MrCharlie

Can something be "pretty hella"

Bandera

Is there any other sentimental pseudo-romantic twaddle to add here?
Zone/Magic? You forget Zen.....

I find that riding fixed gear on the road to be exactly like cycling on a machine that has single gear ratio and does not freewheel, sometimes I need a sip of water or to adjust my shorts.

-Bandera

Caliper

Ah, you have a fixed gear road bike (or maybe a track bike given that aggressive riding position!). At least that's what I call my fixed gear (converted Raleigh road bike) to avoid it being confused with a "fixie" which in America is a flat-bar bike popular with urban "hipsters" (or so I hear. I try to avoid cities.). "Fixies" are more about style and/or low price than anything else. A fixed gear road bike is a road bike that just doesn't have a freewheel or derailleurs...

Since you also have a multispeed road bike anyways, just ignore the doubters. Personally, I have found that while the multispeed bike feels faster, my Strava times on rides aren't really much different than on my fixed gear. Which bike has more PR's on Strava segments depends more on which bike I've been riding more lately. I do feel like I have to work harder on uphills and I'm a bit slower descending (38mph vs 42, nothing huge) but the quiet driveline and never a thought given to shifting makes up for it. In the end, watts are watts. Gearing doesn't make more watts, only you do. Watts in, minus driveline losses equals watts out.

As long as you're having fun and achieving your goals (since you hang with the group rides, this sounds like "yes") just have fun. If you want to "get back at them" just make light of it when their derailleur is misadjusted

Caliper

You stop peadaling to drink with a freewheel bike?

I do find snugging up the velcro on my shoes a bit challenging on a fixed gear, haha

Bandera

Did you miss:


-Bandera

Caliper

No, but your statement implies that you'd rather stop pedaling to take a drink? I don't stop pedaling to drink whether on fixed or freewheel bikes.

I will admit to slacking while adjusting my shorts (or, er, what's in them?) on a freewheel bike but have no trouble doing this on a fixed gear bike.

Bandera

[QUOTE=Caliper;17419100]No, but your statement implies that you'd rather stop pedaling to take a drink? QUOTE]

No, it does not imply that.
It does imply that riding fixed gear is not Several things are needed while cycling FG like a sip of water.

-Bandera

jrossbeck

In your original post (quoted above) you say you have both a road bike and a fixie. Then you say people are telling you to "buy a road bike" but you're "not feeling it." Later on in another post you imply you own a Cinelli fixie and a CAAD 10 (which is a nicer road bike than many here own).

Call me crazy but this seems like your only intent was to brag on how fast you can ride your fixie, and degrade those who only ride road bikes. Hope it worked as well as you planned. If I'm wrong, so be it.

mukman

That's definitely not my intent, I'm genuinely feel like I'm missing something about the road bike that makes it as great as you all say it is.

So far I've seen a few things:
1. mountains are easier on a road bike (which I don't notice much since I live in the low lands)
2. higher speeds through corners are possible (which does sound like fun, thanks for pointing that out!)
3. people want to be quick to turn my question into something it's not. I need to be better at phrasing questions clearly, it's a thing I work on. I'm sorry

Meanwhile, I wanna know how people are doing 40mph on flat roads. If you meant 40km, I would believe it more, but 64km/hr (~40mph) sounds hardcore if you're not going downhill. That sounds epic!

jrossbeck

Maybe you mis-spoke in your original post. If not...

Why are people telling you to buy a road bike if you already own a really nice one? That is my curiosity now.

K.Katso

I hit 65.2 km/h last week. That was riding through a polder with a 6 BFT tailwind, with my 50x11 basically spun out. With a little less wind, I can hold just under 50km/h for a little while on my road bike. Even longer on my TT bike. I'm a short, skinny guy, built more for climbing, so the really strong guys can do this for a LOT longer. Some of the guys I ride with will destroy me on the flats.

Leinster

I have a SS that I love to ride around town for errands, to visit friends, etc. But I live at the bottom of a valley, and if I want to get out of town a bit, I need gears.

Also, the gear I would use to go to the shops (39x15 on my SS) is very different from the gear I would use to do a training ride (usually 50x14/15/16 on the flats).

hueyhoolihan

if one rides primarily in a single gear (whether it be fixed gear of geared bike) because terrain and weather conditions allow it, there is practically no difference between a road and fixed gear bike, is there? so, as i suspect the OP knows, the question becomes pointless.

Caliper

I know I mentioned going over 40mph, but I did have a gravity assist there. Same when going 38mph on the fixed gear. We don't have long hills here, but there are some short 6% or so grades that let me have fun. My fixed gear choice is a compromise between grinding up those hills and spinning out when decending. Steeper terrain might be a problem on both ends. I do run brakes, but it just feels wrong to use them on a downhill!

79pmooney

I hear assumptions here about fix gear riding. Flat handlebars, no brakes, no available water while riding. Huh? I've been riding the bikes the vets in my racing club said I should for winter and bad weather training for nearly 40 years. All had and have dropped handlebars, good brakes and water bottle cages. Most have had two waterbottle cages, just like my geared bikes. In fact the fixed and geared bikes are nearly identical except for the drive train and I rotate my whole position forward a little on the fix gears to be a little more aero upwind.

Popeye posted "When you have a fixed gear spun up 'in the zone' it is like magic. It's everything you need and nothing more." and was promptly blasted by Bandera. I have spent many hours in that zone. Didn't happen much in my first 5-10,000 miles of fix gear riding, but it happens regularly now. I suggest those who do not get this ride fixed a few more miles.

Ben

Bandera

Have you appointed yourself Popeye's proxy to extol this ethereal Zone's Magical properties?

Do tell, I've never experienced The Zone or any Magical fixed gear Experience, although I've been at it for awhile in good company on the track and road who never mentioned any Zone or Magic going on. One would think that it would come up in conversation over a few decades of cycling, never has yet.

My 1st fixed gear ride was on a wooden rimmed track bike 50 years or so ago. I really liked it: not Magic.
My coach, who raced the board tracks before WWII, never blathered sentimental twaddle about the Zone or Magic or Zen or any such nonsense, nor do I having never experienced any such despite intense prolonged efforts in the saddle.
None of my teammates ever waxed poetic about the experience either, it was race training not mysticism and we had never experienced Magic.
I've spent the ensuing decades riding FG on the road more than my contemporaries considered normal and don't think that "a few more miles" will alter my experience. Perhaps I'm immune, or just rational.

If you are Zoning on FG rides enjoy yourself but I find contemporary "fixie" riders' syrupy faux-Zen hyperbole cloying, unrealistic, more than a bit Twee and will respond to such simpering nonsense as I see fit.

BTW: Here's a pic of the FG machine I've been riding on the road for the last 22 years. It seems to have all of the accoutrements of any of my road bikes: flats kit, bottle mount and pump but no crystals, talismans or good luck charms.



-Bandera

Machka 

Why a road bike?


Why not?

Machka 

+1!

gregf83 

Sounds much like 'runner's high' which I've also had on the bike. Once you're pedalling there really isn't much difference between a fixed and geared bike.

mukman

Fair point!

kbarch

How sad - so many years, so many miles, and so little happiness!
Seriously, you know the difference between merely satisfactory rides and the very best rides rides, the kind some want to call 'magical' - the sort of full-voiced, perfect harmony of road, machine, and ones own best abilities. Some people just care more about pursuing and magnifying that than miles, watts, or anything else one might want to quantify, and it's understandable that harmony might be more readily achieved on a simple fixed gear bike than on a more complicated one. Harmony may not be your thing, but that shouldn't make it bogus mysticism.

jrossbeck

I don't see how a fixed gear helps anyone achieve this mythical state any better than a road bike, mountain bike or a cruiser. If I wanted to be biased, I could just as easily imply having more gear choices can allow me to find my sweet spot/zone on any given day, like tuning a radio to the correct station. But I don't think that at all.

Your fixie isn't special, nor is my road bike, nor is my kid's scooter.

Kindaslow

i was going to reply because, but I think you have it covered!

kbarch

To clarify, I don't own a fixie or a single speed and haven't ridden one in decades; I don't think they are "special." But with such bikes you can't change your mind about what gear you want to be in, and there is no searching for it - you have to like it or lump it - so it does seem that they have an inherent advantage in fostering contentment. Perhaps to those not inclined to contentment they have no advantage at all.

koolerb

Ride what ever you want. I have both. For me the fixed gear is mostly for Getting groceries and goofing around. The road bike is the racing, training and distance ride.