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@pastry_lover
I can't get my head around the idea of doing tricks on a fixed wheel bike. It just doesnt make sense to me. I've seen some pretty impressive shit but it is quite painful to watch people struggle to do airs and gaps because they can't get enough speed to go very high or very far. Additionally, the risk of getting stuck in toe straps when you fuck up a trick is pretty cringeworthy even to multiply-scarred, crash-hardened, ex-stuntmen like myself.
Obviously the benefit of fixed is that you don't need a rear brake, thus you don't have to worry about detanglement of cables every time you do a barspin. But the benefit of a freewheel outweighs this by about a million! It's a million times easier to hop, you can go faster, higher, you flow better, and so on. And with a coaster brake hub you dont need cables, and you can do stuff like barspin fufanu's if you really wanted to...
The fixed trick bikes are basically just overgrown BMX's with toe straps and lacking a ratchet in the drivetrain. I can see them becoming more and more like BMX's in future. Do you think freewheels or coaster brake hubs will become more popular amongst 700cMX riders?
I say yes... and I look forward to seeing people breaking free of the limitations of the fixed cog, and effortlessly getting 6 feet of air on a 700c bike.