allout1

What kind of bike is ideal to do it? What kind of custom parts are good for it?

I see a lot of short flat bars and single speeds. What do you think about this? I can see the short, flat bar for getting between autos, but what about single gear? I can't understand a single gear bike.

Machka 

If you see the occasional, rare bike messenger, then you're probably seeing fixed gears not single speeds.

And if the occasional, rare bike messenger happens to still be in the business, who are we to question their equipment? Fixies have been around as bike messenger bikes for a long time.

indyfabz

shelbyfv

Sorry, couldn't find a sock with 70X11 FIXED.

MoAlpha

Yeah, I done it and it sucks.


This would have made it considerably better.

Phil_gretz

...in the movies Premium Rush and Quicksilver, so I would guess that I'm pretty much an expert on this. The coolest messengers only ride fixed gears. Sometimes, they replace fixed gears with single speeds for stunt filming, but you can only tell that with freeze frame images because it happens so fast and it's edited in.

Apparently, it's also cool to have a U-lock or chain handy so that you can smack down a bad guy or aggressive driver, so you'll want to factor that in.

There are some messengers who ride geared bikes, though. They'll just be your friends, or your posse or whatever. They're cool, too.

Hope that this helps.

EDIT: Messengers

jon c. 

I read an article indicating we have one bike courier who rides an e-bike. It's a small enough city that I doubt we have more than one.

livedarklions

I would hang out with bike messengers in the early 1980s in Minneapolis (probably about the peak of bike messengering). I remember a lot of 3 speeds in those days. Easy to maintain, and could be picked up for like $25 at a garage sale. The biggest factors are your ability to carry a bag on it, and ease of bringing it into a building. Locking it up takes valuable time. Drop bars are definitely clumsier in both respects.

Happy Feet

Calgary, mid 80's. Any bike I could find. Reliable and easy to fix because I needed it to work every day. No flash because I had to lock it outside downtown all the time when traveling up big office towers to deliver or pick up.

Not so glamorous as they make it look on film. I was always sweaty and a bit stinky and while secretaries didn't gush most were kind. You ride all weather all day and I remember delivering in -32.
I always thought it was bit like the early pony express where young men basically lived on horses or in barns waiting for the next dispatch.

subgrade

The bike couriers around here ride mostly fixies and hybrids, it seems. Lately also E-bikes becoming more common.

Sy Reene

Mostly couriered around NYC is food delivery.. those guys are almost all on heavy duty electric bikes..

indyfabz

I consider them a scourge here in Philly. They go zipping around, often at full throttle. Can be difficult to hear with ambient city noise. Usually no lights and operators wearing dark clothing. Stop signs and red lights don't exist to them. Many don't hesitate to pop up onto sidewalks to get around stopped traffic. I almost got hit again last week crossing legally in a crosswalk at night.

Ironfish653

indyfabz

I was not referring to independent delivery service workers like those who work for things like Caviar (although they can be dicks, too), but rather people who deliver for only one restaurant.

indyfabz

Clusters of large buildings create wind tunnels.

Water spray in TX, home of 0 regulations, has got to be worse. Any new chemical plant explosions today? LOL!

MoAlpha

When I was a messenger in NYC in the 70s, jobs were zoned, so, if you were fast, a long job paid more and the annoying fixed time overhead (locking up, elevators chatting up receptionist) comprised a smaller percentage of the whole. Dispatch might also give you a couple of jobs along the way and you could book a hundred bucks on a good run down to Wall St. or up to Riverside Dr.

Still sucked.

Robert C

For a while, my daughter ran as and managed several bike messengers (of course, if no one was available, he still had to make the run). Ultimately, the best option was an e-bike.

wipekitty

The kids I knew and observed (Denver, about a decade ago) rode gross, beat up fixies with a front brake.

Single speed, one brake: less maintenance. Fixed gear: more control in traffic without using hands. Bullhorns, etc. allow for an aerodynamic position (and allow heavy things to rest on the back) without the extra material of drop bars. Fenders, mirrors, etc. are just extra weight and extra things to get ripped off.

These guys and gals were generally sweaty and covered in road grime. Part of the job.

Squeeze

I work in downtown Denver and it's pretty much the same these days. There's a Jimmy John's sandwich shop nearby, so I see those riders all the time, often wearing JJ jerseys, and also Door Dash riders with their large, red, square backpacks and plenty more who don't have such obvious company-issued gear. One guy I see frequently has a prominent handlebar moustache and wears a cycling cap instead of a helmet. Something about him looks like he just rode into town from a hundred years ago.

A few bikes have drop bars and derailleurs, but most seem to be old steel road bikes with wide, modern mountain bike handlebars. Most of those have single-speed or fixed drivetrains. Some have front "pizza" racks but most guys seem to carry their loads on their backs.

One thing is certain - those guys are always riding hard and fast. I try to stay out of their way, which I don't always do for the tourists on rental bikes and sidewalk salmons concerned with no one's right of way but their own.

livedarklions

"Anyone Do Bike Messenger/Courier?"

No, but I might give him a tip.

50PlusCycling

Every morning I drive my wife to work in central Tokyo, and along Roppongi street there is always a large number of bike messengers on their way to work. They all have radios, messenger bags, and a license plate on the back of their bikes (so people can call and complain if these guys ride too crazy). Though they ride fast, they always stop at red lights. Bike essengers were riding a lot of single-speed bikes a few years ago, Tokyo has more than a few hills, particularly around the Akasaka/Azabu area, and they can be tough if you don't have gears. I seldom see any single speed bikes ridden by messengers nowadays.

Bike messengers are still popular in Tokyo because all official documents require a registered stamp or seal be applied to them. One cannot simply fax a signed or sealed document. Often a single document must have several seals from numerous parties, which means it must be taken several places to get the appropriate seals. You can make more money as a bike messenger than working for Uber Eats, or other delivery services.

allout1

Thanks, all. I have a few specifics to a few replies, but I need to get out there right this min. I'll just ask this.

What are the gears that those messenger fixies and single speeds are using?

What's the difference between fixie and single speed?

Aren't the electric bikes in NYC, etc getting ripped off? It's hard enough to keep it off the bikes, eh,...

Gresp15C

Fixie means fixed-gear: There's no ratchet or freewheel in the hub. When the bike is moving, the pedals are turning, and vice versa.

Single speed is more general, and includes bikes that have a freewheel hub. You can stop pedaling and the bike keeps moving, like on typical geared bikes.

A lot has been written about the relative merits of the two.

There's a certain amount of skill involved in riding a fixie, which I don't possess, so I stick with my freewheel hub.

CycleryNorth81

How much is their time worth when they get hit by a car?

UniChris

The common, explicitly illegal throttle delivery things are really heavy and not all that valuable. Not sure if there's any kind of key, but if there is trying to pedal one away unpowered would not be fun. They have payload capacity to carry a serious chain which they'd probably use if delivering in a questionable area and going further inside than a reception desk, and they're going to be back at a random time within a few minutes anyway. Restaurant either has a very heavy chain that they lock the fleet up with, or wheels them in the door at closing.

Apparently they are not being stolen, or at least not at a rate that makes them unviable as business. They are being confiscated, but apparently not at a rate that would encourage a switch to something legal; after all, this is a city where vehicle delivery has a going deal where they just pay a fixed percentage of parking tickets they are written.