Fixie as an Around Town Bike

[Michael Katz]

Have a Bianchi Pista that's been gathering dust. Have decided to use it for local errands and to work on my pedal stroke. Put a front brake on, changed the chainring to a 39 (39x16 combo), put on Frog pedals for walkability and a behind the seat water bottle holder since there are no cage mounts on the frame. Any other thoughts on setting it up for my particular use?

More importantly, for those who use a fixed gear bike around town, any thoughts on developing safe and effective riding skills? Already caught myself trying to coast through a turn. Woke me up real fast!

[Fixed]

There ain't nothing to it you might want to learn to do a track stand sarting from a stop is a little different than on a road bike also after sprinting you might want to freewheel but you can't. cheers :beer:

[coylifut]

you've got all the skills you need already. just go out and pedal it and have fun.

[djg]

Have a Bianchi Pista that's been gathering dust. Have decided to use it for local errands and to work on my pedal stroke. Put a front brake on, changed the chainring to a 39 (39x16 combo), put on Frog pedals for walkability and a behind the seat water bottle holder since there are no cage mounts on the frame. Any other thoughts on setting it up for my particular use?

More importantly, for those who use a fixed gear bike around town, any thoughts on developing safe and effective riding skills? Already caught myself trying to coast through a turn. Woke me up real fast!

My guess is that you'll just get used to the fact that you cannot coast fater than you think. I'll bet that you do less and less of it over the next couple of weeks and that, before long, you just won't need to think about that aspect of it. Any place with an untrafficed loop would be fine for a little practice at corners, stops and starts, if you want a bit of practice outside of just riding.

As for changes--if it were me, I'd probably change the bars, as there aren't a lot of good hand positions on track bars and as I'm especially likely to want to ride the tops and hoods around town. Blinkie in the back maybe? Other than that, you should be good to go.

[Ray]

I think fixies are the best possible bike for riding in urban environments, but that may not be the best environment to LEARN to ride a fixed. I wasn't comfortable riding in traffic on mine at first, so I did a few solo rides and group rides on the country roads I spend most of my recreational riding on. After a few rides, I almost never forgot not to coast anymore and I started riding in traffic. The instant accelleration and speed modulation that you control with just your legs makes a fixie perfect for taking your place in the flow of variable speed urban traffic. Don't know exactly why, but it works.

Enjoy,

-Ray

[Dekonick]

I would still add a rear brake (if the pista allows for it... probably not)

consider bullhorn bars or moustache (suggested by others - never tired it myself)

I found that a trail that has hills, turns, etc is a great place to learn w/o fear of cars. I actually like riding my fixxie around the lake in Coulumbia (Ho Co) as there is eye candy, no cars, some hills (short but perfect for learning) and a 3 mile loop. Pedestrians are actually a welcome distraction (some eye candy...) as you learn to modulate your speed with your leg muscles v.s. brakes. I find that a 10-20 mile ride is actually a good short workout even at slow speeds (as you are constantly speeding up and slowing down) - well who am I kidding anyway - I am slow. :cool:

wish I had been riding fixed long ago...
my geared bikes have dust from lack of use the past few weeks... :D

Addendum - you will find that you wont use the brakes much at all once you get a feel for it - but it is nice to know they are there.

[Fixed]

I think fixies are the best possible bike for riding in urban environments, The instant accelleration and speed modulation that you control with just your legs makes a fixie perfect for taking your place in the flow of variable speed urban traffic. Don't know exactly why, but it works.

Enjoy,

-Ray bro it's magic,cheers :beer:

[Rapid Tourist]

Ah, urban fixing, there's nothin' better. I too run Frogs on my fixie, but I digress.

After a few rides , peddling constantly will become second nature to you and you won't make that mistake again. YOu have to learn how to take turns a little wider and more upright to avoid scraping bottom. Other than that its great, great fun. Ride on.

[Michael Katz]

Thanks to all for the comments and suggestions. Changing the bars is something I've kicked around but I think I'll ride for a bit before I decide. In the interim, I'm contemplating mounting a fake "hood", like a stoker has on a tandem, to match the hood from the front brake so I am not confined to the drops. Learning to do a track stand sounds like fun and a useful skill. Any hints on how to go about it?

[flydhest]

to learn to track stand, practice on a very slight slope. Spend time riding slowly in tight circles. I commute to work and see that trip as 10 successive opportunities to practice trackstanding. Track standing on a fixed gear is different than on a derailleur bike, but there are some complementarities to exploit, so if you can already track stand a derailleur bike, it should be little problem.

Some people I know can't stand rear brakes on fixed gears. I don't use a rear and never have, so I can't opine. Apparently, lots of people find that slowing with a brake screws up the feedback through the pedals. I've seen riders almost go down because the rear brake stopped the wheel and they didn't think about where the pedals were.

[Big Dan]

Rear brake will surely get you in trouble.......... :D

[Ray]

I've had the same experience. I wouldn't ride without a front brake, but I won't ride with a rear one. Controlling the rear wheel with your legs is the most natural thing in the world, but it's an active undertaking. A rear brake messes it up something fierce. When you're using a front brake, using your legs to control the rear isn't hard on your knees at all because the front brake is doing the lion's share of the work, but you have to adjust to the slowing with your feet and clamping a brake on the rear rim makes that a LOT harder to do for some reason.

-Ray

[Marron]

I'm with eveyone else on the rear brake issue; doesn't work for a fixie. I think it's worth acquiring some emergency rear wheel stopping technique if you're doing city riding. A full lock up isn't necessary and may be less effective than hopping the rear wheel from skid to skid.

[flydhest]

In my view the most important safety feature for any bicycle rider, but particularly for a fixed rider in an urban environment is located between your ears. I always chuckle at gits who say stupid things like "there's no way you can stop as quickly on a fixed gear without brakes as on one with brakes." Presumably, what they have in mind is some sort of test where both are going the same speed and calculating stopping distance or some such. Well, that's a faulty comparison. The question should be, can you stop in time to avoid hazards? In both cases yes, in general because one tends to let oneself go faster if you have brakes.

All the reasonable cyclists I know who commute on fixed gears in the city will ride differently in that context than when out on a road ride. As Eastwood said, "A man's got to know his limitations." I ride without a brake, but that doesn't mean that I go bombing down 16th Street in rush hour at 40 mph.

First things first, ride smart, and you'll ride safer.

[Nic Schmidt]

Not a bad idea to run slightly larger tires, or thicker casing...28's if you can fit'em. Flats aren't as quickly changed as you're used to with QR's.

[coylifut]

...so, I have a front brake. One the way down to start my ride, my legs look like egg beaters. I dropped the chain once and I was really glad to have a front brake. One thing I notice while riding my fixe is that I look farther up the road and pick way better lines. this bleeds over to the geared bike for a while, until it wears off. skipping and skidding the rear wheel between pedal strokes is a good skill to acquire, but I rarely use it because I don't like buying or changing tires.

[wanderingwheel]

I use a late 80's Bianchi Pista as my town bike now that I'm not close to any velodromes. It has bullhorns, a front brake, toe clips, and a seatpost rack. It makes a great town bike. On my bike it is impossible to fit a rear brake, and large tires can be a problem also. Even Michelin 23's can be a tight fit.

Sean