Safe Speed Forums

CW last week. Editor Robert Garbutt notes that the Fixed wheel now outnumbers the rest of the bikes on London roads. He blames the Sunday Supplements for the fixed craze.


CW's editor laments the nickname of Fixie for the bikes as it sounds like a character from a kid's comic ot him :lol;

(Better not let on what my bikes are called then )


Garbutt started off on a fixed wheel before "spinning around" on his souped up 66 inch gear in his "formative years "

In hte 70s .. he claimed the fixed gear was "out of financial necessity and admits his fixed wheel made him a "better biker" as a result as he recalls a downhilll at Pebblecombe and just making it around the bend at the bottom with his pedals clatering on the ground :lol; ("Elfin safety" as the wild now purrs would say that would be a today.)

In fact he concludes the experience would put many novices off cycling :

What do others think. I do have a Fixie by the way. :lol; Enjoy riding it too.

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I've not seen them called "fixies", "fixed" is the term I see used mostly, as opposed to single speed which is a freewheeling hub with only one gear.

yeh its a bit of a silly trend.... although anything superfluous is getting gradually stripped from my commuting steed so less to break/maintain, i guess fixed wheel is the ultimate extension of this.. perhaps...

although i have hills on my way to work, and i've never totally liked the idea of riding one in traffic.

some claim benefits in terms of technique and pedalling smoothness from training on them, for the most part i think they're a bit of a posing trend.

I agree .. I do not tend to ride my ownm "Fixie" that often ed-m


I would be interested in what the lurks think too. So come on.. chat here. :lol; We chat . tease at times.. but this cycling fora is perhaps the most serious one as we try to see the other point of view here. Try to make sense of it all .. and I would hope all of us learn from each other and coolletively make that difference

But yep// I like the fixed wheel on some cycling jaunts. but love my roady more. I have a fold up.. we have a shopper with the twee basket, My wife rides that one as does the Wild ride something similar when shopping

I have a bike which does beaches and mountain bke which do the steep hills and rough terrains. :lol;

Hey .. I love my bikes., I also enjoy driving . but my training means I enjoy being Captain Slow more than being Racy Gonzales :lol; or Loeb/hamilton and the like

But is the CW editor (whom I d#o respect) right on this one. When he says "fixed wheels are not for evereyone"???

_________________
Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

I had two short attempts at fixie. One was on Calshot banked cycle track where I recorded some very fast times . I then had a puncture and lost the front tyre off the rim. I did half a lap on the rim on the wooden floor before falling off. I had burns everywhere!!!!!
Some time later I bought some tubless rims with fixed wheel for my road bike. Going down cemetery hill I got a foot out of the toe trap and again managed to fall off. This time it was gravel rash.

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“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

I have spent I guess most of my time on a racing bike that's fixed or "Fixie". But more recent years I have ended up with both.

On the goods roads near me the racing one is good and then in the forests, and tracks the d/hill bike full suspension is ideal and great fun.

The two methods of cycling are pretty different however. I'd love to get good enough to do the Ft William d/hill run !
For the moment the forest tracks are enough.

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Many years ago in Nottingham I tried one at the Army Cycling Champs, scared me enough I could see the Valkyries hanging about trackside.
However I wouldnt mind a single speed bike for work....The flat lands of the borough don't need anymore than one gear!