A fixed rider admiration thread

[Lizzie]

I thought it was time I put some of my thoughts on fixed gear riders in a thread. 

First, a question: How is it possible to ride with a fixed gear of 65" or similar (numbers I've seen many times in relation to gears)? I simply cannot comprehend it.

My little fat legs are bound to a triple with a 30X26 top (bottom???) gear and I still have trouble on some hills. Even on the flat I'm often to be found spinning slowly along in the little ring.

Am I a freak with the legs (despite their impressive girth) of a gnat, or are fixed riders truly superhuman?

I honestly think you must be!

So this is just a little post to say - I think you are amazing and I'm very jealous!

 

[Charlotte]

It's not nearly as hard as you'd think it is.  In fact, I've never seen someone ride a fix for the first time and not step off grinning and saying how much easier it was than they thought it was going to be.

Try it 

[Lizzie]

That's the trouble, Charlotte - I think I may want to... is it possible to get a 25" gear fixie?

[woollypigs]

As Charlotte said

I'm about 2mph faster on fixed compared to my geared and it is all because of the extra little push you get. As I tend to ride in the same gear on fixed or geared.

[andygates]

Ah, but then you spin out on the downhills!

Fixed is a really good way to train yer legs to work well across a wide range of speeds.  Because, basically, you have to.  The first few weeks can be challenging - but in an "ooh, my aching quads" way, rather than a "medic!" way.

[токамак]

you can have any gear you want - just pick the chain ring and sprocket size you think will work for you..

[woollypigs]

Yes I just looked at the gear I used the most on my geared bike, and fitted that on to my fixed and bob's your fanny erm how does this one go ?

[Charlotte]

Robert is your father's brother 

[Lizzie]

Hmmm - I wonder if I might struggle on the flat and downhill with 25"

I am such a novice - if I were to get a new bike...one that is already set up (for I could not be trusted anywhere near the pointy end of a bike spanner)...I guess you can't stipulate the size of gear you get (say on the Specialized fixie)...or can you?

[bobb]

When I was building up a fixer the other year, after an evening of fettling, I'd often go to bed with paranoid thoughts of "What if I can't do it?". "What if I crash?" etc etc... It really isn't like that. You don't have to be super human to ride fixed.

The other week, I hammered down a local hill on a geared bike - bunged it in 53x12 and watched my speedo rack up the miles per hour. At the bottom I realised that after probably hundreds of descents of said hill, my fastest speed achieved down that hill was actually on fixed. Sure, my legs were spinning like crazy, but when you have no choice as to spin like mad or grind out a comedically slow cadence to get up a hill, you just do it!

As others have said up thread - if the terrain isn't violently vertiguous, I reckon I'm probably a little faster on fixed than I would be on gears.

[Charlotte]

I guess you can't stipulate the size of gear you get (say on the Specialized fixie)...or can you?

'Course you can.  Any half way decent bike shop that sells something like the Langster will fit an appropriate gear ratio for you.

Start off with something like a 64" gear - easy to achieve with standard components.  PG Tips (Zipperhead's son) was riding a 64" when he was 11. 

JFDI 

[Lizzie]

I guess you can't stipulate the size of gear you get (say on the Specialized fixie)...or can you?

JFDI 

<scurries off to look at the Specialized website>

[rogerzilla]

On a 70" gear I can climb a 1:6 hill, provided it doesn't go on for too long.  It takes a lot of strength and I have to stand, using my arms and shoulders a lot, but provided I don't try to climb it at 100rpm (more like 30rpm), the *power* required is the same.  There is a benefit, when standing and lunging at the pedals, from the so-called "flywheel effect" - the bike gets the cranks round the dead centres for you - and moderate hills really do feel easier on fixed.

Headwinds are rather dispiriting on fixed, but once you've accepted that you'll be doing 60rpm like a nun cycling to Mass, it works OK.

Fixed is a bit of a pain downhill, to be honest; you can't make the most of steep hills as you can with a freewheel.  To allow at least 30mph, it's best to gear up a bit, hence 70" rather than 63" (which would be ideal if you only rode on the flat).  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  

[bobb]

Yeah, I would advise a bigger gear for a novice fixer. Going uphill isn't the problem. Sure you might give your knees a bit of agro, but you can always walk.

The problem is going downwards. You're far more likely to lose control spinning like a freak on speed down a pothole riddled country road than you are in any other situations.

Most of the seriously hardcore fixers here ride smaller gears than the newbies. They can spin.....

[harrumph]

Might be an idea to borrow one first, to see if you like it. Personally, after giving it a lengthy trial I feel that fixed belongs in the velodrome, or at best on very gently undulating terrain.

[rogerzilla]

Yeah, I would advise a bigger gear for a novice fixer. Going uphill isn't the problem. Sure you might give your knees a bit of agro, but you can always walk.

The problem is going downwards. You're far more likely to lose control spinning like a freak on speed down a pothole riddled country road than you are in any other situations.

Most of the seriously hardcore fixers here ride smaller gears than the newbies. They can spin.....

Crumbling Nick managed 40mph down Snap Hill on last year's Swindon Ride.  198rpm  

[Deano]

Aye, the tricky bit is going downhill.  I find longer downhills harder, where you build up the speed and gradually find that you're going ARGH mph and you feel like your kneecaps are going to fly off...

Sometimes people make too big a deal of it.  You'll be fine.  It's just like riding a bike

[nuttycyclist]

Might be an idea to borrow one first, to see if you like it. Personally, after giving it a lengthy trial I feel that fixed belongs in the velodrome, or at best on very gently undulating terrain.

Certainly after doing a hilly ride at the weekend (FNRTTC riders will be familiar with Bread and Cheese Hill) I too went off the idea of fixed.

Today is the 4th day this week I have commuted on the Fixie.

[nuttycyclist]

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?

[hazeii]

'Spect if you try it you'll find it's not as hard as it seems; at a certain hill steepness everyone with gears ends up in the lowest possible but really a higher gear is much more doable than you might think.

I find 50" is low enough for all but the most severe off-road climbs, and 70" is around a reasonable figure for moderately hilly roads.

[Ian H]

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?

On fixed it's even more important to look ahead. But it is possible to lift the weight off the front wheel sufficiently to get over most obstacles - unless you're doing really silly rpm.

Going downhill over bad surfaces - typically, steep Devon lanes - I find the first problem to strike is lack of vision when my head's bouncing around so much I can't focus. I treat it as a signal to slow down.

[Greenbank]

First, a question: How is it possible to ride with a fixed gear of 65" or similar (numbers I've seen many times in relation to gears)? I simply cannot comprehend it.

My little fat legs are bound to a triple with a 30X26 top (bottom???) gear and I still have trouble on some hills. Even on the flat I'm often to be found spinning slowly along in the little ring.

I often end up in my bottom gear (30x29) when I'm on my geared bike, and these are the same hills that I can conquer quite well on a 71" fixed (46x17).

You only use the low gears because they're there and you think you need them. When you take them away, and give yourself no alternative (other than walking) you'll be surprised what you can push a 70" gear up.

[rogerzilla]

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.

[harrumph]

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 pedals at a constant angular velocity, not at silly cadences.

[bobb]

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.....