Freestyle on fixed - I don't get it

Looking at what most people are trying to achieve on fixed bikes would suggest to me that a flatland bike would be a better bet.

Saying that, after hearing the various opinions I am understanding why people do ride fixed for tricks. I will still pick the BMX myself though.

This appeals to the weight weenie in me at 8kg but must resist buying another bike...

I ride probably ride my BMX as much as I ride my fixed. I have them both and they both suit me for different purposes.

I can't barspin on my BMX, but I cant on my fixed. You certainly can't wheely a BMX like you can a fixed bike.
I can't grind on my fixed, but I can on my BMX.

But I still enjoy to do different types of tricks on different types of bikes. I also have a 24" bike which I raced on BMX tracks and won quite a bit, but it wasn't your classic BMX.

Look at Ted and what he can do on a fixed. He shows you why people do tricks on fixed (can somebody find a link of him doing some trick please?!)

whispers tricks and skids thread......tricks and skids thread!

isn't it obvious ?

tricks hasn't been done on fixed track bikes, so people obviously want to do it,
cos that is da cool fing to do innit. new things.

everyone knows about BMX, Skateboards and Rollerbladeing yada yada yada,
but fixed gear tricks wha?
i wanna try some of that...

people always wanna do new things.

thats my take on things. Hope it doeasnt offend you :)

Dylan does your mom know you rollerblade?

Cant be arsed to read the thread properly, so sorry if these points have been mentioned but...

A) People riding fixed on the road realise that if they lock their legs they can skid, they can track stand, and even ride backwards. This takes off, and the fixed gear bike evolves to cater for this.
B) Havent there been circus style acts based on fixed gear bikes around for ages.

I don't get flat-land riding in general. But I love watching this, especially if one of your mates is halfway alright at it.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW4aAPrT8Gs&feature=channel_page"]YouTube
- Stefan Laszlo 2008[/ame]

Sorry about the music on the vid though.

you can't ride your flatland bike day in day out across town.

mjs guys ( [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsAkx71BIlY"]YouTube
- 冬ノガワ！[/ame] )or keo shred it up.

fixed gear bmx and we're all happy haha?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ6sFPMxjeI&eurl=http://espn.go.com/action/bmx/blog?post=3846634&feature=player_embedded

when i see some style in fixed tricks I might become interested. All I see at at the moment are wheelie tricks done in a dead sailor fashion. It looks gash.......for now..

All this talk about BMX being built for tricks is bullshit , it was designed to go fast on dirt-tracks
in the 70´s not doing flatland tricks , the flatland scene evolved afterwards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2BKE0a-TLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb5C-pl2hRQ&feature=related

All this talk about BMX being built for tricks is bullshit , it was designed to go fast on dirt-tracks
in the 70´s not doing flatland tricks , the flatland scene evolved afterwards.

Agree, however the current flatland bike is perfect for what it is intended for. And from what I have seen all people are doing on fixed gear bikes is a lesser version of what people are doing on flatland bikes (lesser because the bike is never going to be as fit for purpose not because of skill differences)

To me the problem is that BMXes are a chore to ride any distance and not a suitable bike for getting around on whereas a fixed bike is a good compromise. Can ride it anywhere and still do ticks to a certain level in between.

I just don't get on with compromises so would personally rather have an out and out fast road fixed bike and a BMX.

do whatever you want dude. whats the point in skateboarding? you don't get anywhere very quickly, you have no 'brakes', and tricks you do don't necessarily help anyone, blah blah blah
you're completely missing the point of it all
people do stuff because it feels good
if i can ride home across london faster than anything else after having hours of fun with my friends do I need to question what I'm doing?

for me if I wanted a bmx I would get a bmx
also, I believe there will be a progression (not directly to bmx or circus bikes) and this will emerge as a new sport in itself

also, people need to remember that freestyle bmx (and other later forms) took influence from both skateboarding and artistic cycling....

I just don't get on with compromises so would personally rather have an out and out fast road fixed bike and a BMX.
Bingo.

do whatever you want dude. whats the point in skateboarding? you don't get anywhere very quickly, you have no 'brakes', and tricks you do don't necessarily help anyone, blah blah blah
you're completely missing the point of it all
people do stuff because it feels good
if i can ride home across london faster than anything else after having hours of fun with my friends do I need to question what I'm doing?

for me if I wanted a bmx I would get a bmx
also, I believe there will be a progression (not directly to bmx or circus bikes) and this will emerge as a new sport in itself

also, people need to remember that freestyle bmx (and other later forms) took influence from both skateboarding and artistic cycling....

By gosh, I think he's got it!

Because they've never ridden bikes before fixed got cool and have yet to ride a bmx.

+1 haha

do whatever you want dude. whats the point in skateboarding? you don't get anywhere very quickly,

But there are long boards which are better for that, so same applies. Would be like trying to do tricks on a longboard when they are better done on a standard skateboard.

Anyway, I'll back slowly away now as I can see it is my own limitations and obsession with fit for purposeness that is the problem here :-)

Agree, however the current flatland bike is perfect for what it is intended for. And from what I have seen all people are doing on fixed gear bikes is a lesser version of what people are doing on flatland bikes (lesser because the bike is never going to be as fit for purpose not because of skill differences)

Next week there will be a different type of Flatland bike. It's not true that it's perfect now, it's that they haven't come up with anything better yet. Otherwise they would have thought it was perfect 10 years ago and we'd still have the same thing.

I also don't agree that freestyle on a fixed bike is just flatland bmx on a bigger bike. I'm not trying to do anything that you would class as proper flatland. I'm not trying to spin around my bike and roll around in circles on my front wheel. If anything I ride my fixed more like a street bike (which can be done on a bmx, 24" bmx or mtb, 26" mtb or a 700c fixed or freewheel. Or anything else you want to do it on). The whole point is that it's something different from what people are used to riding. I really like the challenge of riding a bike that I've never ridden to do tricks on. I've never learnt to wheelie or to do half the tricks that have been invented specifically for fixed where you are utilising the technique of being able to pedal backwards and propel yourself.

*Those of you who don't get it, why don't you pop along to TrixeDix tonight and find out. It's also a very social aspect of riding a bike.

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread7272-40.html#post525560

What he said^

If it's fun, do it. If people don't understand why you are doing it, keep doing it. Simples!

If it's fun, do it. If people don't understand why you are doing it, keep doing it. Simples!

+1

p.s. (If my back wasn't fucked I'd be down the skatepark all day learning backwards circles and wheelies.)

because its fun
they already have there fixed gear bike
see someone do something and think
WOW COOL
ill have a go

Wouldn't be impossible to put a fixed hub onto a BMX though would it? (although would make for some interesting riding without ability to sit at required height!)

Not sure how people could say the same about BMX or MTBs as they were designed for the purpose they are used for weren't they?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaDP56T-HlE

I was going to say something very profound . . but i forgot, so heres my 2 pence instead . .

I am in the horses for courses gang in that when i see a skatepark i view it from a skate/bmx point of view - the last thing i would think of doing is taking a fixed gear in there . . .

However if you think about it, fixed was the original form of cycling, and the original freestyling that we would now call circus/acrobatic cycling (or whatever it is the germans/chinese love doing) came about because of the use of fixed gear bikes.

Many of the tricks we are now seeing on fixed gears here first done over a century ago (and in most cases a lot more stylishly) and most of the tricks being "invented" now are really these same tricks, but deemed hip because they are done by some dude in skate clothing, rather than an 18 year old chinese kid in head to toe lycra.

However i dont deride fixed freestyling, because what we are seeing is a very interesting morphing of bike styles and riding styles that take into acount the many different influences and backgrounds that riders come from, and as a result of this there is some cool stuff out there, being done with style, on bikes that are brilliant at both getting you from A-B and larking about on, its just that we are at the birth of something, as for every cool tangent there will be a Pengyish one too, much like skating in the 70's and early 80's.

Anyway i am wafling, i saw this vid recently on the FGL blog, and if this is the direction fixed freestyling is going, i am all over it, as it is not trying to replicate other styles, but taking them and making them something new . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blxhU4Rots0&eurl=http://fixedgearlondon.wordpress.com/page/6/&feature=player_embedded