Will you still be riding in 5 years?

she is mate!...and he was!

@ Aidan
What had so suprised me was he has never owned a bike in my lifetime, and never shown any desire to do so.

This goes back to the heart of the question asked here. My old man used a bike through necessity in his teens, paying for it in instalments over a year because he couldn't afford anything else. He fixed it because he could as others had before him and as we do now.
He only owned that bike for about 5-6 years and hasn't ridden a bike of his own since selling the bike for beer money in his late teens.

Cycling and fashion go through fads and phases but there will always be those who are lifetime addicts and those who do cycling in intensive bursts. Some of us already know which one of those types we are ... others have yet to find out.

ahh...:)

On the subject of old men who used to ride fixed:

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/today-2-quentins-and-john-humphries-on-a-fixed-wheel

[cite] willski
..thats a good point, does anyone remember Age of Chance? The original fakengers shurely?

..yeah I know. Quoting your own posts is a bit like referring to yourself in the 3rd person, but I found the Age of Chance;

[url=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk-1q2b_FJs]Who's afraid of the big bad noise?

SimonC I've been riding for over 10 years, have seen a lot of trends come and go - I remember when couriers rode mountain bikes because they were cool.

Not!

Other way round.

Muddy Fox named their bike after us after we starting using MTBs, we didn't get called 'couriers' because we rode Muddy Fox Couriers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/movingtarget/sets/72157602885870594/

One of the guys who was big on the mid-80s UK MTB scene was Chris Shaw. Also a cycle courier. He was killed in 1990.

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/memorial

The first wave of fixie riders, Cappa, Ian Cleverly, Dick Luck, Jeff and the rest were around in late 80s and early 90s as fat tires fell from fashion, then along came the BMX posse (Tony, Steve et al) who made 26 inch wheels fashionable again then...

Buffalo Bill On the subject of old men who used to ride fixed:

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/today-2-quentins-and-john-humphries-on-a-fixed-wheel

It could have been a lot worse..

if that had been clartson, and JH wasn't cycle-friendly
not that you wouldn't have got the facts across, only they might have been trying to turn it into a shout out.

I'm always amazed at these "cyclists" debates..
there really isn't anything to talk about, people break the law all the time, on bikes, in cars, in buses, on foot, on the internet without leaving the safety of their own home.

except for a 3 year mid life crisis fling with a yamaha fazer i've been cycling since i arrived in london back in '85
can't see me giving it up unless me legs fall off...

This is interesting, because I have been riding fixed for ~5 years now, when I was scrounging aroudn the basement of my local shop looking for some old parts, adn came across an old track wheel, and converted my zeus. So I was 19 then, and in 5 years I will be 29, I would like to think I will still be riding fixed, I race some track so it should keep me going, but who knows, it is funny to wonder.

Buffalo Bill Muddy Fox named their bike after us after we starting using MTBs, we didn't get called 'couriers' because we rode Muddy Fox Couriers.

Awww, the memories... Me and me mates went a bit Muddy Fox mental for a little while back in the day... I think we had four amoungst our little posse... My mate Dave, who was a courier and rode a Courier (nasty, heavy beasts that they were), made me promise I'd NEVER become a courier, although that's all I wanted to be at the time... I'm glad I listened to him... No offence to you messenger-types, o' course... It's a righteous vocation... Very few fixed bikes around back then, and very few track bikes to be had in the classifieds, I know cuz i was scannin' those pages and I couldn't get one... Internet makes it so easy...

In answer to the initial question: Will I still be riding in 5 years?

Yes, provided I am alive and physically able to.

I am always impressed most by people who ride with kids on the back. I have real respect for people who do the tescos run / school run with a trailer on - I hope that'll be me in the future. However, with the added years and weight (me & the kiddie trailer) I doubt I'd be doing that fixed!

As other people have also experienced, my dad is well impressed that I ride fixed and said that he used to as a teenager. I get the feeling it had cudos then, too. When I ride off after a few beers with him, I get the feeling that he respects my independence and is glad I'm not an automaton reliant on public transport to ferry me round town.

A lot of these conversations remind me of the scene in Life Of Brian: "People's front of Judea? Splitter!"

Buffalo Bill [quote]SimonC I've been riding for over 10 years, have seen a lot of trends come and go - I remember when couriers rode mountain bikes because they were cool.

Not!

Other way round.

Muddy Fox named their bike after us after we starting using MTBs, we didn't get called 'couriers' because we rode Muddy Fox Couriers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/movingtarget/sets/72157602885870594/

One of the guys who was big on the mid-80s UK MTB scene was Chris Shaw. Also a cycle courier. He was killed in 1990.

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/memorial

The first wave of fixie riders, Cappa, Ian Cleverly, Dick Luck, Jeff and the rest were around in late 80s and early 90s as fat tires fell from fashion, then along came the BMX posse (Tony, Steve et al) who made 26 inch wheels fashionable again then...[/quote]

My pops had a one of thoes Muddy Fox Couriers i think its till in the back of his garden! and funnily enough there is a near mint one in our bike shed at work!

i dont know if ill be riding fixed in 5 years but im sure ill be riding a bike of some sort i just enjoy the whole building process too much maybe when im too old to cycle ill buy one of those kit cars :)

Mouse I am always impressed most by people who ride with kids on the back. I have real respect for people who do the tescos run / school run with a trailer on - I hope that'll be me in the future. However, with the added years and weight (me & the kiddie trailer) I doubt I'd be doing that fixed!

I've used a trailerbike and a bike seat attached to my fixed before (not at the same time obviously). It's not too bad when you're moving, but it is much harder to get your pedals in the right position at junctions when you've got two stone of precocious child on the back. I haven't yet attached the trailer, though I'm sure I'll attempt it at some point.

Mouse I am always impressed most by people who ride with kids on the back. I have real respect for people who do the tescos run / school run with a trailer on - I hope that'll be me in the future. However, with the added years and weight (me & the kiddie trailer) I doubt I'd be doing that fixed!
"

Me too - there's a lady i see around angel sometimes - one sprog on the back one on the front and two bags of shopping
sometimes. She's my hero seriously. Just imagine what London would be like if 75% of parents did this!
Instead we have this cuntish mindset:

took that pic a few weeks back - just round the corner from my house on the peckham end of old kent road
(pomeroy street) if anyone fancies some militant sign alterations...

There's no fucking way I'd put a child that close to the tarmac and trailing behind me on the road..

Mr Bungle took that pic a few weeks back - just round the corner from my house on the peckham end of old kent road
(pomeroy street) if anyone fancies some militant sign alterations...

im down!

cheer up aidan, think of Clowns