Welcome

yeah that sounds pretty crazy!
i expect the guy who had his front wheel loosened at brick lane would like to hear more about this too!

Hi, I'm Ole, not from/in London, not urban, rather subsuburban, from Norway, but hope it's allright with you.

Have been a mtb rider for years, built a SS couple of years ago, and bought my first fixie two weeks ago, and have been riding it since:

Ole
slightly retarded

Strong winds in Norway then? :)
Welcome Ole!

Thanks

No winds, just my speed.........

Ole
slightly retarded

That is what the world looks like to me when I am drunk.

Do you have snow tyres for that baby in the winter?

Sweet I love Norway. Where abouts do you live?

Tommy: Haven't got snow tyres for my fixie, yet. Probably when winter visits us again. Snow and ice can be great fun (sorry not fixie nor SS):

Ben: I live 40 ks south west of Oslo, near Drammen.

Ole
slightly retarded

Hello i am Shandy

I have been commuting in London on a Condor geared bike since 1997.

Have seen more and more nice fixed wheel bikes on the roads in the last year or two, including the bike in the work car park belonging to a proper road/track racing guy at work. He said "yeah, go fixed. good for fitness and you will njoi".

Then our work opened up a work bicycle scheme for a while so you get it tax free. Unfortunately, they did it via wheelies.co.uk. Buying bikes online is shite and they didn't help much. I wanted a fixed and the only 1 they had in my size was the Trek T1. It got delivered with a free wheel cog on and i'm no bicycle maintainer so took it to local shop. They were not impressed with the hubs but managed to put the fixed cog on.

Although not my first choice am happy to report after a week's commuting and wee ride last sunday that I love it.

best bits are:
the acceleration, so much faster
makes me always have a go, no coasting
riding on the right of the traffic (thanks to reading this forum in advance), so much quicker/safer
legs feeling absolutely battered after the usual 100 miles in the last week
forgetting to pedal and getting a twat from each pedal to remind me

shit bits:
not being able to trackstand and getting caught at lights doing an angry bull manuver with my free leg to get the pedals round
nowt else

welcome shandy.

you've done the hard work, enjoy the rest!

this is probably the right place to have posted this.... sorry. i'm not the most observant :)

Hi, I'm new. Stumbled across this site yesterday.

here's my situation:

I'm looking for a single speed bike for getting around London in September, I'm 6'6" and weigh a correspondingly large amount (16 and a bit stone). I currently have a 23" carlton 531 Reynolds from I think 1979 with 27" wheels (brown ish frame with chrome forks) in a fairly poor state of repair which I inherited from my dad. too small, and consequently I haven't really bothered trying to do anything to it. I don't know what my budget is (i don't really know what's realistic, I'm a student, so I guess as little as possible!! Anyway, I can't do anything much until September as I'm not in London for most of the summer.

If anyone had any thoughts or suggestions they'd be greatly appreciated, thanks Hovis Brown for help so far!

T

study hard, get a job, get into more debt buying a bling custom frame, ride it.
It's not difficult

I guess this is the place to say hello, so - hello

Looking at the page of people's bikes, I'm pretty sure it was velocity boy who told me about this site whilst cycling in to work a few weeks ago. He very kindly complimented me on my Condor Pista (mint green, sugino 75 crank, carbon fibre seatpost & brooks swift saddle) - which was more than a bit self deprecating since he was on his Serotta.

I've been commuting in London for 4 years - first on a mtn bike. When that was nicked (from work!) I was made up since I could blame the company and get them to buy me a single speed, which I'd been fixating on for a couple of years. The Pista's definitely my favorite (track stands, acceleration from lights, the feeling of 90 rpm on good flat tarmac) but I also have a Giant TCR carbon road bike for longer rides and the odd sprint triathlon. I have truly become a bike geek, actively enjoying my commute to work (who other than cyclists can say that?) and finding any excuse to get on a bike.

Haven't had the balls to flip my flop yet - blame bendy buses & pedestrians - but I'm not saying never. So I guess that makes me a complete 'fakenger' - but at least I still carry my work kit in a rucksack, not a courier bag...

Mouse ... actively enjoying my commute to work...

Pretty much everybody on here is like that! I love cycling to work. I turn up knackered/sweaty and everyone just asks me why I don't simply get the bus, haha.

Welcome to lfgss.

Unfortunately my commute is about 8mins! I like living close to work so I can stay in bed longer. But that means less cycling....

8min! Feckin' luxury! It took me an hour to get home tonight and as such I missed out on a ebay bargain saddle!!!! By 6mins!!! Grrr..

You're home allready! Feckin' luxury!

dt You're home allready! Feckin' luxury!

I left early to try and get the auction! I only get paid for what I work so I've lost money AND don't have an SLR! Double GRRRR!!!

Cheers guys. I come in to Theobolds Road from Shepherd's Bush - 5.9 miles, 22 mins stopping for lights (I'd have won the ebay bid). Say hi if you see me.

i work from home :O

now thats a shot commute
from my bed in the corner of my room to the computer/sewing machine in the other corner of my room

sometimes i work in camden but thats only a 15 min commute

if you really want to you can plan a really convoluted route that takes you half an hour to do the fastest route which otherwise would take you 5 minutes, no?

hi all! my name is martin and i live in whitechapel. i want to get a fixed gear bike and i have been drawn to the pearson touche. ive never used a fixed gear before and to be honest i havent had a bike for over 10 years but ive decided that this is the way i have to go!?!?.... i also have an old road bike i can steal off my old dots boyfriend which i would like to strip and build into a lovely, solid, gear hating, king of the tarmac, beast but i think to get me started i should get something that i havent massacred!
i would like to say that im glad i found this site and that everyone on here seems really chilled and cool. and because of that i was hoping maybe you could answer a few questions for me.

well i plan on commuting to work for free on my fixie as soon as i get it and then try to get into courier work! what i was wondering was, what do i need to do to become a courier?

im guessing a few of you guys on here are couriers as i watch all these fixed wheel junkies all day zipping around mayfair delivering stuff. you are the guys that have given me the bug so any info on this would be great.

cheers guys! and gals?

M.

Perhaps it wouldn't be such a good idea Martin to get a fixed wheel bike straight away if you haven't owned a bike in over 10 years!

I built my first proper road bike, as opposed to mountain bike, as a single speed. I'm only just going fixed after a few months, mainly because of lack of money to do so though. You might want to consider holding off the fixed idea for a bit and going single speed as it will get you in decent shape first (unless you go to a gym or whatever), and so you know what it's like to ride with a single gear.

I've never been a courier, and don't intend to ever be one either. There's plenty of people on here who have or are. Buffalo BIll would probably give you a decent perspective, I think. As far as I'm aware, there's little courier work to be had.

Ask yourself why you want to go fixed anyway. Everyone has their reasons, but it just seems from your post that you want to do it because you think couriers are cool. I don't mean to be rude!

melv, I would wait with thinking about courier work until you are more used to cycling in London. If you haven't had a bike for 10 years it will take a little while. I am not a courier but I always cycled. Then I had a break for about 5 years where I got lazy (and fat). After that getting into cycling again really took a while. You learn to know the city, its many potholes, metal plates in the ground, dodgy corners and crossings, and you might crash as well. Everyone I know has crashed at some point and had broken or twisted bones.
So take it step by step...

I am not a messenger but Bill always seems to through this link to anyone who has a simlar question, so to save him the bothe.

http://www.londonmessengers.org/FAQ

No need to wait, anyone can become a courier, plenty of people from other countries just turn up and start immediately, your first week or so might be tough but it's the same for everyone.....wether you stick to it or become a good courier is a different matter though

hope this helps