Need a name to differentiate a proper fixie from a hipster w*** bike

[AndyMorris]

One has mudguards, brakes, tatty handlebar tape and is rarely washed. The other has riser bars, no brakes no miles and is clean.

 

[francisbarton]

Nah, it's all good.

[Charlotte]

Nah, it's all good.

Exactly.  Let's not start declaring things as FSOs...

[Bledlow]

Why not? I've seen 'fixies', complete with single (front) brake, which have a freewheel.  Definitely FSOs.

[Charlotte]

And I've seen old rod-braked basket cases still trundling around.  So what?  They're still bikes.

[Redlight]

It's not the bike, it's the rider that counts.

[IanDG]

The name is decided by the last 2 letters:

Hipster = Fixie
Traditional cyclist = Fixed

[francisbarton]

rarely washed

Guilty as charged.
Or did you mean the bike?

The bike... the bike is clean, it has nice bar tape, and plenty of miles in it. I just wish I was able cultivate the hipster sang-froid to go with it, but the red-faced, sweaty, puffing look just doesn't cut it.

[LEE]

It's not the bike, it's the rider that counts.

Exactly.  Some of the "hipster fixies" look stunning, the more the merrier (with at least a front brake of course)

However the riders who use the streets as a race-track and pedestrians, crossing the street, as slalom markers are c***s, regardless of what they choose to ride.

[Uberuce]

 Perhaps the difference might be brake lever placement? If you need to shift hands from your fast/favoured position to brake, then it's a bike destined to be wiped off the back of the hand and into a tissue.

[Crumbling Nick]

The concept of a proper fixie is intriguing.

Which of the following types of bike (which may not be disjoint sets) that sometimes/often/always have fixed wheel transmission is proper?

Track bike.
TT bike
Road (racing) bike
Hill climb bike
Audax bike
Mountain bike
Commuting hack
Long distance commuting bike
Touring bike
Courier bike
London fixie (definitely a separate type of bike, that's only been visible in civilised parts of the kingdom in 21st cent. It seems eminently suitable for London traffic-jamming, though I've only ridden alongside one in Warwickshire.) Some seem to have a freewheel, but that's true of most of the other types. 

[Kim]

Surely a *proper* fixie is one where the pedals are connected directly to the hub...   

[Palinurus]

Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your legs without the artifice of a chain?

[DrMekon]

What amazes me is the number of these FSO (sorry, it just fits) with absurdly big gears for the terrain around here. I run 63 because of the hills. I've seen some students on what looks like track gearing desperately weaving and even using a bizarre pelvic thrusting technique in a desperate attempt to wind their way up to campus from Kirkstall.

I'm on the Leeds Fixed Gear list - some amazing kit gets put on these bikes. When it all becomes unfashionable, there's going to be some lovely track parts waiting to be stripped off them. I really fancy an Omnium crankset on my Singlecross.

In the meantime, good luck to them - the more bikes the better.

[Crumbling Nick]

Surely a *proper* fixie is one where the pedals are connected directly to the hub...   

Would that work in a (presumably comfortable) reclined position? 

[woollypigs]

http://xkcd.com/1220/

[Jakob]

And I've seen old rod-braked basket cases still trundling around.  So what?  They're still bikes.

Exactly. You guys should be celebrating it, not putting it down. Hell, there's even a bike shop in central Soho now.

Instead it's the usual "But they're different so it must be wrong!" attitude...

[Kim]

I think I tend towards the "different == right" attitude where bikes are concerned.  Otherwise we'd all be on hybrids.

Yes, I have my preferences, some for boring practical reasons, some because I have an overengineered tourer fetish and a touch of Amiga recumbent persecution complex.

But when I ride with girly city bikes, the BMXes and the improbably clean hipster bling fixies on Critical Mass, I still think "Hey, nice bike!".  It's all good.  Yes, even the single-speed Van Moof.

[tom_e]

Just verb conjugation, innit?
I ride a proper fixie.
He rides a hipster w*** bike.

[sojournermike]

What amazes me is the number of these FSO (sorry, it just fits) with absurdly big gears for the terrain around here. I run 63 because of the hills. I've seen some students on what looks like track gearing desperately weaving and even using a bizarre pelvic thrusting technique in a desperate attempt to wind their way up to campus from Kirkstall.

I'm on the Leeds Fixed Gear list - some amazing kit gets put on these bikes. When it all becomes unfashionable, there's going to be some lovely track parts waiting to be stripped off them. I really fancy an Omnium crankset on my Singlecross.

In the meantime, good luck to them - the more bikes the better.

Makes me smile. My SS mountain bike is at about 56 and my 80s pug aravis 71 or72. I was talking to someone in Leeds the other day with 53:15 on hs SS - 94", in Yorkshire!

I'm really just glad that there out there, even if I don't have the Forstermann quads

[sojournermike]

or even better - street presence



images quoted from Tumblr Forstermann page

[rogerzilla]

Charlotte, you're going soft - must be early middle age.  These bikes are the scourge of our streets and must be mocked, with their Deep V rims, trispoke front wheels,slack chains waving gently in the breeze and (FFS) Halo coloured tyres.  The only possible excuses for owning one are:

1. You're acting in a feature film about hipsters
2. You've just stolen it
3. You're Japanese and don't know any better

 

[greenmeansgo]

I think clown bike might be the term the OP is looking for.

[T42]

Sure they only last as long as the first torn ligament, so who cares?

[phantasmagoriana]

I've seen a few bikes around recently bearing the brand name "Fixie". Every one so far has been running a freewheel.