Anyone on here ride fixed gear bikes? I am currently doing a el-cheapo conversion on my pawn-shop special road bike, been riding it for a few weeks as is, until today when the small cog broke a tooth on the shift and almost put me over the bars. Not fun and boy was I mad, so I pushed it home, took the freewheel off, removed the large chainring, and am off to the bike shop for a 14 or 15 tooth cog and then it's on. This'll be my first fixed so hopefully I don't kill myself when i forget that it won't freewheel anymore.

 

a bike, just like your truck, doesn't like to be shifted while there is a load between the engine and back tire(s)

 

Yeah, I shifted and jumped back into it a little too soon and my cranks locked down hard, it's all good though as the only reason i bought this bike was to eventually convert it to fixed. Eventually just came earlier than I was expecting.

 

man, riding a fixie is WIERD. I nearly wrecked like 10 times in the same parking lot riding circles. I dont mind single speeds, but fixies, man, shoot me now!

I watched a courier in San Fran ride a fixie up one of those steepo hills. that guy was hardcore man.


good luck converting it. one great thing is the lack of parts to break now.



once you get it converted, you should learn to do this:

 

Got it all back together this week, tons of fun, but wow, it really makes you realize how much time you actually spend coasting, I did half my normal loop earlier this week and felt like I'd done the entire loop twice. It's gonna be a good training tool (planning on doing a triathlon or 2 next year) as well as cheap transportation to work (2 miles one way.) Not bad for a total investment of about 60 bucks.

 

that was very impressive

 

I'm just curious, why would you want to do this?

Sounds like a pain in the butt.

I just have this picture in my head of somebody screaming down a hill and taking their feet off the pedals and them slapping the heck out of your ankles, much like the trycycle I had as a toddler.

 

Its usually done for absolute control over the bike. slow down, speed up, stop or reverse meerly by how you peddle. Not much of a bike for traveling, but good for rides where you need all the control you can get.

 

I used to live in downtown Denver and most of the hardcore bike messengers were doing this. Some because others were and they were labeled cool but more for the total workout and control of the bike. They can stop on a dime or much faster than conventional brakes. No disc brakes at the time so I have no comparison. Obviously these were people on their bike for 8-10 hours a day and huge legs. Myself I'm picturing the tricycle trying to stop

 

I had a buddy in college that was into trials riding, his bike was setup with a fixed gear. Altho he could peddle at 100 rpms and ride at a walking pace

 

I am doing it for the fitness/training aspect (i am gonna try to do a triathlon next year) and it is a lot of fun, although i'm not into the whole tricks thing that the "hipsters" are into. But I ride with brakes also so not as much worry about the tricycle thing (although it does hurt when you forget that you can't freewheel and your foot slips off the pedal)