What I saw in town...

stryker84
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What I saw in town...

Postby stryker84 » Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:23 am

... no idea if it really warrants posting, but it looked cool, well, to the hapless newbie in me anyway.

Image Image Image
(click for larger version)

What initially caught my eye was the leather saddle and tape, then noticed it was single-gear sans brakes, and the nice matte white finish (it just looks shiny becasue of my dinky little mobile phone camera).

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:03 am

If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

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Postby 531db » Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:50 pm

stryker84, what we have here is a fixed gear bicycle or 'fixie'.

If not for bastard hills, all bikes would be like this.

Some fixie riders do not have brakes, because they can slow or skidstop simply by unweighting the rear wheel and stopping pedalling.

This fixie rider however has both front and rear brakes on the 'Flying Falcon'(the retro training bike), a front brake only on the Bates Track/Road (an absolute classic) and no brakes on the Guerciotti Track (raced on the track only).

Peter.

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Postby mikesbytes » Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:15 pm

Sometime we are going to organise a fixie imperial century (160k) ride. I'm going to ride my track bike, but with a lower gear and brakes.

The reason you can get away with no brakes, is that you apply reverse pedal force to slow, personally I think thats insufficient, but others recon thats fine.

Had one of the brookes leather saddles, or a similar model in the late 70's. Many love them, I didn't.

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If the R-1 rule is broken, what happens to N+1?

stryker84
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Postby stryker84 » Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:54 pm

yeah, i know what a fixie is (been following the threads around here too long for me to feign ignorance!).
just interested me though, first time seeing one around, and such a well maintained one as well...
that may well be a future project for me, a retro-style fixie. but that's not for a while yet...

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europa
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Postby europa » Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:06 pm

Brakes is goot - sitting on my dining room table at the moment are a pair of Ultegra brake levers and a pair of Shimano600 dual caliper brakes, just waiting to be fitted to the Europa :D At the moment, you squeeze like blazed and look for something to bump into (while still pedalling of course).

Richard

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GaryF
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Postby GaryF » Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:30 pm

Thats a great single speed conversion. I bet the owner didn't stray far.

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Kid_Carbine
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Let the freewheel reign supreem.

Postby Kid_Carbine » Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:52 am

Through devine intervention, God helped man to invent the single speed freewheels & the bicycle brake for a very good reason. To make cycling EASIER by taking away the need to work ALL the time when riding.
The world moved away from fixed wheels because it was a curse & a blight on mankind yet we have a pain obsessed bunch of crazies hell bent on self torture by reinventing a cycling version of the rack, then applying a 'girls' name to it like 'fix-ie' [rhymes with Pixie]

Stick with a single speed freewheel with two good brakes & I'll coast down the hills as god intended, feeling the cool & refreshing breeze on my face, no need to wastefully expend my precious reserves of energy, using gravity as my motive power, resting my tired body, without having to fight those unyeilding & savage whiring monsters at my feet all the way to the bottom of the slope, only to have to lift my weary bones from the saddle once again to struggle up the other side.

Fixed wheels are brilliant on the track, or for those who are too poverty stricken to ride anything else, but for all others, let the feeewheel reign supreme as god & nature intended.
I know I will.

If I should ever feel the overwhelming urge to inflict needless pain & suffering on my body, I will just throw myself off the roof a few times, that should approximate a day on a fix-ie.
Carbine & SJH cycles, & Quicksilver BMX
Now that's AUSTRALIAN to the core.

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europa
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Postby europa » Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:43 am

Ooo, he's not going to live long is he. Sic 'im Tally :D

Actually, it was revealed in a recently discovered 'Letter to the Apostles' that God was dismayed when man used his freewill to invent the freewheel, thus moving away from the path of enlightenment.

Richard
I had a good bike ... so I fixed it

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tallywhacker
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Postby tallywhacker » Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:43 am

Richard, when I hear single speeders and gearies boasting about the century, half century and so on that they have ridden I think of the fisherman telling the story about the fish he caught. Always a little larger than the truth. You and I know that when they boast about the 100km they rode there would be a good 5-10km that would have been coasting down hill, coasting along the flats having a chat and a drink or coasting trying to find the correct gear.

Fixed gear riders are the only ones who when they ride 100km actually ride 100km

Gears? We ain't got no gears. We don't need no gears.

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Postby scratchman » Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:01 am

All this talk about fixed gear bikes is amusing me no end :lol: when I was a young bloke that's all I had, I had one for training on the track and another for training on the road, I never knew anything else for the first 5 years, then I " moved up " to gears :D

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europa
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Postby europa » Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:16 am

When I got into fixies, my Mum and Dad started telling me about how they looked forward to when they could afford to buy a bike with a freewheel - yup, fixed was all they had too.

Different animal though. If I wanted to ride single speed, I'd just forget to change gears on the geared bike :wink: It's a matter of differing challenges for me, which is why it's so much fun to get 'all emotional' about. I mean, where's the fun in arguing about something that has an answer?

Richard
I had a good bike ... so I fixed it

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Kid_Carbine
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It's all for fun.

Postby Kid_Carbine » Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:08 am

Thank you gentlemen for your input, & hopefully nobody takes too seriously the waffly prose in my earlier post as it really was done with tongue planted firmly in cheek. I hope that it was obvious.
There will be no mistake should I actually get serious.

None the less, anyone that does long distance on a fixed wheel [I refuse to say fix-ie, it sounds so, ... so,.... effite'] deserves the macho award of the day, & as Tallywacker said, he "rides" every yard of the journey. Only god knows why, i'm sure.
Please note that the cycle in my avatar is a fixed wheel machine, & riding it less than 2 miles in a parade each year was more than enough fun for me, but then, I'm not very macho. lol

I look forward to further debate with [hopefully] witty repartee' in the future.
Thread hijack now ended.
Carbine & SJH cycles, & Quicksilver BMX
Now that's AUSTRALIAN to the core.

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tallywhacker
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Postby tallywhacker » Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:07 am

no offence taken (obvious that the tongue was firmly implanted).
I suppose Richard and I are the resident anal fixed gearers (also hate that other f word) and know whay anyone would ride anything else.
Nothing macho about it, its an addiction.

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MichaelB
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Postby MichaelB » Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:42 pm

A quote from fyxamotosis website

A reader recently enquired about a bike and requiring brakes, adding they hoped they wouldn't 'offend' us.

While asthetically, you lose the clean lines of a pista bred machine by adding a brake, you will save yourself a lot of skin.

Brakes are important. We were slow to come around. Brakes came off after after two years of getting to grips with fixed, only then because we trashed our brake'd ride on the Hell Ride.

Starting off fixed - san brakes 'cause you saw it in Monsterchildren is a smart as setting your hair on fire. If you're bald to start with, it'll hurt even more.


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Related to the original part of this post about the bike seen without brakes.

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