Now I'm not dissing fixie riding - it's a beautiful thing. We all know there's a real culture of fixie riders, especially with the messengers. But let's all be honest with ourselves. Up until about a year or two ago only messengers and a select few others were on these things, but at the last Critical Mass I rode in the crowd had a huge percentage of fixie riders. There were more fixies than I could count.
Now it's cool and all that people try new things. After all, everyone has a right to hop on a fixie and custom paint it and get a carbon front wheel and add a top-tube pad for extra cool points, then put on their hottest outfit to ride around in. It's the hipster version of an Escalade on 22's.
But when I see the list of people picking up on the trend these days it's kind of disheartening. Lots of 'indie' types, lots of 'creatives', lots of 'I'm not ready to be a 30-something yet so I'll get a fixie to feel young again'.
Oh well, in a few years when it cools off there'll be a lot of good deals on Craigslist...
It's funny to see fixies picked up so much on the fashion side too - this site included. Streetwear blogs have a thing for fixie riders, and the Mash SF shirts are a hot item. I even saw cats in Hawaii sporting Mash shirts...but I seriously only saw one fixie bike on the whole island of Oahu while I was there!
I've been riding for years, first with BMX as a kid (I still have a flatland bike) and now city non-fixie biking. I guess it's good to see people take up biking, but hopefully it sticks past the point where fixies aren't as trendy anymore.
Thank you for letting all of us know how cool you are, because you were riding befor it was cool.
I've never ridden a fixie, and have no plans to start. I just call trends when I see them...
For example, Stussy just released a shirt with a gearwheel all over print. Don't try and tell me that would have happened if fixie culture wasn't trendy right now...
why does every old /new thing have to be like "i was first so im coler than you beacuse i was first" it would be the same if it was mountain bikes. so its a trend, have fun with it and build bike communitys and friendships that last after the trend dies and where all riding cross bikes again. your bikes cool lets go ride to the____. five bucks says i can beat you to the____. yo dog where did you get that rim?
This rad little shop called____. the people that own it are coll and having this event. wana come?
Two facts for your consideration Sean:
1. Most messengers do not ride a fixed gear setup.
2. Referring to the bike as a "fixie" fits you right in w/ the same crowd you are so eloquently trying to insult.
Two facts for your consideration Mr. Panda:
1. This article has nothing to do with messengers, but the posers who imitate them. And don't try and say they had nothing to do with making fixies popular.
2. Would fixed-gear track bike make you happier? How about direct-drive single gear bike? Please... Here's some advice for the future - keep it up, arguing semantics will *always* make you sound smart ;-)
Jeez, at least spell it right. It's "tarck bike".
It is the culture behind the fixed gear bike that interested me in them in the first place. Watching youtube videos of something so alien to me, which also looked like a great time, how can you blame me for wanting one?!?!?
You have portrayed yourself as the prototypical non-conforming multi-gear cyclist. And to you, all I am is a poser, a wanna be alleycat, inner city, no-brake fixie-punk. Well, in actuality I'm building my first fixed gear as we speak. I also race standard road bikes, I'm an educated college student, and I enjoy all sorts of cycling.
Before you go classifying the "fixie scenesters", maybe you should get to know them...or better yet...get to know yourself.
dude i make my own fixed gear bikes from scratch. im tired of pansy ass kids having their parents pay for bikes just so they can fit in at Critical mass. hahaha.
Dude. You forgot to mention that they all wear black rimmed glasses and own iMacs. But seriously, I love how all the bandwagoneers get all pissy (see above) when you call em on the fact they’re biting pop culture. I’m from Bike Mecca Razor Blade City and I can’t tell you how many numbskulled, chrome bag fumbling, capri pant greasing morons roll fixies (or more appropriately “tarck bikes”, hahaha).
Here’s the rub. The fact that they’re all hipsters is beside the point, you’d expect that from trend following mods and mooks. The real problem is they’re hopping onto bikes that take serious skill to roll like a pro with little, if any, experience. Enough with the bs about them “getting into biking”. I’ve been plowed by these same morons when they lose control in downhill stops or when they take a hard turn and they’re pedal dips and scrapes, placing their graceful ass straight on the concrete. Fixies are serious bikes that require a serious rider and I challenge any self respecting cyclist to tell me otherwise.
Color schemes and straight lines make for a pretty bike but when that sh*t puts me in danger I gotta get the hell outta dodge. I can respect people getting into biking. But what I can’t respect are jackassed trend followers hijacking the scene and acting like the wrote the book on what a “true cycling experience is” only to leave a sour taste in mine and the mouth of anyone else who actually deals with these people day in and day out.
Lets settle this once and for all. Meet me at the monkey bars for an uphill race at 3pm sharp. I’ll blow that little Castro hat right off your head.
kind of bums me out a lot of kids just get their parents to buy them 1500 dollar bikes because its cool now. fixed gear bikes have been around since the early 1900s and will be after these uber hipsters are gone. its just like skateboarding/bmx/blah blah blah it will get big..then get lost behind something else and then i can pick up a lot of great frames and parts on craigslist for cheap.. im into it.
I have been biking since I was 4 and when fixed gear riding became popular even I had to join; having experienced one I will have one in my collection as long as I am alive. They are an entirely different beast and as castro said, to ride one competently is not for everyone.
I think this surge is great for the biking industry and for many, an oppurtunity to transform a formerly "outdated" bike into a new riding machine, despite what their intentions may be. Just wondering, who the h311 BUYS a $1500 fixie?
Minneapolis!!!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=45153298&l=d4a00&id=13951433
haha you missed the trend look at your comment date and the date of his posting
Its hard to not have a good time on a bike. Everybody should be riding bicycles, I think everyone would be happier if they rode bike as much as I do. To be stoked in any way about any sort of cycling is a great thing, no matter who you are. So I really don't care if it's trendy for people to be riding track bikes on the street, and for some of them, for no other reason than the fact that it's trendy. But what bugs me is the fixie hipster who buys a bike and starts riding around town, being all cool and shit, switching between sidewalks and cycle lanes, traffic lights and crosswalks, and not being able to stop in time, because the real pretty bike has no brakes. People in my city are annoyed by cyclists, and it's not really very good advocacy for the cycling community when inexperienced nicely dressed rockers are riding around on cool bikes with no brakes.
I love fixies, in the right hands they are safem but then thats about any bicycle, a trend? who knows, they said that about bmx back in the day, its still popular today, and at 38 ive just given up bmx due to too mant injuries racing, but i still love it, i raced track bikes in the early 90's , and rode one as a winter hack, i always have a front brake, much safer, these bikes are much easyer to maintain, and originaly didnt appeal as much too thiefs, although going on what alot of fixie riders ride know i gues more pricy bikes, cool bikes, if it gets bums on seats, its a good thing, but only for the experienced rider,
zed,, uk
Boy, where's Rodney King when you need him? Bikes are cool. People are cool. How cool that so many different kinds of people can ride so many different kinds of bikes. Hipsters on fixies, gangsters on lowriders, citizens on commuters, jocks on hardtails, crusties on singlespeeds, geeks on road bikes, motorheads on downhills, cops on cop bikes. It's all good and it's way better than cars. Have fun, be safe, celebrate diversity, love one another, ride bikes and smile.
mr. panda told you fag. you suck for calling fixed gear bikes fixies. you're almost 30 and i hate you
You're a fucking idiot. You're comparing oversized rims on an SUV to riding a fixed gear bike? Please kill yourself.
P.S
I rather go riding with a "hipster" then those yuppie douche bags in the rainbow colored lycra stargate sg1 uniform.
u trying to fade?! on fixies bitch nigga
I used to be a lycra wearing "shifty" biker... now i'm a 30 somthing SS rider that is hell bent on blowing up the Tour De' whatever wannabe group rides on my fixed gear. Nothing like climbing past them as they drop to the granny gear!!
