What made you start riding fixed?

i got bored of being paranoid about my roadbike outside a pub...
i got bored of cleaning salt and shit out of my mechs after i got caught in the rain...
i got bored of that shit you get on your rims when its wet and you brake...
i missed the simplicity of my old S&M dirtbike but wanted to go faster and further...
i couldnt resist building a fixed out in NY on holiday and riding about manhattan...
im now poor and have holes in my shoes...

first time around: track

this time: asthetics. pure and simple. not just the bikes (who can resist an coloured unmachined deep section wheel), but the beauty of a fixed rider in traffic. hop-skid stops sideways, trackstanding, the dive through the gap that a geared rider would never attempt, it's all beautiful.

I know that's shallow, but there you go...

Link fail, and I was looking forward to it and everything

Can you see it now? It's a google album...

Because of this ^^^^

PS:
There is absolutely nothing cool about a short, balding, thirty something man in lycra. Even if I win the lottery and buy a 'Colagno Super Pricey', I cant imagine the word 'cool' popping into the minds of those seeing me ridding it ;)

Tall, bald, fourty something on the other hand.........

I wanted to get fit and get riding, regardless of the kind of bike. I realised one day that my combination of no exercise, rich food and beer was having a profound effect on my normally streak-of-piss thin figure. Totally chanced upon fixed gear bikes, but I'm glad I did, because in leu of owning a car, they give me something to get really obsessive and geeky over. I used to wax my 205 twice a week, just to give you an idea of how materialistic I can be.

Thought I'd add my story to this thread - unfortunately this is going to be a serious post, so sorry about that.

I'd mentioned to one of my best friends, who's a serious roadie, that I wanted to get a road bike so I could do some cross training (I was pretty seriously into running at the time). Looking around, it seemed like the only road bikes I could afford were Halfords jobbies that were going to fall apart within 6 months - whether I rode them or not.

I saw this picture of the Howies office...

...and liked the fact that the bike looked so utilitarian - not like the fragile carbon-fibre things I'd seen down the LBS. As I was heavier than most roadies I was worried whether a road bike would take my weight as well.

Said friend told me to get a fixed - and sold it to me with mystical words like 'souplesse'. In the end though, when I got the bike up and running, I found it was much more practical for getting around on, as 20 gears was a bit of overkill when I was only popping down to the shops.

As it happens, I did buy a geared bike too, but whenever I have a choice between the fixed and the geared, I go for the fixed. It just feels more natural.

I was drunk two days ago.

Thanks, beer! You've come through for me again.

I was causing too many unwanted pregnancies.

you could have just stopped sabotaging packets of condoms..

Jah Humbug? That's your best one yet Messeneyeman.

I'll echo the fun comments

because in leu of owning a car, they give me something to get really obsessive and geeky over.

It gives me something to work on, that can cope with my 'hit it with a hammer and hope for the best' system of mechanics..

My wife died. She hated bicycles. I've ten now.

Bullet point posting, I love it Fiddy.

I have noticed that alot of folk on here grew up ridding BMX's. Personally I blame this for my incompetence with gears.

Anyone else?

agreed!

mountain bike=broken
road bike=broken
hybrid=broken

fixed=solid,simple,fast

BMX gets dusted off now and again too

I used to bmx also, brakeless and pegless for nearly 10 years, loved the stripped down simpleness of it.. Wanted to get into cycling again, had been bike free for just over a year and it was killing me!
Looked on in envy at various couriers and trendsters thinking how zen like snd chilled they looked whilst bombing along on their bikes, decided to get a sexy custom build knocked up at BLB during one spontaneous and impulsive lunch break (conveniently less than 100m fom my office), 2-3 weeks later I found this forum snd here I am.

I ride fixed because im stupid and lazy .

Stupid cause i never learned how to fix all the gears, cables, brakes and all the extra parts coming with then .
And lazy to clean all that stuff as well .

So now i have a bike that I can fix myself and clean easily

horray :)

i wanted to be like those cool couriers (my idols are buffallo bill and overdrive)

You've won an evening with us both!

I started cos I saw folk round Snoreditch on pretty-looking bikes and I felt ashamed of my Ridgeback; so I hoped straight on the bandwagon.

I was hungry so I Googled 'curry'. But I wanted something more, something a bit more intense, so I Googled 'curryer', and the rest is history.

i too jumped the bandwagon.

So now i have a bike that I can fix myself and clean easily :)

Mine only just works, whilst a geared one wouldn't go at all, and doesn't get cleaned at all..

so I hoped straight on the bandwagon.

This, sir, is a wonderful typo.

Social abandonment issues

me on a BMX.........new bike.....

The concentration it takes to ride fixed on the roads lets you blank out all the rest of the bollocks..

escapism...