fixed gear rush

New York City bike messengers have ridden fixed-gear bikes for years. The best bike for them was a track bike; Single speed “fixed” gear, no brakes. Movies have shown couriers weaving in and out of traffic, clinging to taxis and buses, and portraying themselves as biking outlaws, if not criminals.

This minimalist bike has now gained a resurgence among universities and urban centers. The bikes have fewer parts to break or wear out, cost less, and are less desirable to a thief, or at least they were before the new popularity. This article will explain what all the fuss is about and how this unusual bike can be a valuable part of an adult recreational cyclist’s bike stable.

First, let’s run through some background on this interesting bike to explain how it got to where it is today. All late 19th century bicycles had single speed “fixed” gears and the “freewheel” did not arrive until the early 20th century. When people are unfamiliar with a fixed gear bike, they ask “How can you stop it?” and “Can you slide?” I like to use the analogy of a child’s tricycle to explain. The trike has the pedals and cranks directly attached to the front wheel and when you pedal the trike moves forward and when you resist the pedals it slows down. This is exactly how a trail bike without brakes can change speed.

When bike racers ride a track bike at a velodrome, they’re all riding bikes with no brakes, so no one can slow down faster than the next person. This allows a group of runners to coexist safely on the edges of the track. When one rides a track bike on the road with no brakes other than the braking ability to resist the pedals, the situation changes. Bike messengers think it’s cool to ride a bike in the middle of traffic with no brakes. However, they tend to be expert cyclists who can plan well in advance to avoid collisions in most cases. What makes this concept interesting is when a college student or recreational cyclist with undeveloped skills hits traffic on one of these machines and can’t deal with the limitations. This is not only incredibly dangerous but insane! Many cities like Austin, TX are banning brakeless “fixies” in their urban environment for legitimate safety reasons.

I have a track bike that I race at the velodrome and I also have another one that I ride on the road. How can it be done safely? The answer is simple; I installed a front brake on the road fork and now have a bike that can stop as easily as any other. It also has the advantages of a fixed gear that I am going to discuss and that revolutionizes my training and riding experience. It can for you too.

Fixed-gear road bikes were used in the Tour de France until the 1930s. The organizers knew that the single-speed bike was much more challenging than multi-gear bikes, and therefore banned “sissy” bikes for years. These bikes actually had two gears. The rear wheel had what was called a “flip-flop” hub that had a gear on each side. The smaller gears were used on the flats and descents, while a larger gear (read: lower gear) was used for mountain climbing. Riders had to stop at the bottom of steep climbs and remove the rear wheel, flip it over, and install it in the lowest gear. They went up the mountain, stopped at the top, and reversed the process.

As a side note, Tullio Campagnolo invented the “quick release skewer” in 1927, which not only made the business of fixing racing punctures easier, but revolutionized tire changing in races like the Tour de France. Riders had a huge advantage with the quick release instead of dealing with wing nuts, which were standard issue.

Enough background! Why the hell would an adult recreational cyclist want to train on a fixed gear bike? I think there is a better answer than the one Sir Edmund Hillary used when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. (The answer was, “Because he’s there.”) The answer lies in the concept of cycling as the Fountain of Youth: intensity.

While we spend a lot of time discussing the best ways to change gears, we don’t spend a lot of time working on pedaling and cadence. With a fixed gear, you are freed from the worries of gear selection as you only have one! Well, you’re not exactly relieved of gear selection concerns, you only are when you’re driving! It is very important to choose the right equipment before the trip.

Assuming you agree that intensity is a key ingredient to enjoying cycling as a way to stay young, and the fact that as we age we tend to get busier rather than less busy, a fixed-gear bike is an amazing way to pack an incredible workout into a short amount of time. The reason is this: a 30 mile ride on a road bike will have a large amount of inertia involved. 30 miles on a fixed gear is 30 miles! Also, there is a bonus that is not available on normal road bikes: turning downhill.

When I take the fixie out on the highway around San Antonio, I have to choose my gears so I can get up the hills and still hold on after I crest the hill. It’s an interesting challenge to think about the trip before it happens so you can choose the right gear. I have a collection of chainrings and sprockets, so I’ve learned over time which gears work and which don’t. This is one of the best parts of cycling. We can “fail” by doing something like poor gear selection and the worst that can happen is that we have to go up a hill, hit the brakes on a descent, or get dropped by other riders. That “failure” is what makes us learn. That’s why we train and that’s why cycling is so amazing.

Every time I ride the fixie I am fascinated by the elegance and simplicity of a bicycle. It’s amazing to think that this same type of bike was ridden over incredible distances and incredible terrain by riders like us, but born on a different day. The options are simple. Ride faster, go faster. Pedal slower, go slower. When the hill comes, your energy is what gets you to the top with the tools you have chosen before the trip. When you reach the top of the hill and everyone else is sailing, your real work has begun, the descent that turns your legs into a whirling dervish. At the end of the journey you know that you have really achieved something.

This feeling of accomplishment is what gets cyclists up in the morning to brave the elements, traffic and their demons and ultimately sets us apart from other sedentary people. Cyclists are truly a hardy breed and surprisingly we can become a cyclist at any point in life.

I know this article may not turn you all into a fixed-gear fan, but I hope it does give you some perspective on how we reached the Fountain of Youth. It is through efforts that exceed our limits and recovery, as our body responds by becoming stronger and more capable. A fixed gear bike isn’t the only way to stay in shape, but it’s certainly interesting!