London Fixed-gear and Single-speed SJS Cycles

Fabio Parra had the worst bow-legged, frog-in-a-box pedalling style

my pedaling style would be 'pig in sauna having seizure'

I think there is only a period of about 2-3 years that I have not ridden a bike? So I don't see why I wouldn't be still doing it in 5 years?

especially if you run brakeless ;)

probably not. but it's fun while it lasts

Hopefully I will still be riding in 25 years, and I'm already an old git.

Ain't modern medicin great!

Toodle pip.

I'll be riding bikes until I'm physically incapable. Always have, see no need to stop.

Yay! medicine conversion course, god i'm looking forward to starting that.

that sums it up perfectly for me too. and though i mainly ride fixed i do get a kick out of gears, mtbs, etc.

I get a kick out of watching jonny ride.

Will I be riding in five years time?

Who knows. All I know is when I reduced the amount I was riding bikes when I was an undergrad at uni it did get me down. Now I just wish I could have that riding time back.

I quit riding yesterday. I've seen the light and it's hoverboarding..

Where do you go mountain biking? I'm looking for people I can con intoconvince to start fixed wheel offroading...You know you want to.

object, used to live within 10 mins of epping forest so always out there. but mainly we could get the train down to petersfield and go and hit the south downs. have been other places too.

problem is a no longer have my mtb (tho it is with a mate who can i borrow it from). i converted it to SS but he has put gears back on it. i did cross country rather than downhill. never mtb'd fixed but could easily be CONvinced if i had the wheels

South downs could be fun. I grew up in North Yorkshire so am well versed in riding up hills too (Though I'm a smoker now so that could be interesting).

I've also never been offroad fixed but am building a bike at the moment. Should be finished in January(ish) but you'll know when it is because I'll have plastered it over the "face/bike thread"

Expect me to start bugging you around about then :]

come and visit me in scotland.....join me on my fixed jaunts around the seven stanes...:)

will look out for it Object and yep, will be well up for revisiting the south downs for some off road action. i am sure there will be others on here who would be up for it too so let's start a thread when your bike is ready. nice one.

Have done the South Downs Way in a day on fixed, plus other bits and pieces. Makes a nice change occasionally...

Bucks Fixed

Why would I (or anyone) stop riding? I've been on a bike since I was 5 (or less, maybe I had a tricycle before then) and it's always been my first choice of transport. There's no reason to stop. Most Audax riders are 50+ agewise and they happily churn out 600k on a weekend. Cycling is for all ages.

Hopefully I'll be in Australia by then and as long as my poor old, wrecked knees hold up, I'll be riding... Way of life innit?
Gotta say the fixed thing has injected loads more fun into cycling for me, it used to be something I just did everyday without thinking about it... Now I'm determined to become a regular at Herne Hill next year and actually take part in an 'organised' sport, which I haven't done since playing footy as a teenager... That's gotta be a good thing... No, a great thing! :-)
And Aerospokes look really cool... ;-)

@Scottnotscot, is that an open invite? I may need to find some off road panaché before hand It's been a while (Not that I have any onroad panaché).
@ Jonny, Done. I'll start pimping the concept like hell when the DMR is ready.
@BMMF, Beautifully written, it sounds like an epic day. I want some of that now please thankyous

of course...i'm in need of fellow nutters to share the joy of off road fixed in the wonderfully rocky scotland....it's fun as hell....so if anyone is visiting scotland,let me know....my door is always open! (except at night...and when i'm out....and...you know what i mean)

Makes me glad I'm using my DMR frame. Plenty of crotch clearance :]

Love the south downs, have been riding ss mtb for a year and a bit cos i was getting fed up with gears breaking all the time. Did SD's a month ago with geared friend nice and muddy, bivi bagged it overnight and carried on when it was light, was waiting at the top of every hill for him to catch up. Am building up my first fixie for daily commute and will never go back to public transport, so hope to be riding in 5-10-20.......forever years

south downs is prob doable on fixed, but once it gets technical like seven stanes?! you have to be a nutter. ive seen some vids of the loops up there...suppose to be more extreme than the welsch ones. cli-machx and cwmcarn have good fast downhills, dunno how they can be done on fixed...and how about jumps and drop offs?!

im up for a south downs mtb run guys if you can get that organised. but not fixed. as much as i like riding fixed, i love going down a singletrack fast

Done and done. I'm using a SS mountain bike hub with an ISO mounted Spocket for the fixed so fast will also be doable if I can be arsed turning the wheel around.
As for the drop offs/jumps who knows. Could just prove entertaining whilst doing it on fixed (Better find my helmet).

I've got mad skills for the fixed jumps and drop-offs. What I mean is, mad bike-carrying skills :)

Where's the fun?!? I haven't been injured for literally weeks...

the drop offs and jumps on seven stanes courses are either on black sections,which you either choose to ride or continue with red route....the reds tend to have smaller stuff....a small,say 2ft drop is rideable fixed....just speed up and wheelie drop it....same as you would on a freewheel....if anything is too extreme...just get off and walk round it....the fun is just in doing something different for a change....it's easy to ride a red route singlespeed...it's more of a challenge to do it fixed....which is what appeals to me...:)

Sounds sensible. I suspect I'll be trying out both. Though, maybe singlespeed whilst I get used to mountain biking again would be sensible (Crazy long, i.e. not bmx, wheelbase).
What ratio / gear inch are you pushing)

I saw some ridiculosly chopped flat bars the other day that really got on my tits, they were literally the size of both of the dudes hands put together, now why the hell would you need handle bars shorter than the length of your pedals??? ok ive got chopped risers but they aint that extreeme

I'll definitely be riding for the next four years as my degree is that long and cycling is my main form of transport to and from campus. The tube is far too expensive for me! Plus I really enjoy it. I don't drive (I've never had a single driving lesson) and don't want to learn to either - I'm quite a nervous car passenger let alone driver.

After I graduate I'm pretty sure I still will be riding, I've cycled for as long as I can remember. I think it's likely I'll be riding fixed for a while too - I don't like gears that much. I find two on my Brompton irritating let alone 21!

@Object17 - I was 38x18 SS, and ended up happy on 39x17/16 fixed for stuff like the Ridgeway and South Downs Way. You can still descend at nearly 30mph if necessary, but just about get up the steep stuff. That was with a 2.3 Conti Vert in the front (rigid fork) and 1.85 Panaracer Fire XC in the back. And a rear brake :)

I quite like the 18 on my road bike - mainly for hills...

... I don't mean getting up them; I mean creating virtual hills by sticking it in 53x13 on some pissy little drag during a boring flat ride :)

@ BMMF, I was considering starting out with 36*18 fixed and 36*16 free. I suspect that'll likely change as time goes on though. I'm sticking 2.2s front and back too, but you know what new builds are like. I suspect I'll have changed various things after the first couple of rides.
@ Megaman, I ride flats cut down to about 310mm on my Fixed. They make gaps between buses lots of fun. Plus as most cars are narrower at pedal height than they are at bar height it can make sense to have marginally narrower handlebars than pedal width.

Sounds reasonable. I went for bigger gear fixed cos i) momentum effect ii) easier to keep control during descents iii) easier to/more likely to stand up and take some wait off yer bum now and again. YMMV :)

get ready for a rude shock if cycling in any of the city's, drivers are crzy!

my fixed off roader has a choice of 38x16 or 34x16...but...it's a 29er with 2.2" tyres,so it needs lower gears to get the same feel as a 26" wheel.

Maybe 36*16 would be better for the fixed? Damnit too many considerations.

I've been riding for over 10 years, have seen a lot of trends come and go - I remember when couriers rode mountain bikes because they were cool.

Will the whole Fixed / SS scene remain this high-profile for ever? Unlikely. But will there still be people who chose to ride those style of bikes, very much so - just as another group will migrate to some form of geared bike but still remain riding.

Yeah, saw some pretty stupid driving over there last year...
The Belgians still win hands down tho', closely followed by my Spanish compatriots, specifically my dad... He crazy behind the wheel... :-S

Bike Snob NYC has some great articles on this I was reading the other day, about the demise of it as a fashion.

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2007/11/bsnyc-fixed-gear-apocalypse-watch.html

It's an interesting concept, I've been really into riding since I was about 14. I rode trials for about 3 years, then got a girlfriend and stopped. Then I kind of got back into it then stopped, and then I got a BMX and rode park for about a year and a half, and if then you'd have told me that in 2 years I'd be riding a bike which fits me and has drop bars, I'd have NEVER had believed it. But I started riding singlespeed before going fixed, and now, its just so great to get around on. The ultimate in travel, I use it every day, I NEED it, the thought of spending £2 on a bus fare is absurd to me now!

Riding on a low budget since I was 14 I've built up a collection of tools, spare parts, and all the knowledge to keep riding no matter what goes wrong. For this reason, five years from now, I can't imagine stopping riding fixed. And if I did, it would probably be the thing I could just get straight back into, well I hope so.

regardless of how people get into fixed, I reckon that many people stick with fixed because they realise that it actually makes a lot of sense when people consider their riding needs...its more fun, you are more involved, it makes you stronger, less maintenance, lots of dope bikes to chose from etc etc...so fixed basically has both the cool and functional factor, which is why I think it has become so popular...I don't think it will go out of fashion that quickly because it is such a sensible way of riding in the city and nearly all who ride fixed realise this...how many people try it out and don't like it? not many I imagine...

Peace

oh, and I'll definitely be riding in 5 years...

Similar to me but mbt and bmx. The low budget thing I am with you too. That was one of the things that really put me off of mbting in the 90's was the you must have a 1k machine minimum and the snobbery.

Snobbery sucks. Riding rules.

I'll still be riding in 5 years..

probably still trying to get there

You could get there in 4 with tribars and a skinsuit.

where do I sign?

Here: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

got a pen?

stompy does.