Riding fixed gear is like driving without brake lights

Man I ride SS everywhere because of my toe overlap (no one talks about this before you get into fixies!!) but it's super important to me that I keep my muscles 'supple' like fixie riders so I pedal all the time even when I don't need to, for example like when the road goes downhill slightly, or backwards when I'm stopped at traffic lights.

Which is to say the only dependable indicator of whether or not someone is slowing down is their distance relative to you from one moment to the next. Other behaviour can be an indicator but is hardly dependable. Other instances when this theory doesn't work: going downhill, ignoring signage and just coasting through the obstacle, the pro-tour peleton (they hardly pedal at all)
You and your toe repped!

Riding fixed is like putting a fresh sheet on your bed after you've made it.
Isn't it ironic? Don't you think? It's like ra-ee-ain on ya wedding day...

Posting in this thread is like sending an email to someone that can't read.

Is you callin us illitrate?

Jesus.

This is a new level of stupid, and I know the man has written mockery as one of his interests, but still... this is pure trolling and it hurts to even come down to this level of stupid.

Is you callin us illitrate?

"Like", so similar but not the same.

I was actually calling everyone that posts on this thread stupid...

(And ignoring any questions in my head about how an illiterate person would get an email account)

Tonight I decided to give up stopping to save fellow road users the confusion and jumped all the red lights. It was alright.

Ejaculating unicorns sounds terribly painful.

This is probably common knowledge among experienced fixed gear riders, so I'm sorry if I'm restating the obvious. But I haven't seen this aspect of fixed gear riding mentioned explicitly before, and I think it is kind of important. It has taken me 7 months of fixed riding to understand the implications, so...

The common conception of a bicycle is that of a freewheeler. So when most people see a bicycle they expect it to behave like a freewheeler.

When a freewheeler is slowing down, the first thing that happens is the rider stops pedalling. This acts as a signal to other road users, who can then act accordingly. It's like the brake lights on a car.

The concept of a freewheeling bicycle is so embedded in our minds that the reaction of other road users to the sight of a cyclist stopping pedalling is largely unconscious and automatic: foot off the accelerator, a finger on brake lever, a step onto the zebra crossing.

As fixed gear riders, we do not give this signal. The only way other road users can know we are slowing down is to observe the change of speed. This is more difficult to discern, and therefore the appropriate reaction will be slower.

We can see evidence of this phenomenon when pedestrians freeze on zebra crossings as we approach, and in the number of rear-end collisions reported in this forum. It is particularly dangerous in fast high traffic situations, or mixed riding events such as the London-Brighton.

There's no excuse for running into the back of someone, whether you're riding or driving. It means you haven't left enough stopping distance between yourself and the person in front. But fixed gear riders need to be aware that because we don't have the "brake light" of stilled pedals, we are more likely to be rear ended by an idiot.

Horses don't have a brake light whats your point. Room is room bro. Either they have given you room for stopping/emergency/evasive manoeuvres or not.

I reckon a big rubber melting smoking whip skid should serve to alert other road users to my change in speed...

Should I consider cycle training?

DAWS all day.

Horses don't have brake lights and cows are not equipped with air bags, goats lack a catalytic converter and you can't fit a sun roof to a weasel. Those are all good points.

^trufacts
(Apart from the cows air bag thing)

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Cow-Print-Seat-Covers-Front-Airbag-Ready-Rear-Split-/00/$(KGrHqUOKiME3FSmp6TkBN4BfpSo7g~~_1.JPG
(moo-t point)

I don't get this thread. Lazybeard seems to be making a valid observation, that when riding fixed you cease to give out a visual cue that you're decelerating. And my experience is that pedestrians, at least, notice this, and are much less likely to cross in front of me until I've clearly stopped.

He then goes onto make assumptions about the extent to which drivers notice this, and how it might lead to increased risk of being rear-ended. I've no way of knowing if there's any truth in this; until I next observe myself driving around cyclists I can't even comment for sure on how I react to a cyclist ceasing to pedal, but I suspect it would inform my behaviour.

On city streets it shouldn't make a difference; there should be no doubt about whether a cyclist is stopping from the road conditions and signalling, and in any case, drivers should not be following so closely that it makes any difference. However, I could well believe that an impatient amber-gambler, following a fixed gear rider in primary, might make the incorrect assumption that the bike was going to jump the lights and try to follow it through. That in no way justifies the driver's behaviour, but it does mean that I'd not be surpised to discover that fixed gear riders did suffer an increased risk of being rear ended, which is what the OP was suggesting.

So, all you naysayers and bullshit spreaders, where exactly are lazybeard and myself so clearly and obviously off our trolleys?

Thanks, YellowPeril. I actually think you're more likely to be rear ended by a following cyclist than a car, because they are more usually directly behind you.

As wiganwill points out, the effect I am talking about was documented on this forum years ago - pedestrians freeze on a zebra crossing when they see you spinning towards them, because they think you're not going to stop. I think most of us have experienced this.

So obviously the effect exists. But why should it be confined to zebra crossings? What if the same pedestrian is now on his hybrid, nodding along 2ft behind you? Has he suddenly became immune to this perceptual misconception?

Most of this thread is an exercise in point missing. I am** not **saying

• this is the only reason for rear-end collisions
  
• that stopping pedalling is the only way to signal that you are slowing down
  
• that the effect cannot be replicated on a freewheeler
  
• that staring at cyclists' feet is an important road-safety technique
  
• that there are no other ways of noticing deceleration, or even that pedal-watching is a good way
  
  

I** am** saying, as YellowPeril succinctly put it:

• that if you are riding fixed gear, you cease to give out a visual cue that you're decelerating
  
  

If you were not already aware of this fact, you are now.

You're welcome.

I think most people's complaints are more the comparison than the observation.

Also what is the point, what can we do about it? Are you saying that riding fixed should be as legal as driving without stop lights (ie not legal)?

Was this observation really worth it's own thread?

There was a suggestion some time ago that every time someone started a thread they would have to pay towards the servers, would you have paid money to start this thread?

I** am** saying, as YellowPeril succinctly put it:

• that if you are riding fixed gear, you cease to give out a visual cue that you're decelerating
  
  

.

Disagree. You may not give out a visual signal that you're slowing by ceasing to pedal but as Will says

As a general point many cyclists fail to look behind and communicate with other road users as much as they really need to and that greatly increases your chances of being rear ended.

There are many other ways you can communicate so drivers/people behind clearly know what you're doing... and crucially looking behind tells you what drivers are doing.
Risk isn't increased riding fixed one you have mastered the control skills.

Also what is the point, what can we do about it?

I dunno - it's better to be aware than unaware though, isn't it? Maybe if you were going out for a ride with your freewheeling mates for the first time you could give them a heads-up? Might lessen the chance of a mishap.

Skydancer, I don't disagree with anything you said, except for the bit where you said "disagree".

Was this observation really worth it's own thread?

I thought this was the point. The truth is, one can invent any number of hypotheses 'supported' by some anecdotal observations mentioned somewhere on the Internet. Only a fraction of such hypotheses are worth any serious consideration; I think most people simply think that OP's isn't one of them.

I downshift as I approach a stop so my legs keep turning.

Good point Deveron53
You'd be turning pedals at around the same cadence on gears as you downshift while fixed riders would pedal slower

I don't get this thread. Lazybeard seems to be making a valid observation, that when riding fixed you cease to give out a visual cue that you're decelerating.

A valid observation?! Wake up, dude.

When something slows down it goes slower. Period.

Works both ways - for me as a cyclist (be it fixed or single speed) and as a driver. Never had problem with that.
If you are behind someone and you can't judge their speed then you either go too fast yourself, you are too close behind or you need an eye test.

I would just like to add that there's also no signal to say a driver has taken their foot off the accelerator.

Horses don't have brake lights and cows are not equipped with air bags, goats lack a catalytic converter and you can't fit a sun roof to a weasel. Those are all good points.
Ha! And they all produce vile emissions from time to time. Another valid point.

Ha! And they all produce vile emissions from time to time. Another valid point.

and apparently weasel emissions are very high in particulates