When I was living in Nottingham I couldn't find anyone to ride with without joining some mamil filled 'cycling club', the likes of which I'd occasionally see riding about the area in ghastly club kit, barking nonsense orders at each other and sneering at me as they passed me on my hybrid, or joining some kind of group that organised casual rides on off-road country paths for the mamil's wives on ladies bikes all wearing hivis despite being nowhere near traffic.
Friend recommend I joined the 'Nottingham Fixed Gear' rides as they were full of the kind of people I'd likely hang out with anyway and I was curious about bike polo. By then I had my 'retro' 3-speed road bike with coaster brake so was halfway there, and from their influence got a cheap fixed wheel for it which being hub geared originally was easy to swap over to. I tried out for a week or so and absolutely hated as you couldn't coast, going downhill was fucking terrifying and there was none of this 'zen' one with the bike bollocks - it just felt the same but I couldn't coast Although for some reason I found it easier up hills and was getting to work quicker.
After a week I put the three speed hub back on and immediately missed my pedals naturally rising up to clip in to, coasting felt weird and wrong and going up the hill to work was more effort.
Since then I built a separate fixed gear bike out of bits I gradually bought mostly off here, and ride it about when I feel like it.
I don't like riding fixed all the time, sometimes I like gears and a freewheel, but it is a special form of fun.
When I was living in Nottingham I couldn't find anyone to ride with without joining some mamil filled 'cycling club', the likes of which I'd occasionally see riding about the area in ghastly club kit, barking nonsense orders at each other and sneering at me as they passed me on my hybrid, or joining some kind of group that organised casual rides on off-road country paths for the mamil's wives on ladies bikes all wearing hivis despite being nowhere near traffic.
Friend recommend I joined the 'Nottingham Fixed Gear' rides as they were full of the kind of people I'd likely hang out with anyway and I was curious about bike polo. By then I had my 'retro' 3-speed road bike with coaster brake so was halfway there, and from their influence got a cheap fixed wheel for it which being hub geared originally was easy to swap over to. I tried out for a week or so and absolutely hated as you couldn't coast, going downhill was fucking terrifying and there was none of this 'zen' one with the bike bollocks - it just felt the same but I couldn't coast Although for some reason I found it easier up hills and was getting to work quicker.
After a week I put the three speed hub back on and immediately missed my pedals naturally rising up to clip in to, coasting felt weird and wrong and going up the hill to work was more effort.
Since then I built a separate fixed gear bike out of bits I gradually bought mostly off here, and ride it about when I feel like it.
I don't like riding fixed all the time, sometimes I like gears and a freewheel, but it is a special form of fun.