Does London have a distinct fixie style?

glow she'd probably think you were talking about a pantone colour if you said sheldon brown to her

hilarious.

I get asked almost everyday where to get a bike from by designers, photographers, and other randomly trendy people.[/quote]

although i'm a random un-trendy photographer, an ex courier friend (can't remember if he's the most famous or 2nd most famous ex-courier in london?) made me buy a fixed. but before this i knew how to build wheels, service suss forks,bleed mtb disc brakes and bookmark sheldon. and test ride prototype mtb's for a friends company so my spare time revolved around bikes and riding, i ride singlespeed off road too.
i didn't buy a pista to look cool as i'm too old for all that
one thing i do know is after some other 'trend' takes over i'll still be riding fixed trendy or not.

the girl with the bianchi / pink rims practically ran me over on saturday. i was coming out of a shop in shoreditch and she flew past, on the pavement !

i agree that the fixie scene is becoming huge here, and certainly the trendy element contributes to it. hopefully though it might translate to more people becoming interested in the track too.

MrSmith
one thing i do know is after some other 'trend' takes over i'll still be riding fixed trendy or not.

For me, it depends on whether I have an accident that fucks me up so badly I don't get on a bike.

A friend of mine loved mountain biking, but once he'd sheared his right arm from his shoulder he changed his mind on the whole mountain biking thing.

I won't say that I will or won't be riding fixed in 5 years. Perhaps, perhaps not. If I can be on a bike, I will be.

I always am reminded when things like this come up of something that is said in the US hardcore (music) scene: "If you ain't straight edge now, you never were.". Frankly I think it's bull. I'm going to place all of my money on the "it's all good, it's all cycling" stack and hope that I am always able to ride something.

Saw that pink bianchi a few months ago on edgware road. I snuck up behind and said 'nice bike, mate!', only to realise she was female. Then i just made a quick left...

Oh that's Alicia with the Pink deep Vs. She's cool actually, and a bit nuts. Last time I saw her she had a black eye from a crash. Sexy I thought.
She will probably come on the London to Brighton ride.

le car Oh that's Alicia with the Pink deep Vs. She's cool actually, and a bit nuts. Last time I saw her she had a black eye from a crash. Sexy I thought.
She will probably come on the London to Brighton ride.

is she prone to wearing leopard print tights? i see her quite a bit zooming by in clerkenwell.

oh yeah - and as Dave Carnie wrote in an editor's letter in Big Brother years ago... leopard print is a sure sign of a woman's crazyness. Think about it - every girl I know who wears some is bonkers in one way or another...

she got that shiner from crashing into a parked car after 15 cans of stella!

It's amazing, every thread today is like one awesome brojob sesh!

PS: frames are generally cheaper in london but parts will fucking destroy you. And yes, I did buy beer in london. FMI ask 1%

Just remembered the main difference btw London and NYC, SF etc.. SHOES!
In london the vast majority o riders use clipless pedals SPDs, Time, etc..
In New York I've only seen a couple of people doing so, everyone is using clips and straps.

le car
In New York I've only seen a couple of people doing so, everyone is using clips and straps.

You mean suicide pedals ;)

they ride on the other side of the road across the pond. how crazy is that!

Jos [quote]le car
In New York I've only seen a couple of people doing so, everyone is using clips and straps.

You mean suicide pedals ;)[/quote]

I beg to differ Jos. Unless you spend way too much money on new shoes and new cleats* then clipless will fail you one too many times. Clips and straps have never failed me even when I've broken a clip or a strap. Yet to have broken both at the same time though...

*I'm talking courier mileage here...

Motherfucking A right mike.

there can't be anyone who's got into fixies without reading Sheldon..

this dude did.

but its funny you bring up styles because i noticed that last years langsters are all very distinctly imitating the style of bikes in the city they represent. london with a more tradictional track look, new york with the short bars, chicago with the bullhorns, ect. this year they all kind of suck. the SF looks like a nicly decailed 70s inspired bike. the tokyo is red black and gold and inno way looks like the bikes they ride there. witht the success of these bikes one would have thought that they would have put more detail into them again this year.

sidis maybe

Hmm . . . where i live in West London fixed riding is still a rarity and most of the practioners seem to be old hands who have been fixed up for a while, though there has been a notable increase in SS OTP riders in the last couple of years . . i rarely venture to shoreditch and hipsterland, but when i went to check out BLB i was amazed and highly amused by the hipster epidemic.

The scene in the East end seems to be very fad like, with a lot of band wagoners whosed fixed is probably just another accessory to them.

Now obviously thats a massive generalisation as i know alot of you boys from over that way are as had core bunch of fixed riders as you will find anywhere, but it does seem to me that riding fixed is currently flavor of the month, and as such the London scene seems to be more fashion orientated than other scenes.

The scene in the East end seems to be very fad like, with a lot of band wagoners whosed fixed is probably just another accessory to them.

Now obviously thats a massive generalisation as i know alot of you boys from over that way are as had core bunch of fixed riders as you will find anywhere, but it does seem to me that riding fixed is currently flavor of the month, and as such the London scene seems to be more fashion orientated than other scenes.

No mate, that's spot on. I'll be bored next month but I live in Streatham

SS to me suits the city we live in, riding fixed is an extra enjoyment to my daily ride.

Riding my bike is for me, and me alone.

the thing with fads is that they pass.

SS to me suits the city we live in, riding fixed is an extra enjoyment to my daily ride.

Riding my bike is for me, and me alone.

+1

guys wake up. It is a trend! from SF to HK to London to Paris. No escaping that. fact. Actually in paris or Las vegas about 99% of FG riders are young hip kids, no commuters or older riders like in London...

I think the issue of style is an interesting one... it often depends on the nature of the person. Just flicking through names and faces, from OTP to customs to vintage rebuilds to pieces of shit they found in a skip etc.

le car you are right that London has got a wider age group that ride fixed or SS. Cos of the nature of London you can absorb a lot of different influences... and appreciate ones which are very different to your own. the style? fuck knows.

[i have just reiterated the above so ignore if you want to]