Erzulis Boat 

I am still riding my SS stuff, but the FG stuff is collecting dust. I didn't mind the uphill grinding as much as the exhausting downhills.......way worse!

The FG is is fun on a flat bike path, but once you get out into the wild, the FG becomes a chore sometimes. Gearing down a SS, so that steep hills are more chill, and just having fun working on some RPM drills on the flats (can't really go fast) is a nice break on an "off" day like today. I am going to do a pretty gonzo ride in 2 days, so chilling on a mellow SS just might be the ticket for today's ride.
A SS has it's place, but unless you are in a Velodrome, a FG is just a toy. That's how I look at it, anyway.

TMonk

oh yeah, I forgot about the downhill! FG is way worse going downhill. I can't hang.

BT7274

The Hi-Ten Retrospec bikes with the cheapo "Deep V" dayglo rims started cropping up at the tail-end of the fixie craze. Right up until then, most fixed gears were 4130 chromoly or aluminum at worst. Raleigh, Trek, Schwinn, Jamis, etc. they all had their fixed- kind of wish I grabbed a Jamis Satellite back then, I remember them being 631 Reynolds.
I remember going to the Raleigh page a couple of years ago, to see if they still had their Rush-Hour. It went from chromoly to Hi-Tensile steel.

veganbikes

No there was plenty of hi-ten stuff back when fixed gears were most popular. Certainly during brokie mania there were plenty of slightly nicer to really nice options but hi-ten was still very much a thing. Bigshot, Kent Thruster, Fuji Declaration and certainly others existed but I cannot recall all the names but tons of online stuff like Bigshot.

I wanted a Satellite as well still would consider one at the right price but then again now I want something fully custom in titanium so...

bironi

Trends come and go, perhaps the next one has more umph, or not?

BT7274

I remember the progression that I saw were the conversion craze because there wasn't much out there, aside from Surly, Bianchi, and IRO. Then things started stepping up with the EAI Bareknuckles, the Super Pistas, the Merciers, with the big brands coming out with there fxied gears, and I guess it started peaking with the MASH Frames, That Kent Ronald McDonald fixie came in, I don't know, 2008? But by then, there were plenty of Pakes and Leaders as a better alternative. Now the Carbo-Steels rule the landscape.
The fact that this thread updates every 3 days should be be proof that yes, the best days of fixie/SS are behind us. Unless there's some Tik-Tok trend of kids riding their dad's ancient bikes that have no disc brakes, wifi shifting, or motors.

veganbikes

Yes the higher end was there and has been but like I said the low end has been around for the same times. Of course yes many bikes were better than the low end that is the case with most bikes.

ron521

Those who are interested in Wabi cycles might find some of the videos by Zach Gallardo interesting. He's a fixie rider whose channel is sponsored by Wabi, and he has some good videos on building up several of their bikes, as well as a factory tour. https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...+gallardo+wabi

Jaytron

I still see them around, but I live in SF, CA.. home of MASH

I even see some young folk on em here and there.

Personally, my fixed gear is my errand bike/rain bike/town chill bike. I keep it mostly cause I still like the feeling of riding fixed but no longer race on a track. Also I like being able to track stand at lights, purely because I think it looks cool. I suck and can't do it on a bike with a freehub

cweb99

BT7274

In this respect, the kids are keeping it alive.

ThermionicScott 

I feel like there was already chatter about fixed-gears being "played out" when I built mine 12 or so years ago. So that's 12 years of not giving a **** whether it was popular or trendy or whatever. As long as I can keep getting cogs and 1/8" chains, I'll be happy.

Jaytron

Damn lol, I thought 12 years ago was near the height!

The nice thing is that there will always be a non-zero demand of track parts/bikes because it is an olympic sport.

I don't think I'll ever fully drop riding fixed gears. I love the simplicity and reliability of them. In a world of electronic everything, it's nice to just disconnect on a bike

jack pot 

the hipsters are checking out (have already) and the Zoomers & Email have decimated the messengers > not to worry tho cause the coming earthquakes and civil war and pandemics and urban gridlock and electric car derangement and the lack of aspirated engine mechanics will revive interest in the bikes that rarely fail

rustystrings61 

I am actually about to get my flabby 60-odd-year-old self back into shape over the coming year, and a large part of that involves riding fixed-gears. Plural. Two of them are battered but high-quality road frames from the early 70s, and the third was a custom-built Mercian that, alas, I made some poor choices while specifying what I wanted. Live and learn.

Are the kool kids riding them? No. And who cares? It's kinda like around here suddenly they're hosting the Greenwood Gravel Grinder for all those folks who've splurged on 1xwhatever drive trains and disc brakes to ride the same fire roads my best buddy and I rode 20 years ago on fixed-gears running 28-32 mm tires.

If you are a fixed-gear lifer, - and I confess I fit into that category - then your model ISN'T the early 21st Century fixie craze - it's the British club cyclist mode, wherein you just ride your bike, period, and focus on strength - and very much on skills and technique - to become a better rider. All of those social rides, where maybe you DO go all Rough Stuff Fellowship and carry the bike some, or long rides where you stop somewhere and have tea and socialize before mounting up to ride on to the destination, or even carry a light load and crash at a B&B or something, or maybe a very Spartan encampment without all the gear people think they need.

Fixed will endure, though some bits we like may become unobtanium - 17/19T Surly Dingle fixed-cogs, anyone? - because in the end there will always be a core group of those who prefer them and will ride them no matter what the trends are.

wabi_damon

whoa