ISO: Fixed Gear Riding Tips

[brewsmith]

Picked up a sweet frame (more details in the custom bikes section) that is currently set up as a fixed gear. It does have a flip flop hub, but I've always wanted to cut my teeth some on a fixed gear and see how it affects my riding in general.

I've done a few rides so far, only 5 miles or so with rolling hills, and it's been really fun learning something new in a familiar skill set. I've only nearly bucked myself once or twice trying to coast lol but I'm still having some trouble stopping using the cranks only and was wondering if anyone had some tips on working the cranks effectively and any other general advice/best practices for easing the learning curve. Thanks in advance. Here's a pic of the stead in question :

[Drmojo]

slight back pressure on pedals
skidding I hardly mastered
good luck and enjoy
And
always keep pedaling!
I rode 4 k miles back in the day fixed
Murder on uphill
Suicide on downhill
What gear ratio do you have?
68-72 “ is sweet spot

[rustychisel]

Very nice... not sure about the wheelset, but I'll say that's aesthetic as much as anything.

You've done the right thing straight away: take it easy, build up skills and confidence and learn to ride on easy jaunts around the neighborhood before going further afield.

Forget stopping with backpressure, that will come with handling skills and is mainly for modulation only on a dedicated and fast road fixed gear bike. It has a brake: use it.

More to come, but a quick assessment. Chain is a bit loose and needs tensioning. If it comes off you'll mess up that pretty frame.

[brewsmith]

Thanks for the input so far, new wheels and cranks are in the works and I'll probably drop a link or two off the chain this evening

[ultraman6970]

Nice stuff....

If you havent done fix gear ever back pedaling to stop will take a little bit to get it. Your legs arent get used to do it (not strong enough), besides is more like a trick IMO.

Go to your fav. parking lot and practice back pedaling, same with bunny hops to stop. There is a reason you zig zag the bike at the time to back pedal aswell, if you are going straight will be harder Tricks.

What gear combination you have in there? 50x15?? 50x16?? IMO if you want to do fix gear just start like with 50x19 or the equivalent till you get used to ride over and hour like that. But this is just my opinion ok?

Pedaling technique is totally different than road, you will notice that is more eficcient pedal really rounded with a fix gear, easier to stop aswell.

Good luck

[Steve in SLO]

Echo the above, especially the ease into it and use that front brake parts.
Each spring back in the day, our team would change our rear wheels out and make our race bikes into single speeds. It was a quick way to get strong, and an even better way to smooth out our pedal strokes.
One last thing that I did not see above: sometimes you need to learn to time your turn in to avoid either toe overlap or a mid-turn pedal strike. The first time it happens it will put the fear of God into you.

[smead]

Unless you want to compete with your local hipsters and don't care about crashing, don't practice bunny hops to stop. Use your brake. The more miles you rack up the more you will naturally start using your legs to gradually scrub off speed. Focus on maintaining the spin. It is really easy to get up to speed, hit a sharp corner, lay it over and coast, next thing you know you are face-planted. Ride it enough and it will become natural. If you ride infrequently and/or alternate with your road bike, the probability of forgetting to pedal goes up. When you ride your road bike and pretty much stop coasting, you are getting there ..

Oh and that's a classy fixed gear!

[ColonelJLloyd]

I don't agree that your chain is too loose. It's also not something one can judge well from a pic because chainrings are not often perfectly round.

The wheel could come back a hair perhaps (again, can't really know from one pic), but it doesn't look like you'd be able to shorten a link with your current gearing. A half link is definitely nice to have in your parts box if you're going to have fixed rigs. Having your chain too tight is not good and is a common mistake.

Very cool bike you have.

[homagesilkhope]

I'm with rusty, I don't like to run that much sag in my chain. But I'm also with the Colonel, just slide the axle back a hair, you'll see a little goes a long way in this case.

[Asudef]

I started out cycling in '06 on a fixed conversion for about 3-4 years exclusively, then about 3-4 more years in SF before finally picking up a brakeless track frame which I've been riding on and off since.

I picked it back up recently during COVID after life got in the way with a full time corporate job and it took some getting used to again. TBH, I had images of me not being able to stop and/or controlling the bike etc but honestly, you do have a lot more control than you'd think. Prior, I'd been blasting around town on a basket converted road Davidson Impulse so it had been a while. There's been times when I've gotten bucked after riding road bikes too and forget.

Not sure what kind of advice you're looking for but fixed really can improve your cycling form. Just think about pedaling circles. Imagine you're on rollers and you want to bounce as little as possible like this guy. If there's any long flats near you, its really noticeable when you put your head down and smooth out your stroke. You can go faster spinning rather than bouncing around your saddle.
Also want to add that sometimes, I feel

Resisting the pedals is good for adjusting speed, sort of like coasting in gear on a manual transmission or riding the rear brake on a motorcycle in the corners, pretty much used the same way. It's pretty useless once you get to a certain speed or flying down a hill so thats when you let the back pedal bring you up and when your feet are parallel, shift your weight forward a bit and lock your legs. The back wheel will hop a bit but its useful to check your speed when you're going fast and just want to "dab the brakes". A lot of the guys in Mash videos do this when they're bombing huge hills.

Because it requires you to unconsciously think about shifting weight, feeling the back wheels etc, you do get hypersensitive in a way to the bike, traffic and road. I feel a lot of my bike handling skills came from this experience and I can read traffic pretty well as a result.

Edit: Honestly, your chain looks fine. I used to call that "racing tension", the joke being that it had less resistance, not sure if that's true tbh. 1/2" of slack is usually good. Looser is better but not so much that it will derail if you skid or something, thats the only main concern. I check sometimes by spinning the drivetrain with the bike held horizontal, if it wants to derail or makes noise, its too loose. The "cool" thing is to tuck the wheel as much as possible.

[rustychisel]

Originally Posted by ColonelJLloyd

I don't agree that your chain is too loose....

I don't say these things lightly and I do know what I'm talking about >>
https://rustyalex.wordpress.com/2016...-gear-madness/

[mcfarton]

That’s a nice bike! When I ride I use my legs to regulate speed but when I want to stop I use the brakes. Seeing your bike reminds me that I should ride my fixie more often......


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[jtferraro]

Nice bike! I've been riding fixed gear on/off since 2003 and think the community here has already covered everything. I'm on my fourth fixie - Fuji, Milwaukee (drove into garage, bike on roof), Swobo and now Igleheart. Not sure if any were/are as cool as your Colnago though! I personally always wanted a Nagasawa.

All I will say is relax and enjoy...and gradually add mileage as your comfort level increases.

[David Kirk]

As others have said you need to keep pedaling or the poo can hit the fan. This isn't all that hard most of the time and you'll find that you become hyper aware while normally rolling along. Good stuff.

The trouble for most comes when you come to a bump in the road...on a freewheeling bike we tend to pause pedaling when we come to a bump. We like to level the pedals and lift our butt off the saddle slightly, roll over the bump, and then drop back onto the saddle and start pedaling again. We barely stop pedaling but most of the time we do.

It's hard to train the brain to not do this on a fixed gear. You see the bump coming up, stop pedaling and lift the butt to better absorb the bump and this can go badly. The legs stiffen and lock but the pedals don't stop. The front pedal goes down and the rear comes up and this all too often pushes the already raised hips up and forward and if not caught very quickly can toss you right over the bars.

Don't ask me how I know.

IMHO the skill to work on is riding over bumps while maintaining your cadence. Try it in a grassy area or empty parking lot until you can unweight the saddle while keeping the cadence.

My first ever skinny tire bike was a full on track bike and I did a 25 mile commute and group rides on it and I loved it. I miss it still and keep telling myself that I should build a new one just to have that wonderful connected feeling that only a fixed gear has.

Have fun, go slow at first, enjoy.

dave

[Allcarbon]

If you're interested in learning how to skid, the best way to start is to move off of the saddle and shift your weight towards the front of the bike. You'll have the best shot at locking the back wheel up when your dominant leg is extended at a 45 degree angle towards the ground. Start at a slower speed, and right when your legs are about your hit that angle, move out of your saddle, lean forward, and lock those legs up!

BTW: You're gonna need toe clips so that while you're pushing down with your dominant leg, you're pulling up with the other. Pretty soon you're gonna be laying down long strips of rubber