Teach me how to fixie

[Judd]

The internet has decided the following:
1. I’m building a fixie.
2. If I don’t like it, I can sell it to some sucker like Subby.
3. Building a bike makes someone cool and that my primary purpose in life is to make other people who ride bikes think that I am cool.

My plan is to post pictures along the way.

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[Judd]

@americancyclo 147264 wrote:

have you ridden fixed yet?

Does a coaster brake on my first bike in 1985 count?

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[vvill]

@Judd 147280 wrote:

Does a coaster brake on my first bike in 1985 count?

Yes, they all count! Coaster brakes, ~200rpm

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Judd 147280 wrote:

Does a coaster brake on my first bike in 1985 count?

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This is going to fun. Film your first ride please.

[Judd]

@ShawnoftheDread 147285 wrote:

This is going to fun. Film your first ride please.

I thought the same thing on my way home tonight every time I coasted. What’s the over/under on how many seconds it’s going to take before the first time I’m thrown over the handlebars?

[americancyclo]

The first few times you forget and try to coast, you’ll get a gentle reminder

[jrenaut]

Yes, gentle. So gentle.

The hardest thing for me at first was pedaling through turns. It felt really awkward. On the bright side, not being able to vary your cadence independent of your speed will make you a better cyclist. It forces you out of your comfort zone, whatever that may be.

[huskerdont]

Yeah, you’re not going over your handlebars; you’re just going to *think* you’re going over your handlebars. I still get a jolt when I haven’t ridden fixed in a couple of weeks and the bike reminds me.

Sharp turns really are the hardest. Sometimes I have to time my lean so I don’t strike a pedal.

[huskerdont]

Also, since you haven’t really ridden one, perhaps consider a flip-flop hub, which would give you the option of riding SS without being fixed. By just turning the wheel around, you could go from one to the other. My old fixie had one; I thought of it as just extra weight until after knee surgery when it was really nice to use for a while.

[vvill]

Sharp turns and the other thing is riding over bumps like bridge joints, etc. You can of course do hops still but it took me some time to really get used to it.

Also make sure your drivetrain is tightened down correctly, etc. before you go faster. Nothing like mashing down and having a chain slide off – much worse than forgetting you’re on a fixed drivetrain.

Personally I also had some pre-association of fixed gear riding with leg braking being the primary brake, but I found it made more sense just to ride the bike as a bike that doesn’t coast and use the front brake as I normally would. Later on I got used to using legs to slow down more, and even skip stops – but for learning it was easier to just use a normal hand brake. On most descents, etc. I still use my front brake plenty.

[americancyclo]

Riding in heavy traffic is also good practice. It forces you to extend your awareness a bit further and plan your cadence and power. I found that trying to minimize my time stopped at lights helped my pacing once I got on a fixed gear. You’ll also probably think “What have I done!?” for the first 500 feet of your first commute, but you’ll settle in pretty quickly I bet.

[EasyRider]

@americancyclo 147318 wrote:

Riding in heavy traffic is also good practice.

Judd, this is your mother. Please don’t practice learning to ride a fixed gear bicycle in heavy traffic.

[vvill]

@americancyclo 147318 wrote:

Riding in heavy traffic is also good practice. It forces you to extend your awareness a bit further and plan your cadence and power. I found that trying to minimize my time stopped at lights helped my pacing once I got on a fixed gear. You’ll also probably think “What have I done!?” for the first 500 feet of your first commute, but you’ll settle in pretty quickly I bet.

Yeah I think generally since riding a fixed has more “flow” you tend to be hyper aware of everything around you, which is actually a good thing for urban riding/commuting.

[EasyRider]

My two cents: for beginners, the feeling of “hyper-awareness” is a byproduct of realizing that your reaction time is not as good as it is with a geared bicycle, and so you look farther ahead for threats. For experienced riders who can handle a fixed gear bike as well as a geared one, it’s about looking for daylight so that you don’t have to bring the bike to a stop and start again in a high gear.

[huskerdont]

I will say I feel more in-tune to downtown-ish traffic and my surroundings riding fixed. The pedaling helps control speed more than when you’re relying on brakes (although I do have a front brake on mine because emergencies), so your spin syncs with traffic better, or at least it feels like it does. It’s also much easier to do track stands at lights and doing Idaho stops when fixed.

[Author]

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