Should I ride my first fixie back from the shop (in London)?

I think we should offer a phalanx of fixed riders to escort PH from the shop till he gets the hang of it, and give him some free beer tokens to be redeemed at a beers of his choice. I'd volunteer if I weren't out in the sticks and nursing a sore butt. PH may seem a bit namby-pamby asking if he should ride home, but he's got some balls in surfacing among us lot and asking a newb question out loud. Hats off to the man! Time he gets home he'll know if fixed is for him or not. Good luck dude!

We could join him en masse - cavalcade style - and cause a 5 mile long tailback all the way to lea valley...

i'll come along if pistanator is following hurling abuse/eggs for the duration

i'm really not into chocolate digestives and don't see what the fuss is. ditto hob-nobs.

That is just craziness. Hobnobs and a cup of tea make work bearable

[quote=vinylvillain;699252]Hmm . . . heres an idea, if you are buying from BLB or 14 no doubt the rear wheel will most likely have a flip flop hub:

This also means that if you dont like fixed you can run it as a SS instead.[quote]

On Your Bike wouldn't let me leave the shop with it set at fixed, they would only sell it to me freewheel. Thought that was a bit nanny-state, but there you go. I guess they have their reasons. BLB might be the same.

also, i hear tempertemper has a nice light blue blb frame for sale. you should send him a pm to see if he still has it.

Its one of them there fancy bikes with detachable bottom brackets.

also, i hear tempertemper has a nice light blue blb frame for sale. you should send him a pm to see if he still has it.

Its one of them there fancy bikes with quick release bottom brackets.

Its one of them there fancy bikes with detachable bottom brackets.

Honestly....these new hipster trends are getting ridiculous, whatever next....folding forks?!

dual reply in net fuck up shocker

POOR FUCKER!
your all a bunch of cunts

my first ride fixed was in peak hour traffic....crapped myself....but it all worked out

sorry, been watchin too much deadwood

COCKSUCKERS!

I rode my first one back from Brixton to Dalston when I got it and it was fine. Take it easy and you will really enjoy it, its fun.

POOR FUCKER!
your all a bunch of cunts

my first ride fixed was in peak hour traffic....crapped myself....but it all worked out

A long time ago my friend said to me "It's fun, like learning something new. Except on a busy road." That's basically it. Just keep those pedals going round and you will be fine. I would also recommend that with whatever bike you have currently, put it in a pseudo-fixed ratio, ride it without ever changing gear or stopping pedalling (even if braking) and see how it is. Then when you get on a fixed you will be used to it. Things like filtering/weaving through traffic might be scary if you are used to freewheeling in those situations. So just hang back and stay safe until you feel confident.

kthanxbai.

Do whatever you want/feel comfortable with/look coolest(iyo) doing.
Like everyone said, ride it ss home. Or just get a unipack, i hear they're wikkid bruv.

As a side note, wasn't PHer on the lambo thread talking about running over peoples heads and stuff if they dared to touch his car?! Along with other crazy talk/insults/porn forum references.....

its not that scary. my first time fixed was when I bought a bike and then cycled home from Shoreditch to Kew Gardens. I had not ridden a bike for 10 years. Biggest problem was getting toes in straps, but if you come from MTB and go for clipless it should be much easier.

Just take your time and you will enjoy the thrill of something new.

Just take your time and you will enjoy the thrill of something new.

A-hem. Shameless really.

I can't quite believe how long this thread has become!

I can't believe how long it is!

The OP is an impressive man, it seems.

Hi all.

I have been to BLB and managed to navigate my way through the London traffic (just). I think my MTB experience helped here and it's actually amazing fun zipping in and out of traffic... Although I did almost smash into a car and had to swerve around the back and onto the wrong side of the road for a while. I took the advice of what I've read here and passed all the buses and HGVs on the right, but some psycho bin lorry driver almost ran me over as I tried to avoid a huge lump that definitely would have sent me over my handlebars. The only problem was the rain.

I ended up getting the last Lemond Fillmore in BLB in my size. I know it's not a great bike (understatement) but it suits me fine and it ripe for upgrading. Upgrade one will be a new front brake as they are a. in an annoying position and b. shit. I went down to 14 Bike Co. on the advice on people here, and their frames are absolutely sick but they cost as much as my whole new bike. In fairness, the guy 14BC did try to sort me out with someone at Italian solutions to get a Dolan, but he said he wouldn't order one in because if I didn't like it he couldn't sell it, which is fair enough. But then he said I should order it myself... So if I didn't like it, I'd be stuck with it... Great advice :|

Moving on to customer service things I've read about BLB, I agree and disagree. I phoned up at 5 to 9. No answer. I phoned up at 5 past 9. No answer. I got there at 10 past 9. The door is locked and they ignore me. I eventually get back there at 9.30 and the door is open at last. I was served by the girl with the piercing at the top of her nose and glasses, she was really nice and friendly, and she gave me a discount on a new chain :) But the rest of them are quite rude. I told them I would come back after I'd had something to eat so I had time to think about it, I came back and the girl wasn't there so I was just ignored for about 5 minutes so I left and went back later.

Also, when I went to 14BC at about 10 there was nowhere. It looked like the guy had just left and closed the shop up. I arrived about the same time as one of the Chinese (?) guys and he didn't have a clue where the guy had gone either! They also didn't answer their phone, but I then discovered as described above there was no-one there.

So to conclude I survived.

Any recommendations for a new front brake?

P.S. Thanks for all your help/banter

You've done the first ride, so now I would recommend brakless FTW.

Seriously...a) presumably you mean the lever is in an annoying position? Which can be moved without buying a new brake?

and b) you come from a riding a MTB, so are used to disc brakes, I guess, and were riding in the wet, which is not a great comparison. (There may be some inaccurate assumptions within the previous sentence).

I'm sure the brake is perfectly adequate and you will find that after a few weeks of riding fixed, you'll barely be using it at all anyway - I really wouldn't worry about upgrading it.

Hurrah! Well done for surviving the mean streets of London. And great choice on the Lemonde Fillmore, they're sound bikes. Now the only thing you have to do is never call it a 'f*xie' ever again. If you do continue calling it a f*xie your testicles will certainly shrivel and drop off.

It's not so hard isn't it? it always seemed worse than it is.

as for front brake, just get the cheapest Shimano one (like 105), you don't need that much stopping power on road than on MTB, it's more than enough once set-up properly.

I can think of easier ways to buy a lemond filmore that don't involve getting ignored in arse-end of London bike shops!

looks like your persistence paid off, hope you enjoy it!

The front brake may just need bedding in a bit, you rarely get optimum performance from new (cheap-ish) pads, you can accelerate/test this by sanding the pads a weebit, also you could rub some solvent on the wheels to get rid of any laquer/shine product they may have put on them.

Adjust the lever/caliper position as you see fit.

How come I missed this thread? Brilliant. Best thread I've seen in ages. Full marks to the 'eagle' HTFUpers and the 'dove' brigade like Will and Oliver. Wickedo.

Welcome to the forum PHer, you have been well-and-truly done by the Pistanator. That, my friend, is a rite of passage. Funny thing is, he was right, wasn't he!? It *was *a piece of piss. I would echo the sentiment that central London drivers seem more used to cycles than suburban and country drivers, in my limited experience of the latter. Here in town we're sort of reaching a critical mass.

I think it seemed pretty funny to a lot of us cos we would ride from BLB via shop 14 to liverpool street in the blink of an eye. London's funny like that, people seem to think everything's really far apart cos they look at the bloody tube map and assume it somehow based on geographic reality.

Well done for noticing that the bin lorry was trying to kill you. They're always doing that shit, but its amazing to me how many nodders seem to be oblivious of this fact.

Have fun.