Posts Tagged ‘fixed gear’

The Longest Fixie Bike Skid Mark I’ve Ever Seen – A Third of a Block Long – Show the World Your Skillz!

Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

I guess if you put enough of your weight forward and you have a steep enough hill, you could skid forever:

Click to expand

But this is not an example of  an exemplary braking system, IMO

Our Newly Beiged Market Street is Already Marred by Bicycle Skid Marks

Monday, December 7th, 2009

See? At this rate, this part of Market Street won’t stay beige very long.

Still, a lot of those fixed gear bike riders have no other way of stopping, so That’s How It’s Gotta Be.

Click to expand: 

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(Guess which mark (nicely modulated, made using disc brakes) is mine…)

Wouldn’t green be a better color?

Fixed Gear Bike Riders Have a Tough Time On Hilly Haight Street

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Some fixed gear bike riders have it tough because they don’t have brakes on their bikes. So when they have to stop on the bottom of an incline they need to skid their rear tires. This leaves a loooong skid mark on the pavement, as you can see. 

Take a look at this awesome video here to get the idea. Some rydahs run into trouble though - like Tony here, who was “surprised” to encounter a bus, at a bus stop, on a bus route, in Manhattan.

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Let’s be careful out there:

“The EMT said if it wasn’t for my dreads, I would have had a massive concussion

We’ll close with Morrissey’s thoughts on the matter:

“No brakes, I don’t mind.”

The Fixed Gear Bike Crowd Now Turns to Mountain Biking

Friday, April 18th, 2008

What’s the funniest line in this article from San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Dan Giesin – Single-minded cyclists have old-school cool 

“We’re shedding new light on an old tradition,”

“You feel like a purist,”

“You don’t need all those fancy gears.”

Too many gears can actually spoil the ride.

“…we single-speeders…”

“They are such a cool group,”

“It’s kind of a counter-culture,”

“There is that underground element: a little bit different, a little bit dangerous.”

This is called starting your own league, so it’s the same old thing. These people aren’t really dangerous either. They’re just having fun on bikes, nothing wrong with that. But you can have fun on bikes with or without gears, right?

There’s probably a more extreme element of fixed gear MTB-ers out there that eschews even having brakes. The photo below clearly shows the typical non-fixed, freewheeling setup:

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simondbarnes via Flickr

It’s the same crowd that’s attracted to fixed gear city bikes that find single-speed mountain bikes appealing.

And arthroscopic surgery is becoming cheaper and cheaper these days, so you should get in on this fun as well.