Fixie culture in the bigger context... a discussion.

A discussion with some American friends recently, prompted me into posting this (after a two year abesnce from LFGSS) to see what real-world fixie people think about it. It would be particularly interesting to hear from anyone with an academic view.
The general concensus in the US seems to be that fixies lost approximately 80%of their credibility factor the day that Walmart started selling them. Now they are dying out at an astonishing rate, with fixie riders being seen as rather juvenile and silly, among the new wave of riders on their Linus, Public and Civias, sneering over their leather-clad porteur bars grips and cream Schwalbes. The concensus is that they will continue to be ridden by those afficianados who hae always ridden them, and become another little curiousity in the wide world of the bicycle.
We then went on to discuss niche cultures and trends historically. A distillation for your perusal.....

Cultural trends, particularly those which begin in a somewhat underground way,have historically,descended through the social strata before an inevitable demise, with possibly a nostalgic revival years later, when the 'naff' factor has dissipated.

The 1960s Mod culture is a good example, morphing as it did in short order, from Italian suits and Modern Jazz, to Parkas and fighting. The Mod revival of later decades reflected the latter incarnation of the culture, rather than its origins.
Smoking and growing weed was once the preserve of the hippie intelligencia but is nowadays the activity of choice for the teenage Jeremy Kyle clientelle.
The concept of "Designer" (particularly in the form of mass market clothing rather than the work of the original creator) really began as an offshoot from those Mods, being reborn in the Yuppie era, before descending into its modern place in the mail-order catalogues and shopping malls of working-class suburbia.

Now Halfords are selling fixies..... Discuss.

Moving closer to home, thewhole phenomenon of BMX forms an interesting contrast - beginning as a kids dirt sport, hitting the streets and estates like a tsunami, then dying out everywhere except a few skate parks, only to be reborn as big as ever among a new generation of kids, alongside the adults who grew up with it.
Now I see only a few BMXs in London, mostly ridden by hipsters, yet 'Oop North', in the scuzzy town where I have been marooned of late, about 70% of all bikes ridden and sold locally are BMX (The rest are almost all cheap supermarket MTBs

People like riding different sorts of bikes.

I.m not taking up any sort of position on this, merely throwing out the gist of a conversation, to gain a new perspective from those actually involved in Fixed-gear culture in Britain. I love the variety of bikes, and own about 30, all different.

I started riding fixed around 10 years ago and will continue to do so. The plus side of the popularity is the availability of frames, parts etc,. 10 years ago choice was pretty limited and specific parts were harder to get. As it goes out of fashion again that may unfortunately return to be the case.

A fixed bike ultimately doesn't make sense for most people so it was bound to come to an end.

trends come and go.. It'll be just like skateboards. If it is in a dip, it will be back in a few years time.

If there's money to be had, people/business will strive to make money from it.

Riding fixed jumped the shark culturally a good few years back, but those who bemoan this, don't see that without this boom in cycling/riding fixed, those Civias, Linus (went to their shop in LA, CSB) and Public bikes (whose look is an abomination by the way) wouldn't have a market to sell to.

You can see the transition in the lifespan of the forum, the swiftness with which it went from being fixed or single speed, to getting into lycra, buying gears and deciding to ride across continents. Touring, Cyclocross, Racing, Audaxing, are all being boosted as the gateway drug that is the fashion for riding fixed, ignites cycling fervour.

I've generally got no time for those who say something is over, it generally shows they were never really that attached to it in the first place, or that what they were into was the exclusivity of the thing, rather than the thing itself, once it becomes more widely accepted then its onto the next exclusive thing.

I would be worried if those who had got into riding fixed had left to not cycle at all, but that doesn't seem to be the case, the obvious virtues and advantages of riding a bike, shine through and so the markets for other types of cycling shine through..

Riding fixed was/is a counter culture thing, a youthful experiment, a way of distinguishing yourself from the herd, the mass of old men worshipping old Belgian racers, even as those old men, pulled their track bikes out to train during the winter months.. A counter culture without any knowledge of the past it had come from, so people thought they were inventing it anew. But as you mention, counter cultures don't survive when they've got nothing to be counter to, if the passion, and the anger, and the weirdness are co-opted by society, what happens next?

Its a "I look down on him, and up to him" situation, and personally I wouldn't be worried about it, unless it forces you to stop cycling, then you'd need to ask yourself why.

Fixie4Lyfe..

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXJ9UoQCY5s"]Sloan
- If It Feels Good Do It (Canadian Version) - YouTube[/ame]

The general concensus in the US seems to be that fixies lost approximately 80%of their credibility factor the day that Walmart started selling them.

Hipsters gonna hip.

In my opinion 'fixie culture' takes itself way too seriously. It's too self-conscious, superficial and exclusive* to ever gather a meaningful place in society. I think people make up for the limited remit of 'just riding a bike around a bit' by making it their whole lifestyle (accessorised with beards, tattoos, hats, artisan cocktails etc etc).

FWIW I don't consider myself above any of this - I love it and I'm the biggest sucker going myself. It just gets annoying when people attach the burden of cultural relevance to something so kind of joyful and pure. I don't why it has to be so fucking* important* all the time. I assume it's a hipster thing.

*while anyone can get themselves a fixed gear, because they're "so simple and easy to maintain", it does of course have to be exactly the right bike to allow the person to be a 'fixie person' (to use your term). From a gleaming NJS bike to a down-and-out don't-give-a-fuck rat bike, it's all part of the same vanity.

If there's money to be had, people/business will strive to make money from it.

Riding fixed jumped the shark culturally a good few years back, but those who bemoan this, don't see that without this boom in cycling/riding fixed, those Civias, Linus (went to their shop in LA, CSB) and Public bikes (whose look is an abomination by the way) wouldn't have a market to sell to.

You can see the transition in the lifespan of the forum, the swiftness with which it went from being fixed or single speed, to getting into lycra, buying gears and deciding to ride across continents. Touring, Cyclocross, Racing, Audaxing, are all being boosted as the gateway drug that is the fashion for riding fixed, ignites cycling fervour.

I've generally got no time for those who say something is over, it generally shows they were never really that attached to it in the first place, or that what they were into was the exclusivity of the thing, rather than the thing itself, once it becomes more widely accepted then its onto the next exclusive thing.

I would be worried if those who had got into riding fixed had left to not cycle at all, but that doesn't seem to be the case, the obvious virtues and advantages of riding a bike, shine through and so the markets for other types of cycling shine through..

Riding fixed was/is a counter culture thing, a youthful experiment, a way of distinguishing yourself from the herd, the mass of old men worshipping old Belgian racers, even as those old men, pulled their track bikes out to train during the winter months.. A counter culture without any knowledge of the past it had come from, so people thought they were inventing it anew. But as you mention, counter cultures don't survive when they've got nothing to be counter to, if the passion, and the anger, and the weirdness are co-opted by society, what happens next?

Its a "I look down on him, and up to him" situation, and personally I wouldn't be worried about it, unless it forces you to stop cycling, then you'd need to ask yourself why.

Fixie4Lyfe..

This man talks sense.

There's no such thing as fixie culture. People who claim that 'fixie culture" is a real thing are just bothered by the lack of significance of riding a bike around a bit. There's some individuals riding around on fixed bikes for various reasons who otherwise have nothing in common.

Hipsters are more unified by the way in which they have the urge to pretend everything they do is somehow very relevant and important than by the individual activities they engage in, of which riding a fixie is just one.

There are 3 distinct camps:

1 - those who ride
2 - those who shop
3 - those who ride to the shops

4- Scouts

Wait, fixies aren't cool now?

Shit, I was about to buy one as well

Now Halfords are selling fixies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1wcDiOuo6Q

Cornelius Backfoot, you say it better than I ever could. It has been heartening to read the quality and positivity of contributions to this topic. If there is such a thing as 'fixie culture', it's a great one! Long live LFGSS!

If you follow a "Fixed gear" Culture and you think it's dead because walmart/halfords sell them then please go into your hole and stop speaking, people jump onto something either for money or street cred. Most see it as dead out and move on, those are the unlucky ones. Some see what cycling is all about and keep going on, I'm one of those people. I can't deny I got into it because it looked like fun and a bit more socially acceptable than a MTB or road bike at the time, I soon fell in love with cycling and feeling like a 10 year old kid everytime I jump on my bike.

Riding fixed is simple and fun.
Once I got the bug riding geared in town seems an unnecessary faff (though still fun).

I've no idea nor do I care about culture or fads or whether riding fixed is trendy or old-hat.

There is a social culture through this forum (and as corny [+1] suggested has grown to encompass other bike related activities). Perhaps the marginalisation of cycling at the edges of society and edge of the road creates such an affinity between anyone on 2 wheel who, as corny's rim says, are friends.

So many friendships have been formed because of the common interest in bikes and beer and through the facilitation of LFGSS. These friendships will abide.

You can see the transition in the lifespan of the forum, the swiftness with which it went from being fixed or single speed, to getting into lycra, buying gears and deciding to ride across continents. Touring, Cyclocross, Racing, Audaxing, are all being boosted as the gateway drug that is the fashion for riding fixed, ignites cycling fervour.

THIS!

if riding fixed brings people more into "proper" cycling either which kind of bikes than it's great.

The general concensus in the US seems to be that fixies lost approximately 80%of their credibility factor the day that Walmart started selling them.

Fixies clearly had no credibility if the bicycles that Walmart sell define or refine their credibility. The conjecture is, I'd suggest, more about American culture than about bicycles.

Now they are dying out at an astonishing rate, with fixie riders being seen as rather juvenile and silly,

Nothing new. if you rode a bicycle beyond the age of 16 you were viewed as a bit nutty. Sure there were a few bike booms.. but most of those booms never went for the mainstream beyond their short lives.. Cyclists were always a niche sub-culture subject often to aggression from motorists.

among the new wave of riders on their Linus, Public and Civias, sneering over their leather-clad porteur bars grips and cream Schwalbes.

Bicycles for non-cyclists.

The 1960s Mod culture is a good example, morphing as it did in short order, from Italian suits and Modern Jazz, to Parkas and fighting.

There was never a 1960s mod culture. Its a perception of a culture that once existed that defined a "Mod revival". And the roots? East-End jewish kids in the 1950s.. The 1960s mod was nothing more than a working class marketing strategy defined through mass media. Even the 1950s East-London clinque had its roots elsewhere.. namely in Germany. In the 1930s Jazz and English crepe soled shoes were in Hamburg and Munich--- what has come to be called "fashion statements"-- political expressions counter to the fashions of the Nationalists, Royalists, Communists and Fascists.

Smoking and growing weed was once the preserve of the hippie intelligencia

New to me that poor ghetto blacks in the 1930s where "hippie intelligencia". Reefer was a popular drug among the poor.

The concept of "Designer" (particularly in the form of mass market clothing rather than the work of the original creator) really began as an offshoot from those Mods, being reborn in the Yuppie era, before descending into its modern place in the mail-order catalogues and shopping malls of working-class suburbia.

Hardly. "Designer" clothing existed long before the great great grandparents of any Yuppies were born. Fashion in Europe, however, used to be regulated. People were, for example, forbidden to wear clothing outside of the class. Velvet, short jackets, certain furs etc. were all reserved. The basis of modern youth culture I'd put not in the 20th but in the 18th century--- on the heels of emancipation. The Dandys were quite a sensation and Bo Brummell perhaps one of the first mass pop stars. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, for example, used to try to copy Brummell's style.

I remember that like it was yesterday.

@Edward z
"The 1960s mod was nothing more than a working class marketing strategy defined through mass media"
not convinced on that^^

mods were all that, as a youth cult movement they had more effect on present day culture than any other.
Acid house also still keeps the club culture going strong but didnt work as well for clothing etc.
whatever happened to the rockers though?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Dandys_1830.jpg/220px-Dandys_1830.jpg

http://dossierjournal.com/style/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dandy11.jpg
Oscar Wilde (Left) and Lord Bryon (Right)

http://www.histoire-image.org/photo/zoom/ben23_levy_001f.jpgJules Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly

keep them coming. this is getting into something.
(for O.P. http://www.lfgss.com/post1862284-7.html)