I know, I know... It doesn't have an engine! But, between needing to do something to offset some major health issues and living downtown where even riding a scooter isn't practical for parking I figured I would give it a shot. I figured I would replace the lower grade components as needed in order to not go broke. (since most bicycle "enthusiasts" seem to think that exorbitant amounts of money and elitist attitudes are the only way to ride a bicycle around here, and I refuse to spend more on a bicycle than my scooter)
Kept it simple and for $250, I don't think I did too bad. There are a few things that need swapped out, but the guys over at State Bicycle Co. (a local Phoenix business) are the biggest help taking this Amazon special and getting it eventually to a nice bike.
Now, if I don't kill myself on this fixed gear craze this could seriously be fun... after I'm done dying of exhaustion and heat stroke.
Syd wrote:Looks nice, neo. I don't understand the fixie thing. Bikes are efficient. Fixies are not. Good workout, I guess.
They are mechanical simplicity. Just one gear, lightweight and not a huge amount of investment. The main reason I put off getting a bike downtown were the bike snobs who kept forcing that "You have to spend money to do it right" BS in my face every time I tried to buy a bike. Also, I don't need 32 gears when the metro area is flat... and I never even use those shifters anyways when I did ride a bike as a kid!
The fixed gear logic fits well and keeps it clean and simple. It's a bike, so why overcomplicate it? Buy quality parts for durability and leave it at that. Besides, most of my friends who have them easily get 10-15 miles a commute out of them without too much effort, so they can't be that bad. Once I finally get around to adjusting things and getting the tires aired up I'll be giving it an initial run tomorrow to work downtown.
Yep. Mechanical simplicity. We've only had, oh, a century or so to perfect the coaster technology, but them newfangled coasters must be unreliable.
I do NOT get the hipster / courier-wannabe fascination with fixies.
I guess they're fine for the sub-idiots who blow through intersections rather than stop like the rest of us, as they can't spin their cranksets around to get 'em started again from a stop.
I got yer fixie right here:
Feel da rhythm! Feel da rhyme! Get on up! It's Buddy Time!
Sorry it's tough to scoot the way through, but bicycles are good exercise, and obviously the carbon footprint is whatever food you shovel into your maw after.
Denver is HUGE bicycle city, which is good and bad. I wholeheartedly support it, but not the atypical suburbanites/armstrong wannabes who ride them. Very annoying when they won't stop and go flying through an intersection while I already started moving. A few days ago I just decided to say screw it and keep moving forward, and force the bicyclist to either stop or dump it instead of me. He wasn't pleased.
PeteH wrote:Yep. Mechanical simplicity. We've only had, oh, a century or so to perfect the coaster technology, but them newfangled coasters must be unreliable.
I do NOT get the hipster / courier-wannabe fascination with fixies.
I guess they're fine for the sub-idiots who blow through intersections rather than stop like the rest of us
but either way this post has graced me with a theory as to why MB 'works' so well generally. Scooter riders, one imagines, might tend to be more representative than the general population of certain characteristics concerning judgment and empathy; surely more scooter riders would fall into the 'I don't care what others think about superficial aspects of my life' category than a random population sample. And perhaps because some of us suffer silly judgments based on things as simple as size of our vehicle or where the gas tank is, we are less likely to judge others that way, as well. We're just get-along people, I think.
I don't understand the appeal of a fixie over a standard one-speed.
I don't understand the point of insulting someone because I don't understand why they like what they like, however.
OK, not especially serious who chooses to ride what. I don't see the allure of the fixie, but let's say that's-just-me. Crank on.
[edit: let me clarify. I'm not trying to insult individuals here. But read on, as there's a class of folks I've really got issues with.]
I am dead serious, however, about the knucklehead bicyclists whose culture, at least in my town, dictates that stop signs, red lights, and even lights-and-siren emergency vehicles just mean that actually stopping is somehow optional. I cannot tell you the last time I actually saw a bicyclist stop at a red light in this town, much less at a stop sign.
This very group who screams about having equal access to the roads is the first group to abandon the rules and regs that keep us all safe, and for them, I have no respect and little sympathy. I suspect some will learn a rather cruel Darwinian lesson someday.
Feel da rhythm! Feel da rhyme! Get on up! It's Buddy Time!
The elitism and smugness in bike culture was a huge reason I didn't get a bike. It's the "One less car" morality and fanatical attacks on anyone who not only uses petrol or electricity to get where they want to go, but the attack on anyone who doesn't spend thousands on the *right* kinds of parts for the *right* kinds of bikes. Try to inquire about bike culture the same way you would inquire about, say, scooter culture or picking up a new instrument is greeted with distain at least and aggression at best. Terms like "poser" or "squid" are thrown around on forums and even in person until the offending noob is shuffled out the door.
That being said, I've been riding cycles too long to avoid traffic rules. I've seen both sides of that coin and it sucks.
It may not be everyone's thing, but aside from the ascetics of it, the bike is VERY light, fun and simple. Less moving parts+quality materials+proper matainance=more reliable. Basics of engineering. And, with the people who I know who are more into the fixed bike culture, it's a more fast and loose method: Not so many "rules", no silly spandex, no competing on who spent more than $10k on their bike before the other guy... and it's more gender equal. That's how my wife's best friend got into it and thus dragged me in kicking and screaming.
As for the fixed gear, I've got a flip-flop hub on it right now to get my legs. Once I get solid I'll flip to fixed gear to really start working the calves and thighs. Right now it's a matter of not dying, although I can't ride much until my new locks and lights come in to be all legal and to have the bike still be there after I have to lock it up. Although if I ride this to some of my installed gigs, I can stick it in the booth or backstage and it should be fine.
neotrotsky wrote:I'll flip to fixed gear to really start working the calves and thighs.
This I understand. To me bike has always meant transportation, nothing else. Fitness may be a side effect, but it's not been my first consideration when I rode or thought of riding. Also, until I moved to the PHX metro area, I lived in hilly areas: Flagstaff; Boulder, CO (worst bicylists in the world, hands down - only ones worse were the pedestrians); New England. A fixie on either side of a hill just doesn't sound fun.
Go for it, neo. It's a nice looking bike, bike's are easier to secure than scoots, and if it helps you physically that's a bonus. (I like the black/white too!)
I had someone explain the efficiency of a fixie to me in the following way.
A fixed gear bicycle/cyclist is able to use all of it's momentum more efficiently than a freewheel bicycle with brakes.
Their argument was that you're "wasting" energy by using your brakes, and pedaling to get back up to speed... and that the "fixie" requires the rider to slow down ahead of time by way of resisting forward momentum, allowing them to maximize all of their rolling momentum rather than using a brake to slow the bicycle down.
Same person also told me it is a better way to train muscles and strength on a bicycle compared to riding a geared bicycle that will let you take breaks from pedaling via coasting.
So, as far as being inefficient, I suppose it depends on how you look at it.
I can agree that it's a good workout, but you don't have a flywheel that can 'conserve' energy as you slow, so efficient? Maybe not. You have to expend energy to decelerate, then expend some more to accelerate again.
Feel da rhythm! Feel da rhyme! Get on up! It's Buddy Time!
Regardless of the bicycle's power train, a rider should still have a brake. There are times when you just won't have time to pedal to a stop. This world is full of unyielding objects and every little bit of control helps.
At what point does a hobby become an addiction? I'm uncertain, but after the twelfth scooter, it sorta feels like the latter...
Looking forward to an update about it from you in August.
Seriously though...you might want to take that front tire off and make sure the inner tube isn't twisted in there. I once had one that was twisted inside the tire and might have popped sooner or later...luckily I figured it out and fixed it before that happened.
Attachments
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Past bikes: 08' Genuine Buddy 125, '07 Yamaha Majesty 400, '07 Piaggio MP3 250, '08 Piaggio MP3 500, '08 Aprilia Scarabeo 500
Current bikes: Two '09 Genuine Buddy 125's
Congratulations on your purchase, I hope it serves you well. I am one of the elitists who pissed you off a few years ago (which you'll probably agree is not hard to do), and I'm glad to see you moving towards enjoying cycling. It's just about my favorite thing in the world.
Just to add some thoughts regarding fixed-gear riding- I can't speak to why the hipster youth embraced it, but I can say that in my messenger days there were good reasons why we preferred to set up our working bikes that way. Messenger riding involves a lot of close maneuvering around cars and pedestrians, a lot of direction changing and starting and stopping, compared to open-road riding like racers and triathletes do. The fixed-gear gives you very fine and immediate control of your speed, and thus helps you fit in gaps and move through traffic with less effort. There's no doubt in my mind that being able to coast should be considered an advantage on the open road, and I choose a conventional drivetrain for road riding, but in the heat of battle in city traffic the fine speed control of a fixed gear is a plus.
There is also, as someone mentioned above, a bit of a 'flywheel' advantage to fixed. When you stop pedaling a conventional bike, your legs will start to get heavy from resting and you will then have to select a gear and cadence to re-engage your self-propulsion. On a fixed-gear, the bike kicks its energy back into your legs. When you are on the bike all day, this has the effect of 'equalizing' your energy output over the course of your day. You actually feel fresher at the end of your day heading into the pub, assuming that your base fitness is pretty high.
Anyways, I would never tell a novice that they should start out riding fixed, or be in any hurry to try it- I think people who sail through intersections because they 'cant stop' are making a huge mistake and should quit doing that. I do believe its a great way to enjoy a bicycle, and a great way to get more of a workout, and to build smooth form. Be smart, alert, patient, and have and use a brake, and have fun.
I raced, toured and commuted in the Phoenix metro area from 1971 to 1986. The fixed gear (back then we added a front brake to a track bike) is a superb way to develop your 'spin' (smooth and extremely efficient pedaling - with a constant crank speed of between 110-130 rpm) and acceleration. For actual commuting at longer distances, the multiple gear ratio bike is a better choice. For flat land like the metro area, most of us would run a 'corncob' rear cluster - one tooth difference between each cog. After the first 20 miles, having just the right gear for wind and grade conditions was greatly appreciated - you would be surprised at just how much your legs can feel a one tooth gear difference.
The health benefits are tremendous; physiologically, a high mileage rider takes about a decade or so off his/her chronological age.
As an aside, the nice thing about the bicycle is that you cannot buy speed; a fit rider on a low end bike will humiliate an out of shape poser on his high dollar status symbol.
As with motorcycles and scooters, watch out for the morons in their cages and keep the shiny side up...
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