Fixie Hate?

[skull]

No one can tell me that running brakeless on a fixie serves a purpose besides posing either. Other types of rigs (ie park bikes) I can understand running brakeless

i ride a brakless fixed to school every day though the city and if i put a brake on you just lose the freedom of riding........wait im not a tool, no its so you can do bar spins/tricks its the same as a park bike. some of us do foot stall tail whips and alot of bar spin combos. running brakeless on a park bike is just as 'stupid' and just as illigal. tell me why they need not to have brakes and i do? and im almost sure in illigal in all states well at least in vic it is as well and its $67 if you get caught.

 

[Mattydv]

i ride a brakless fixed to school every day though the city and if i put a brake on you just lose the freedom of riding........wait im not a tool, no its so you can do bar spins/tricks its the same as a park bike. some of us do foot stall tail whips and alot of bar spin combos. running brakeless on a park bike is just as 'stupid' and just as illigal. tell me why they need not to have brakes and i do? and im almost sure in illigal in all states well at least in vic it is as well and its $67 if you get caught.

I can tell your an idiot so i'll type slowly. Thankyou Grip (?).

One reason that street/park bikes sometimes do not have brakes is because they often snap their brake levers from crashing whilst attempting tricks of some kind. Cables can also often twist around the headtube etc, causing a quite painful result.
They are still required by law to have brakes, just as all bikes are required by law to have reflectors. However as a generalisation from police, they are not seen as dangerous as brakeless fixies riding on the road, as they spend most of their time in a skatepark or on a footpath, not interacting with traffic and not in the direct eye of the police on patrol. Riding brakeless on a footpath is still dangerous, yes, especially when pedestrians are around, but it is overlooked to an extent in comparison.

 

[floody]

I like fixies. I hate wankers. My hate for wankers doesn't discriminate about if a wanker is clad in tight jeans, obscure band t-shirt and scarf while balancing a latte and wobbling along the footpath as though it was the San Fran CBD (despite the road in the uncrowded urban area being empty), sitting in full euro team regalia with a $15,000 roadbike balanced behind his chair at the bakery after a brisk tootle along the cycleway, or bombing brakeless down the footpath in a flannel and supre pants on some barely functional slammed, chopped, carefully distressed chartreuse and magenta coloured BMX.

In all actuality, the hating is probably only just now getting going as fixed bikes, townies etc have become urban fashion symbols which are primarily bought by tossers.

Just ride your bike, don't go all out using it solely as some rolling billboard to your ego.

 

[Lorday]

I like fixies. I hate wankers. My hate for wankers doesn't discriminate about if a wanker is clad in tight jeans, obscure band t-shirt and scarf while balancing a latte and wobbling along the footpath as though it was the San Fran CBD (despite the road in the uncrowded urban area being empty), sitting in full euro team regalia with a $15,000 roadbike balanced behind his chair at the bakery after a brisk tootle along the cycleway, or bombing brakeless down the footpath in a flannel and supre pants on some barely functional slammed, chopped, carefully distressed chartreuse and magenta coloured BMX.

In all actuality, the hating is probably only just now getting going as fixed bikes, townies etc have become urban fashion symbols which are primarily bought by tossers.

Just ride your bike, don't go all out using it solely as some rolling billboard to your ego.

Agree/Amen/affirmative reply. +1


If that wasn't so long it would be in my sig too.

 

[josh]

If you want to see some fixie/ss porn, move to Shoreditch, London.

I see so many zip past my window (loads of couriers). But I also have the pleasure of zipping past them on my daily commute through London.

There's a real LOVE/HATE thing here for them as well.

I've seen some bike polo too. Good stuff that.

 

[mad_mike51]

I can tell your an idiot so i'll type slowly. Thankyou Grip (?).

One reason that street/park bikes sometimes do not have brakes is because they often snap their brake levers from crashing whilst attempting tricks of some kind. Cables can also often twist around the headtube etc, causing a quite painful result.
They are still required by law to have brakes, just as all bikes are required by law to have reflectors. However as a generalisation from police, they are not seen as dangerous as brakeless fixies riding on the road, as they spend most of their time in a skatepark or on a footpath, not interacting with traffic and not in the direct eye of the police on patrol. Riding brakeless on a footpath is still dangerous, yes, especially when pedestrians are around, but it is overlooked to an extent in comparison.

You my sir are the idiot,
BMX riders run brakeless for two reasons to do bar spins (same for fixies) and for street cred (same for fixies), well what do you know they both run them for the same reason, what a surprise! The other incredibly idiotic thing you suggested was that riding a brakeless fixie is more dangerous than riding a brakeless BMX, now this is by far the stupidest comment made by you because when you run on a fixie you actually still have a form of brakes and can stop with brakeless out to much hassle, were as on a BMX the only way is to to jam, which from a decent speed is extremely dangerous.

/rant

 

[josh]

The London bike messenger race:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLzGj10fg2g

 

[Binaural]

If you want to see some fixie/ss porn, move to Shoreditch, London.

I see so many zip past my window (loads of couriers). But I also have the pleasure of zipping past them on my daily commute through London.

There's a real LOVE/HATE thing here for them as well.

I've seen some bike polo too. Good stuff that.

Interesting, isn't it. I'd guess the original urban fixie riders were bike couriers, who did it to make riding a thousand km a week more interesting, and also because most of them were pretty mad and were skillful enough to get away with it. That scene is dying out a bit in Sydney with the rise of the internet, there are a lot less bike couriers on the road, but it's had a revival with the rise of the hipster. It's odd how an element of a pretty rough subculture ever translated into urban cool...

 

[Buggergrips]

messengers use fixies cos apprently they dont break and those guys do 1000's of K's a week. (i've known a few and they have all had a geared roadie at home).

for average joe its just a trendy fashion thing.

 

[rhysrhysbaby]

both my bmx and fixxie are without brakes.
my street cred is therefore twice as much as one with only one fixxie.

 

[Binaural]

messengers use fixies cos apprently they dont break and those guys do 1000's of K's a week. (i've known a few and they have all had a geared roadie at home).

for average joe its just a trendy fashion thing.

Single speeds are just as reliable and simple, though, and easier to ride. Plus, 95% of courier bike damage is flat tyres and brakes last a long time. My guess, having had many mates who did bike courier work at some time or the other, is that they do it for fun - it can be a bit dull riding endless kms with only a bit of flirting with secretaries and cutting off taxis to break the monotony.

 

[INRI]

I like fixies. I don't like people with no bike control. I don't like the elitism of some fixie riders. I don't like NJS wankers.

 

[Christo]

Real life hate:
Go ride a fixie for a day through melbourne cbd, you will get a lot of comments yelled at you....and not 'thats a hot and diverse looking bike sir'

In context Ross, you were riding an almost fluoro pink & green fixie, which kind of screams for attention - and you got it.

On the other hand, I often rode my clunker fixie with dull silver paint & a pannier rack covered in occy straps through Melbourne CBD and never had anything yelled at me.

 

[sly_artichoke]

Oh, come on everyone, just relax.

I have a quiet chuckle to myself seeing fixed wheel types pass me by, knowing that when they get to my age, their knees will be shot.

The fixie is an attractive thing, let's face it, and each to his or her own.

 

['Ross]

In context Ross, you were riding an almost fluoro pink & green fixie, which kind of screams for attention - and you got it.

I very rarely rode my bike in the cbd except when I raced alleycats or got caught by cops riding brakeless I was the one copping heat from the fat roadies in williamstown

But I was in the city every day for uni and would see a lot of fixies and yell at them, and saw plenty of others yelling at fixie riders (especially Flinders Lane, Brunswick st etc)

I think the reason for this is a lot more people than just your average cyclist know what a fixie is....average joe reads an article in A2 and suddenly they are a fixie expert, maybe they know someone who rides a fixie at their local coffee shop, and maybe their trendy clothing retailer has a fixie in the window of the shop.

You don't see articles on brakeless BMX in the age, most people who see someone riding a bmx have a predetermined opinion of BMX (usually from seeing BMX bandits or believing BMX riders are 'hoodlums') wouldn't even notice its brakeless anyway.

Come back in 2010 and we will see if a) there is still any fixie hate b) anybody is still riding fixie or they have all moved on/quit riding.

 

[suG]

i have one but i hardly ride it.
i always yell at them
OIII FIXI DO A SKID FIXI repeat till skid is done.

 

[floody]

I have to say something which makes me sad is just how much tonnage of lovely vintage steel is languishing in dilletante wankers' designer apartments or garages, and in a few months probably never likely to see the light of day unless its to go on ebay or the hard rubbish collection.

 

[alexb618]

the only thing that bothers me is the number of great track frames and forks that have been drilled... some of the stuff ive seen gives me permanent erectile disfunction...

other than that, go your hardest and DO A SPIN BRO

 

[LTR]

OIII FIXI DO A SKID FIXI repeat till skid is done.

Standard...

 

[Home-J]

I understand the popularity of the fixie and I ride mine every now and then but most of the time I flip the wheel around and ride SS as it's a lot quicker - at least for me as I don't have a lot of experience / skill riding fixed.

You'll see so many people jump on and off bandwagons your whole life that it's really not worth worrying about.