Photo via HiStyley
Yall. I saw this bike, and wondered if it was a fixed gear, or ‘just a cruiser.’ Have yall heard of fixed-gear bikes? Does n e1 know how they work, and why people buy them? Feel kinda like it might be more advantageous to have a bike with multiple gears, but I think sometimes ’subcultures’ can develop out of people ‘being unreasonable.’
I think with only 1 gear, u have to do more work in order to ride ur bike fast. Might be some sort of new age weight loss gimmick, kinda like what ‘large people’ will do in order to shed some calories. Not sure how useful
One time I saw a group of fixed-gear alts riding around Austin, Texas with Lance Armstrong. Made me wonder if Lance is using fixed gear technology to win the Tour De France.
LIVESTRONG, yall!
Thought about buying a bike for $2000, but then I just bought a used Kia and drove it into a lake. Made a video of it for my Senior Art Project, just cuz it was ‘a metaphor’ about ’spending/wasting money on transportation’ and also ‘moms who drove their kids into lakes 2 commit suicide with them.’
Does n e 1 know if biking ’saves the environment’, or does it just ‘create more traffic problems/dangers since bikers don’t respect the rules of the road?’
Does n e 1 else ‘like to ride bikes’? Or do u live in a city [via suburbia] that isn’t very ‘biker-friendly’ except for ultra new rich neighborhoods that ‘put in a bike lane’ just to ‘look rich’ or whatever.
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57 Comments
I see people skateboarding on the street and it impresses me, I don’t get the same feeling with bikes fixed gear or not. Don’t like to ride bikes but I see ppl who ride bikes and they seem like cool, energy efficient sorts of ppl. Not sure tho?
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//////////Reply by RContino
//////////Posted August 31st, 2009 at 1:31 pm
@1111111,
Fixie’s are usually cooler than most other bikes because of their simplistic look – most ppl on the West coast call em skinny bikes. They’re also much lighter, faster, smoother, and practically maintenance free. They also allow for certain tricks and provide much better control when caught in the rain. It’s like driving stick vs. automatic.
Here’s a good blog post on how to buy em:
http://fixiecafe.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/finding-your-fix/
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bikesssssssssssssssssssssss
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but ya bikes are nice a summer must
cruiser board also
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Move to Northern Colorado…http://www.newbelgium.com/lpa?destination=tour-de-fat
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i ride bikes carles it gives me a chance to accessorize with old race equipment that is out of date but looks cool.
then i got hit by a car and broke both my hands :(
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//////////Reply by octopus magic
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
also old zipp wheels are all magenta and very alt
http://velospace.org/files/2598548379_00b91f9efd.jpg
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Bike!
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my city is fairly bike friendly, but the more suburban areas hate th bikes. been hit by cars three times.
<3 u crit. mass
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//////////Reply by tryin2findmyself
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 3:26 pm
@corydan,
<3 cirtty mass tooooo!!
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I just blogged about bikes yo,
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CRITS MASS
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//////////Reply by yellowPaiges
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
@anonypants, I hate you people!
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//////////Reply by T
//////////Posted April 3rd, 2009 at 12:45 am
@yellowPaiges, what’s wrong with crits mass? that kind of extreme political statement maintains the status quo. status quo being boringly slow progression. don’t hate just ’cause your too lame to see the truth!
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//////////Reply by octopus magic
//////////Posted April 3rd, 2009 at 2:57 pm
@T, critical mass is for faggots who dont accomplish anything
i can skid stop from the bronx to williamsburg.
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Kinda embarrassed that my bike has more than 1 gear. People think I’m lame, but I like the gearz. But sometimes the gears won’t work so it’s like I have a fixie but not really.
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I had a cruiser. Then my brother broke it. He borrowed my cousin’s bike. It got stolen. Had to buy two new bikes. My brother broke his.
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this post is about 2.5 years too late to be “relevant” Carles… there’s already a fixie backlash
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//////////Reply by sldkjas
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 3:20 pm
@XavierDeRosnay, 4 realz
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//////////Reply by cp
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 8:10 pm
@XavierDeRosnay, there WAS. now, who cares. me i am looking out for a sweet 3-speed.
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i live in austin and bikes are the trendy thing to do. alts get together and ride them to bars. you can’t take a drunk girl home on your bike tho.
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//////////Reply by corydan
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
@chillbro,
put her in the basket on yr handlebars
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//////////Reply by hey anony anony
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
@corydan, might need a bigwheel tricycle or a zany bicycle built 4 two (2)
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//////////Reply by sldkjas
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 3:21 pm
@hey anony anony, bikes are the trendy thing to do everywhere.
first?
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The fixed gear trend is infecting my college campus. Texas state university, a campus built on hills. It’s complettely stupid. Too bad all the boys that ride them make me wet my panties.
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i “have” a cruiser.
i like the whole
sometimes ’subcultures’ can develop out of people ‘being unreasonable.’
idea.
i think thats a lot of what i’m suposed to be doing and i feel guilty when i do like everyone else does. big box shopping, eating boring food, yoga etc.
it’s hard to both try and get some level of comfort while still rebelling against it (paraphrasing michael winter).
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the only meaningful bikes r fixed-gears and ALT mtn bikes [not the huge/idiotic-looking ones bros who 'haven't even been 2 utah/colorado' ride].
but only if ur mtnbike has hydraulics.
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I ride a Jeep.
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//////////Reply by sldkjas
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
@anon, how many doors does it have?
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//////////Reply by pooponyoursoul
//////////Posted April 3rd, 2009 at 2:26 am
@anon, miss mah Jeep.
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miatas are not bike friendly
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“…One time I saw a group of fixed-gear alts riding around Austin, Texas with Lance Armstrong. Made me wonder if Lance is using fixed gear technology to win the Tour De France….”
LOL
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//////////Reply by Ian
//////////Posted May 21st, 2009 at 1:02 pm
@dax jax, Haha, my thoughts exactly.
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i used to ride a “street bike” with multiple gears and handlebar brakes. then i ran over this foreign lady bc the brakes weren’t severe/immediate enough to stop me. she said if i promised to pray for her she wouldn’t sue me…?? [<3 foreigners] now i ride a fixie and can skid brake for foreigners who can’t read american english.
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//////////Reply by notafan
//////////Posted October 25th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
@smedly, skidding doesn’t help one stop faster, why do you think cars have ABS?
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OMG! I love people with gluttony probs more than I like bike riders. I have already expressed my hatred on HRO about bike enthusiasts one too many times. Stop pretending your cool because you ride a damn fixed gear; just admit that you’re poor and boring. Stop taking up the whole street with your stupid bike with its non existent safety features like you have some sort of cause. What’s your cause, annoying the shit out of people in cars? Hey look I can annoy the fuck out of people in cars who just sat through hours of traffic and just want to get home. Seriously! Every person I know who rides a fixie is a snob and a douche. Can’t even go to the store without some asshole on a fixie in my way. I laugh when you fall off your fixie because you think it’s cool to drink and ride some crappy ass bike as you hall ass in the streets. Well it’s not, your bike isn’t cool and your not cool, b/c hipsters are just high school rejects who relocate from suburbia to the inner city to be “accepted”. You were fug as hell, couldn’t get chicks and now you are still fug and you are trying to be unfug riding a fug bike, I just don’t understand. Please Carl do not buy a fixie buy a huge gas gussiling SUV!
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//////////Reply by boysmilk
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 4:49 pm
@yellowPaiges,
queer
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//////////Reply by ▲
//////////Posted April 6th, 2009 at 8:59 am
@yellowPaiges, you’re missing the whole ‘essence’ of being ‘alt’
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//////////Reply by Lance
//////////Posted June 13th, 2009 at 1:45 am
@yellowPaiges, Man I love this guy!!
Hahaha, well I laugh at every car I pass or cut off, please buy more gas for your dubbed out SUV! It makes it so much more fun riding in heavy traffic during rush hour! And to know it bugs you that much makes it all worth it.
Well I should probably hold on to the handle bars and look where I’m going now,, I gotta run this red.
Hahaha happy driving and see you out there, babe!!
thanks,
Lance
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//////////Reply by Red
//////////Posted August 21st, 2009 at 10:47 pm
@yellowPaiges,
ahah aww someones mad cuz all they do is wake up work sit in traffic for 3 hours and go to sleep.
while ppl with fixes have friends hang out go to the beach and have fun
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GEARS ARE 4 QUEERS
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//////////Reply by sam
//////////Posted April 3rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
BRAKES ARE FOR FAKES
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stopped ridding last summer after i was biking home drunk from a bar and hit the curb with my chin trying to hop a sidewalk… kids dont drink and bike
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//////////Reply by tryin2findmyself
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 6:38 pm
@h8rbro, dude riding drunk is the best part…
espcially down hills with nooo breaks yipppppie
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//////////Reply by yellowPaiges
//////////Posted April 3rd, 2009 at 7:48 am
@tryin2findmyself, ok when you end up with permanent brain damage I will laugh at you for being a moron. Wear a helmet.
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you should have posted this 2.345 years ago. fixie bike crashes are the leading cause of death among hipsters
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I ride a multigear skateboard.
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i wish i were rich enuff 2buy a fixed gear bike. i’d finally b socially accepted.
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I ride a 10 speed Schwinn from the ’70s, is that more alt than a track bike?
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//////////Reply by no
//////////Posted April 5th, 2009 at 11:24 am
@dick wad, no.
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its weird how fixie people are obsessed with making their bike lighter by removing components like brakes and kickstands, to make the bike weigh less, then they drink a lot of beer and gain like 15 pounds in useless belly fat. i commute to work and back on my p.o.s. and when i go through downtown the college kids race past like we are racing to the same spot, but im just going home.
short person in southern colorado
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thinkin about converting my dan deacon LP into a frisbee
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//////////Reply by ......
//////////Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
@daffy, this is my favorite comment ever
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zomg carles i have been asking you for this post for years now… bout tyme
fixie gheys 4 lyfe
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h8 hipster fggts who wait until spring quarter to ride there fixies 2 school b/c they r 2 much of a pussie 2 ride in the winter and than fill up the bike racks with their “cliched” fixies.
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//////////Reply by Lance
//////////Posted June 13th, 2009 at 1:48 am
@mat,
Amen brother!
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the title of this post is exactly the same as one i saw on fo’chan yesterday. Is /b/ the testing grounds for carles’s ideas?
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i dont have a fixie as i cant jump gutters when i’m feeling dangerous without suspension bc im a faggot & shit. My bike has a little seat on the back so i can take my bros/coma’d bitchez on it.
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I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like
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frst
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im amazed it took u so long to write about fixed gears.
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frlz, such a long over-due post.
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miss U RZR scooters…
Is my ‘63 Schwinn Racer alt? It isnt fixie, but its only got one gear.
Old peeps are all the time like “I had a bike like that when I was a kid”
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athens, ga is very bike friendly. there’s definitely a culture built around it. it’s “hip”
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//////////Reply by no
//////////Posted April 5th, 2009 at 11:26 am
@Michelle, there’s a culture built around it everywhere…
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Car companys have tried to brainwash america into thinking that bikes aren’t “cool” and what is “cool” is new piece of shit that gets replaced every other year with a new model.
As far as “cultures” being built around bikes, parts of countries like India and China relied on bikes for daily transportation until fairly recently. SUVs are for suckers with kids, debt, and fat fucking bodies.
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talk about something new plz
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more info
lafixed.com
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I live in Astoria, NY, & alts ride bikes a lot. We have a bicycle lanes for like 2 yrs now, but the mnstrmrs are mad at us for getting them (via SUVs).
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have you considered an adult tricycle?
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is this for real?
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does it just ‘create more traffic problems/dangers since bikers don’t respect the rules of the road?’
swallow glass.
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this is hilarious. i’m not sure if this is a joke put great post.
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this is genius! fixed gear my ass. and always buy a KIA over a fixed gear. although both typically come without brakes.
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hiiii!! please help me with my research paper by filling out a survey on fixed gear bikes! Please forward to friends as well! THANKS!!! http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cm02WTJxbXpHc0tmNzY2NjhOX2RPSnc6MA.
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brisbane is full of livestrong cyclists that get ‘hella pissed off’ at bros on fixies [via no lights/brakes/gears/spandex/respect]
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This whole rant makes absolutely no sense. Not only does it show a great abundance of ignorance on the writers part it is hard to read, thanks to it’s lack of real English. Good think you’re an art student.
As for the fixed gear thing, it may have become a sub-culture, it is important to realize that fixed gear bikes are the earliest form of bikes. In the early days of bicycles there were no gears or freewheels. It was thought by many, when gears became available, that it was less masculine to ride a geared bike rather than just using your strength and muscle power to move you. Fixed gear bikes with out brakes on the street are a terrible idea, it is against the law in many states and should be enforced. That’s not to say that bikes without brakes have no place in the world. In velodrome racing, think bicycle Nascar, bikes are not allowed to have brakes and because everyone is going about the same speed and in the same direction there is no need for them. For those “alts” as you call them that think they can stop faster with a skid than with a brake, pick up a physics book and read up on friction. A tire in a skid had given up nearly all of its traction or friction. Where as a brake acts as a second source of friction with the wheel. So that’s two sources of friction with the use of a brake vs. less than one with the skid.
Just thought I’d add my knowledge to the conversation.
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No, that’s a beach cruiser. They are obnoxiously popular in Southern California amongst sorority girls, who talk on their cell phones while riding them. I think they would definitely lack the intellect/coordination to ride a fixed gear, or possibly a bike with more than one speed. A fixed gear has one speed, but it adjusts itself to your riding, hence sophisticated and popular in my old college, Oberlin.
I was lucky to find an old 10 speed 70s Schwinn, but even someone stole the rear tire of my bike during finals for law school in front of the law school. Alright, South Central.
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Singletrack riding is the only riding…and as for riding through town…love gears.. gotta have crossover tires…its nice having suspension and ability to rip through alleys and off steps to move through town a lil quicker…. urban assault/singletrack/disc brakes….. lil harder through town but it makes you work that much more… fixed gears are good for bike messengers…but as for indie rocker peeps that think its cool to have some cinelli with chopped bars and no brakes…??? really…. i mean REALLY??? ride trails not traffic
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fixies are awesome so dont talk down on them just because you’ve never ridden one and therefore can’t see how much fun they are
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lance armstrong is not using fixed gear technology to win the tour de france you idiot
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