Origins

JimL After buying my bike, I found out that my dad used to ride a fixed wheel bike around London back in the mid-'60s. I hadn't known about it until then and thought it was pretty strange that he used to ride for the same reasons as I do now. (Although I don't think the 52-13 ratio he used to use is practical with today's stop-go traffic!)

Exactly... and I've got a great uncle who used to ride a fixed at his club in the thirties, and he had an uncle who rode fixed around the turn of the century... and he.... (falls asleep at keyboard)

As above fixed wheel goes back as far as cycling.

Middle-class kids pretending that they get their style from black subculture... now that's a whole other topic...