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@Balki
Little cycling article in the Sunday papers (The Age) in Melbourne. Its one of those "bike tribe" ones.
"You can hardly set foot on a footpath in the inner-northern suburb without spotting a fixie wizzing by. Fixies - short for fixed-gear - are sleek, minimal cycles that have formed a subculture of their own in recent years.
Nick Mahoney, 24, runs Boski, a fashion label that also produces hand-built fixies. "Its funny how big its become in such a small amount of time. The thing about a fixie is that it allows your to do tricks, as well as the simplicity of the bike. You've got a beautiful stripped back racer-style look of the bicycle but you can also do tricks like riding backwards, doing bar-spins and a whole lot of little things like that."
Fixies are definitely a fashion item. The single, fixed gear means that theres no need for hand brakes or the messiness of multiple cogs. The stripped back design attracts a particular type of fan. "Because they are so simple its easy to customise them," says Mahoney. "The people who ride them are fashiony people or artistic, creative people, so they like to put different coloured wheels and different little things on them. Its so easy to do."
Its also harder to ride. The single gear can be daunting for cyclists who know the struggle of a steep hill, but the fixie trend is indicative of other growing bike cultures eschewing function for fashion. Not everyone wants to be a road warrior. "
...and so on.