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Pros / cons ..single speed vs fiche ?
Last Post 10/21/2014 05:35 PM by 79 pmooney. 7 Replies.
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Ride On

Posts:537

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10/19/2014 12:01 PM
What do you think? Want just something fun to goof around on the road. Probably take it on a few group rides just to mix it up this year. Which way should I go ?
LouM

Posts:28

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10/19/2014 01:18 PM
I have been on a SS exclusively for about three years. Mostly old Campy Record stuff on a Miyata steel frame and Brooks saddle. It's a purpose built bike. Not a "viejito" as we would call a fixie with matching wheels, chain, and stubby handlebars. The geared bike is in the garage feeling lonely.
Built it on whim. Started out with 39X16. Moved to 42X17. Ready for the next step up. It's a fun ride. You learn to ride differently in that you are standing more when climbing and spin like a freak when you are trying to keep up with a fast crowd. And at times, you will amaze your friends when climbing things that they are struggling on or pulling them on the flats. I like it. It is fun for me and meets my needs as far as expectations for my rides. I have done a few centuries on it too.
Haven't tried a fixed yet. There is a class at Balboa park for track riding. I will take that class first before attempting a fixed on the road. But I think that I would still put at least one brake on it if I was to take it on the road.
Give it a shot. Either way. You may find that you like it and will use it more than your other bikes like I am. And besides, every cyclist should have a SS or Fixed in their quiver.
Lou...
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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10/19/2014 02:08 PM
The two are VERY different. And riding them around other bikes is just as different.

A single speed is no more, no less than a geared bike you ride with discipline. Except for your RPM, riding around other bike is no different, for you or them. Riding a fixed is completely different. When something happens in front of you, your reactions and the effect those reactions have on your bike are radically different UNLESS you know at your gut level that you are riding fixed and they are not.

Say something happens in front of you and you need to slow, fast! Everybody else, and you on your single speed immediately coast or de-power your pedaling. You reach for your brakes. You slow. Now let's look at you riding fixed. There is no abrupt delineation between pedaling and coasting. It happens! You immediately slow. There is no time gap while you and everyone else reaches for their brakes. Our leg muscles are hardwired to our brains. That eye-brain-leg path is instantaneous and bypasses all conscious thought.

And how does this play out when riding? Well, relative to the riders around you, you have just dropped back 2-4 feet. If there is someone 2 feet behind you, there will be immediate consequences. Your popularity in this group will take a big hit.

Now, you can train out that reflex to soft pedal and slow, but you are training out a very basic reflex. Tired, spacey or whatever? It will come back.

I don't know any of this from any studies or reading, just 90,000 miles of fix gear riding. I used to use this fact to my advantage in my Boston commute, decades ago. There were 3 round-a-bouts, all in dips between hills. I would ride into them at speed and "park" myself about 4 feet behind a bumper. That put me in the small window (remember this is Boston, following close can be the norm). Now, if the driver in front hits is brakes, his brake lights come on, the hardwire between my eyes and legs does its thing and I have immediately picked up another 4' cushion in front of me.

Again, I haven't studied this, but I know this is the case. I will leave it to someone else to do their doctorate on fixed vs free slowing, then read those results with real interest. Of course we all know the conclusion already, hence this study will never be done. Don't mix freewheels and fix gears in races!

Ride On, your line
Probably take it on a few group rides just to mix it up this year.
scares me. 6 months isn't much time to train out decades of reflex. I don't want to hear of the big crash you caused.

That said, you all know how much I love riding fixed. And I've spent my time in groups as the only fixie. But I make it a point to only ride in groups when I am not committed to being in that group; where if my attention starts to go, I can drop out and let them go. Also if I feel that other riders don't get and don't respect that I am riding fixed. (They need to give the fixie rider ahead some space to allow that different reaction scenario because it does happen. This is why I really don't like riders parking themselves on my wheel unannounced when I'm fixing.)

Ben
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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10/20/2014 02:05 AM
Lou, don't even consider no brakes on the road. Just a front on a fixie will stop you fine, but make it a real road lever, not a cross-type on the tops. If you have to stop hard, remember you are slowing for real with your legs. Pulling your hands up or back while that is happening to get to the brake may not be possible.

Besides, brake hoods are the best place for hands when climbing, right? And you want two, not one. So if you go two, can't you live with the small weight penalty for another caliper and cables?

Ben
LouM

Posts:28

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10/20/2014 12:39 PM
Thanks for the advise and I totally agree 79P. I am happy now with the SS on the road.
If I'm interested in a fixed I'll probably stay on the track. I'm 61, so there should be some old guys like me that still like to lace up and race.
Lou..
thinline

Posts:323

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10/21/2014 03:00 PM
"Your popularity in this group will take a big hit."

:-)
KootnaMoots

Posts:47

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10/21/2014 04:26 PM
Building a SS out one of my old frames. What are you using for chain take up besides the eccentric rear hub and Bottom Bracket. Fixed would need something substantial for the back pedaling....I think
Thanks
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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10/21/2014 05:35 PM
Kootna, there is a thing called a "Singulator" that is simply the cage of a derailleur, ie a swingarm with one idler pulley for single speeds only. One fixie back pedal would trash it rather quickly.

gearjunkie.com/single-speed-bike-conversion

I have limited myself to frames with horizontal road dropouts. Most of those frames will allow you to use up to three different cogs, ie a 16, 17 or 18 teeth, without messing with the chain length. Having a half link on hand will make that a lot easier, but I believe the half links are limited to 1/8" chain. Flip side is that 1/8" chains are far better for single speed/fix gear use. Run better, are a lot harder to derail and last far, far longer as do the 1/8" cogs and rings (though you can use road rings with 1/8" chains). 1/8" also opens the door to track quality cogs, rings and chains. Expensive, yes, but a basic track drive train will cost you ~$100 (cog, ring and chain), be fully competition worthy and last almost forever.

Advantages of road horizontal drops besides ease of tensioning: if you have the dropout set screws, the ones that position the hub that screw in from the back of the dropout, you can set them for your perfect chain tension. Then, after say a flat, replacing the wheel and getting the tension right is a no brainer. Push the wheel back until the right axle hits the screw, tighten that side, rock the wheel to hit on the left, tighten and you are done. A no-brainer. Real advantage when you flat at the top of the hill in a cold winter rain in the dark after a long day. (This is a fix gear. And winter riding is what they are superb for.) Also, the road drop opening to the front makes pulling the wheel off without handling the chain easy. (Well it helps to have a way of picking the chain up off the cog. The spanner on the Pedros fixie tool does that very nicely.) I can flip my wheel to go from one cog to another using track nuts and that tool in probably less than two minutes keeping my hands clean.

An aside on that though regarding winter riding: I rode my good fixie last month at Cycle Oregon. Most of the time I was doing xx% more work than everyone else; life on a fix gear. But early on Day 2, we hit 2miles of gravel road. Suddenly my bike was at home! This is what they are made for! I knew in about 100 yards, I could pedal through anything the road put in front of me. All I had to do was worry about other riders. It was a blast! And I had the best bike out there, by far!

Ben
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