Popularity...

...I was just down at Hackney road off Kingsland/Shorditch High and counted no less than ten fixed in about 5 minutes. 3 went by in a row even! I'm curious as to how many of these people would be on a bike if not for the popularity of fixed gear bikes? Don't get me wrong, I think it's awesome! More bikes, please!

Just by a show of hand, or posts, how many here are new(ish) to fixed and cycling together?

Me first! Me first!
I went fixed about 6 months after I started riding a bike which was about 3 months after I moved to London from the US which was nearly 5 years ago...

I hate cycling. I just roll on track bikes cos they look hella cool...

But now everyone has a fixed wheel bike. I'm gonna have to start rolling on one of these babies....

i went fixed three months ago.

i've been cycling for years.

i may have been one of them - i cycle up hackney road every day.

and +g, you should take that beast up highgate.

been cycling since i was knee high...had mountain bikes that i rode about in the country and on the manor ;-)...then peageout road bike that i cycled from exeter to london and used for getting about...then bout 18 moths ago had really nice red peageout single speed, but the frame got a bit shoddy...which i messengered on for a bit...now messengering on condor alloy pista...i like fixed because it keeps you a lot fitter and i can't ben bothered to the brake...none of this ' you're at one with the road' bullshit...

cycling for 20 years, with a sort of lull (12 years or so) in the middle.
mtb about 6 years ago, then BMX last year and when I decided beginning of this year that I needed a proper road bike I built a fixed straight up.

reason for fixed? never really been into gears and geared bikes are expensive, converting an 80s bike to a street fixer is the cheapest way to get a fast, responsive ride in London. and the bike looks pretty un-nickable.

trouble is, the cheap parts are failing, I'm tired of the crappy drop outs and have been eyeing up a Bob Jackson frame for bunging better bits on. Trouble is, I really need to use it every day and it will get fucked up quite quickly...

If it's "cool" to ride a functional, cost effective machine then I'm ok with that, but when/if expensive gears and carbon becomes the must have, then I'll be happy to be un-cool

very new to fixed riding (3 weeks!) but been into mtb's for a few years, i would say riding bikes was my main recreational activity, was using my singlespeed mountain bike with 2 cogs and rings that gave me a commuting gear if i swapped the chain over, which was o.k but not ideal for the road as it's too short and the bars too wide, even my 'big' hardtail only has 9 speeds and a chain device so i have always been o.k with hills.
I was looking for a more suitable commuter and there was no way i was going to get a bike with gears so fixed was the way to go.
It has become more than just an a-b tool, i like just going for a ride on my fixed.

it's definitely becoming more popular, don't know if it's because 'it's cool' or because it's a great way to get about the city. for me personally it was a perfect solution to my 'what bike should i buy next' question. it certainly wasn't anything to do with wanting to be a messenger, the ones i know smell are poorly paid and are lacking in social skills.

hold on a minute Mr Smith (or should i say MR INSECURE), sir...why are you cussing messengers?...yes,maybe poorly paid, and what?...wouldn't you like to be paid for being outside all day and doing what you enjoy?...relax youself...it seems you are the one lacking social skills...

i'm not cussing anyone, some of my friends are messengers/ex-messengers, they have a well developed sense of humour too :-)

sorry dude...

no apology needed i forgot the smiley in my first post. here it is :-)

the worst thing is, that they still smell even after giving up the job!

what was that thing Bill wrote somewhere;

"Old messengers don't die, they just"

Next to Jaguar shoes on Kingsland road for Max's birthday party

anyway, they ain't called messengers, they're called couriers.

been riding bikes all my life, 39 now had a mountain bike i converted to a single speed in '93, been riding that about 100 miles a week, until it got knicked a month ago, always wanted a fixed, needed a new bike so went for it. soooo glad i did...... 8^)

my dad used to ride fixed from romford into work at chancery lane in the 50's ...loads of cobbles n all that, then at weekends he'd ride from romford to norwich
(or summit) and back in a long day...embarassing to think i might be out of breath if i ride to brighton!

so it's popular in Nathan Barley land, but I only counted 3 fixed out of about 200 bikes that passed through Balham the other Friday evening.

but, London's pretty small when you ride 700c

From knee high to the age of 17 I rode bikes. I loved it, I spent all my time riding up and down, nowhere in particular to go, cruising past the houses of girls I fancied at school on the off-chance they might spot me and the next day they would say "Hey, I saw you last night, you looked fantastic riding past, I noticed how you skill-fully avoided that parked car, and the little wheelie you did. Have I ever told you how attractive I find cyclists, because I do... let's make out.". That never happened.

What did happen was that I had my bike stolen, and frankly and honestly we were too damn poor to replace it.

A decade then passes, and about 5 years ago I finally get another. I ride to work, then 6 months later I'm riding aimlessly around London again. Then I buy a road bike and go further, to Oxford, to Brighton, to Southend. Riding everywhere I can when I get a chance. 2 years ago I buy a really smart road bike so I can start racing, which I don't do. Instead I just commute faster and perhaps more recklessly. Last year I bought a Serotta and joined London Dynamo. I do some races on day licenses, learn what it is like to not finish them all. But have a great time doing the Surrey Hills training circuit, and the Richmond Park laps.

Then last summer I decide to buy a singlespeed bike for bad weather cycling (the novelty of cleaning gears and replacing brake pads really wears off fast, as does the replacing of cassettes and chains). I make it flip flop on the chance I might want to train on fixed over winter, and I buy the Bob Jackson.

Then I go to the US and meet a load of people into riding fixed, have a great time drinking and talking shit. And realise that what I always wanted from cycling was more than just cycling. The thing missing from racing was the social aspect, the getting drunk, talking shit and riding home afterwards. I look around for people who feel the same in London, can't find anyone really, but early this year decide it would be a waste of a summer to not do some of that stuff. So I start this forum. Within a few days I meet a couple of cool people and seeing one ride brake-less inspires me to persevere with riding fixed.

So years and years on the saddle, 9 months single-speed, 1 month fixed.

I still love gears, don't get me wrong. I just like the freedom and peace that comes from a single/fixed bike. And now I've ridden fixed for a month, free-wheeling does feel very very bizarre.

I went fixed about a month after starting to ride properly in london. I had a peugeot road frame, then I bought a Bianchi Pista (which I sold on here a few days back), and then I converted that old peugeot to fixed and I ride that until my Mercian comes.

I've been riding fixed since January! So you can see how impressed I have been - I will never go back!

Bikes have always been a great way to get around london if you haven't got enough money to fill Ken's coffers. Used to be a clunky old mtb, then graduated to a clunky old road bike when I started commuting 5 days a week. Took it to pieces cos it stopped working, and it sort of turned into a fixed wheel when I put it back together. That was about a year ago now. I'd heard about messengers riding fixed, but I never realised it was so popular until I saw people from school on track bikes.

Who lean-locked their invisible bike at Max's?

Been on a fixed for a month now. Been riding mountain bikes and bmx's since I was very young. I moved to London 8 years ago and found as several bikes went missing, the desire for road bikes got stronger. I made the transition from bmx to mountain and then got my hands on a great '91 Joe Murray Kona Cindercone xcountry racing bike which I still have. I'm a huge fan of gears yet as I cycle around town a lot I've found I only ever use 2 gears. As I'm obsessed with bikes I soon noticed an abundance of fixed gear riders around. I was always intrigued and eventually got to ride a friends bike who expained a great deal about the benefits and why many messengers (his job) use them. Yes it felt strange but I loved it. I had a good road bike so one day I thought that's it I'm converting and did so immediately without really thinking about it. It's much easier riding around town and I do notice a lot of people on fixed but don't see any that look like they're riding because it's apparently 'cool'. I'm aware of more publicity on fixed gear bikes and think many more people will give it a go. I guess for some it's hard to not be too precious and protective over riding fixed. That's a shame as we've all been riding bikes for a long time. Be supportive of all cyclists and continue to encourage. London certainly needs more of us.

be interesting to note how many people riding fixed were ardent bmxers in their youth.

i find a similar thrill with the skid stop and track stand, a sort of adult version, and it reminds me of the carefree days of bmx riding.

I've been riding fixed since I was 9 when I first rode track, now I'm nearly as old as Bill...and still race track.
when I moved to London in '88 the bike I brought with me was my track bike and yes it had no brakes and had tubs on it, I was working as a chef and used to ride in to Soho from Leyton and back at all hours on it....a Carlton, sprayed up as a Geoffrey Butler, with Dawes Concorde bars.....would love to get my hands on a pair of those nowadays.

My dad rode fixed when he used to race and train in the late fifties.

riding fixed is great for commuting, couriering, racing track and hill climbs....I love it, but it's pretty useless for anything else (tricks, touring, road racing, country rides, canal towpaths etc) and I Iove it no more or less than riding my road bike fast or mountain biking, there is no zen, it's not better or special, it is just a little different that's all.

I rode a few fixed bikes when I was a courier including Matt Seaton's old track bike, which snapped while riding over the cobbles in Covent Garden, my last courier bike was a Veto, which I still commute on now......they get a lot of stick from bike snobs, but it's solid, stiff, yet comfy has an indestructible paint job and won't get nicked.....what more do you need for a good London work-horse?

I rode fixed as a courier mostly for maintenance reasons (I put a new transmission on every 18 months, then did nothing...never cleaned it) and the fact you've got more control in the rain....I worked on my road bike a couple of times when my fixed bike was off the road and found it to be much faster, because it's got er? gears! also you can ride much closer to kerbs and fast too on a freewhweel. But it was too shiny to use every day.

jonaent I went fixed about a month after starting to ride properly in london. I had a peugeot road frame, then I bought a Bianchi Pista (which I sold on here a few days back), and then I converted that old peugeot to fixed and I ride that until my Mercian comes.

I've been riding fixed since January! So you can see how impressed I have been - I will never go back!

Been commuting with gears for about a year. Got fed up with the hassle, needed a new bike and bought Jonaent's Bianchi a few days ago.

Usually avoid Murdoch but this was funny.

Fixers the new skaters?!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/nyregion/thecity/29gear.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Been riding fixed for 2 years - which makes me a bit of an old hand by the looks of things. I see fixers everyday now, mostly the usual off-the-peg suspects (pomps & langsters) which seem to have helped increase the popularity. A couple of years ago you rarely saw any south of the river. There are even three other fixed riders where I work (out of about 40 regular cyclists) although two of them have been subject to my evil influence (I am the nick o'teen of fixed gear cycling)

I'm still crap at track stands.