements, and she gives the "contraption" away. We'll have to wait for one of the reunion specials to catch her reading
The Feminine Mystique.
