[beergood]

So about a month ago I built my first fixed gear. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and I had enough parts floating around that I was able to do it for about $20.

Anyway, what was supposed to be a little expirement turned into a bike that I absolutely love. I haven't ridden anything else since.

I was down in the basement over the weekend and I was looking at my other bikes and kind of felt like I was neglecting them. I've been meaning to tune up my high end bike, so today I hauled it out and did some work. Then I took it for a ride.

And then it got weird.

I forgot how to coast. It felt so unnatural. I also forgot how to brake. I have gotten so used to modulating speed with my pedals that it had become second nature. The first time I needed to slow down I had to think about it before I grabbed the brakes. And then I fought the brakes through the first dozen or so stops by still pedaling.

It took a couple miles but I eventually got comfortable.

I wonder how long it is going to take to be able to smoothly transfer from one bike to the other.

 

[lonefrontranger]

...And then it got weird....

dude wait till your first groupride on a gearie after a solid month of riding fixed. I didn't realise how much I was relying on backpedal torque until Saturday morning. sketchtastic doesn't begin to describe...

seriously you should be okay if you interleave like one or 2 geared rides per week in with the fixte. I hear you tho. Currently the fixte is the Bike Least Likely To Get Stolen up on campus where I'm working, and I'm not doing much other riding due to a weird work sked, so... yea. The fixed is just so fun and spectacularly simple.

the only time I question my own sanity is when I nearly got plastered by a (speeding, naturally, this is campus afterall) driver as I attempted to avoid a 12' wide lawnmower going 3mph in the bike lane at the worst spot possible - right at the base of a big fackin' steep hill that I gotta sprint to get up in any semblance of order. who are these muppets? and more importantly, WHY are they piddling round on yard equipment on the single busiest access road to campus during the peak of the morning rush?

 

[DoubleTap]

...WHY are they piddling round on yard equipment on the single busiest access road to campus during the peak of the morning rush?

because they have figured out how to have guaranteed employment without any skills(probably including language), on taxpayer money, and they want you to know it.
TT

 

[BianchiJoe]

because they have figured out how to have guaranteed employment without any skills(probably including language), on taxpayer money, and they want you to know it.
TT

Please grind your elitist axe in the politics forum.

 

[tamu]

and please, leave the sarcasm out of this forum.. we want as little interesting posts as possible..

(is it any wonder i visit this forum every few days instead of hours??)

 

[MB1]

1 gearie ride a week is enough for us.

And then it got weird...... I forgot how to coast. It felt so unnatural. I also forgot how to brake. .........I wonder how long it is going to take to be able to smoothly transfer from one bike to the other.

We will get in 150 miles or so during the week and only ride the gearies on Sunday for long hilly rides. It does feel odd for the first couple of miles to be able to coast and having to use the brakes to slow down. Therefore we take it easy for the first 10 miles or so.

Sometimes we go a few weeks or a few thousand miles without riding our gearies but the transition back to coasting and braking is about the same.

It is an odd sensation for the first few miles though.

 

[Dereck]

Maybe it's old age approaching, but I fondly recall that riding on fixed was a lot more fun when everyone did it. End of racing season, we'd put the 'best bikes' away and all take to charging around on the lowest gear we could get away with - the winter before one of my best racing seasons, I 'won' by doing the winter on a 59" compared to the usual 63-ish that everyone else sports.

If you're all on fixed, everyone goes up and downhill at about the same speed - nothing like when you're spinning your bits off on 68" and someone carves past on 53 x 12

I meant to spend last winter on my Pista, but as it wasn't that 'dirty' and I'm pretty much a fair weather cyclist nowadays, I copped out... Mostly, I reserve the Pista for trips to the Post Office - which are real fun, spinning like crazy. One day, will spring $30.00 for an Axiom wired computer with Cadence, just to see what spinning like crazy is in hard numbers.

OTOH, I recall riding gears on one of the PPTC 'fixie rides' last year - what started as 30-odd riders ended up as around 8 - 10 on fixed, me and another on gears, and we were both happy to paceline with the others. Heck, I was happy - the other guy on gears was about half my age .

It's different for MB1 - he rides in a pack of two and spends all day trying to keep up with Ms M

On the original topic, I tried to coast on the Pista once, first time I rode it and just after I got it home.

It's not something you forget to do twice ...

Regards

Dereck