dannoh

53 and just started riding fixed a month and a half ago. Can't get enough of it! To bad winter is just around the corner.

whitey818

Move to Florida, lol. I am now 41 and began commuting on fixed about 5 - 6 montha ago, even after riding it back and forth to work I still enjoy going out and riding it on days off and extended rides home from work. Much more addictive than my poor old geared bike collecting dust in shed.

dannoh

I agree, haven't touched my geared bike since I put the fixed gear together.

Doohickie

A couple things to report... the single speed bike I posted above now has a fixed-free flip-flop hub, and I have just about a hundred miles on it since Wednesday. My first experience with FG. Takes some getting used to, but I'm getting there.





I built the wheel myself; I got the parts for my birthday. Which brings me to the other thing.... I rode my age today. I turned 49 last Sunday. I did a breakfast ride this morning. I got home and plotted it on Google maps and came up with 47 miles, so I hoped back on the bike and cruised around the neighborhood for a another 4 miles, bringing the total to 51, all on the FG.

chasm54

Don't understand. My FG is my winter bike.

dannoh

Gonna have to put together a winterbeater bike. FG.

DiabloScott

caloso

I just saw that Nashbar is now selling their aluminum SSFG frame for $79. That has winter beater written all over it.

dannoh

Gonna look into them.

nightrider uk

I like your decal on your chainstay.

caloso

Just ordered the Nashbar Nekkid SSFG frame. It was $60. Hell, I spend more on that for a race tire. Or a tank of gas for the car.

jdgesus 

everytime we have to get our VW bus fixed, i might as well buy a new bike..

Six jours

I'm not gonna cop to my age, but I'll say that I started road racing back when SLX was cutting edge. At that time, pretty much every road racer rode fixed in the winter. Just remove the freewheel, spin on a 3/32" track cog (with some spacers to get the chainline right) and cut out a bunch of chain to make it fit right. I don't think I'd ever even heard of a vertical dropout at the time, and we wouldn't even bother taking off the derailleurs. The rear one would just dangle until spring. So all the effort kids put into fixie conversions now strikes me as kind of silly. And taking the brakes off a road bike even sillier.

I also wonder about all the "Can you ride more than 20 miles (or whatever) on a fixie?" stuff. We did six-plus hour rides in a 65 inch gear as a matter of course. It was just considered preparation for the coming season and no one thought it was out of the ordinary. I guess that might seem heroic if your seat points to your front hub and you're wearing blue jeans. Or maybe I'm just a grumpy old man.

At any rate, I still consider fixed gear bikes to be the purest embodiment of the sport, and tend to agree with old Desgrange. But I have to be totally honest and admit that since I moved to the mountains I've barely touched my fixed gear bikes...

Six jours

What I'd really like to see, FWIW, is a close copy of a TdF bike from the teens or twenties. Something with slack angles - maybe 68 parallel - and with angled dropouts to handle a flip-flop hub: bigger FG on one side for the flats, smaller SS on the other for ups and downs. Set up for caliper brakes front and rear, and with decent steel tubing of standard diameter. That would make for a very useable "real world" FG with some retro cool.

The closest I've seen is the very cool Pashley Guvnor, but it still misses the mark: 28" wheels, dropouts parallel with the ground, and (on my size) a useless double top tube.

gamby

Just built this up a couple of days ago. Built on an '83 Shogun 400 frame that belonged to my late father.



I'm 40 in May, so I can post in this thread.

Hope you guys like it

tastewar

I'd been aware of the "variable gears are only for people over forty-five" quote for some time, but it was coincidental that I built up my first fixie at that precise age.

P1060055 by tastewar, on Flickr

tastewar

Looking at the thumbnail, I thought you had some kind of dragon head or alligator head decoration on the front of your bike! :-)

RGNY

41, and thanks to getting back into bikes, i'm in better shape than i was at 30. and i didn't drink beer/wine until i was 38.

for some reason, riding fixed is as exciting as my old skateboarding days (ages 12-21). i don't skid, but i like to go real, real fast.....

gamby

You should consider getting back into skating. I got back on the board at age 33 after a 15 year hiatus. Bowl/transition skating is pretty easy on the body (assuming you pad up) and it's killer cross-training for cycling.

Just a thought...

RGNY

no ramps or pools here, but i've thought about getting a longboard to carve the local mega-parking-lots built on a slope.....

caloso

My $60 Nashbar FG.



Thrown together with a bunch of spare parts (although I did spring for a new chain and bar tape). I've never really liked the old Shimano 600 brake levers -- I need to see if I can find a set of Tektro or Cane Creek levers. Much more comfortable.

Sixty Fiver

Just turned 46... guess I should not be riding this bike anymore.





Am looking to get into the new frame shop in the new year and will keep your specs in mind.

Jaytron

Pretty sweet. Is the Nashbar frame AL or Steel?

Six jours

Let me know. I'd have made one myself but no 68 degree lugs are available that I know of, and I'm not set up for fillet brazing.

caloso

Aluminum. Pretty light and fairly cushy for an Al frame, but I think that's probably more from the 26mm tires and carbon fork. Also, angles are pretty slack. All in all, a very comfortable "base miles" bike.