Hey:
just go and ride whatever is in your bike corral. High wheeler, fixed whatever, multi-speed carrier, beater, chunk, tall, chopper bike. just ride it and forget trying to argue whatever the correct term it should be.
Tom Martin
Oakland CA
home of the rat bike
>
> The term wheel applies to the wheel size.
>
> The term gear is a ratio.(hi wheelers had a gear)
>
> The term freewheel applies to roller freewheel clutch.invented by J.White
& G.Davis ,patent #512/1881
>
> And a Fixed tyre is a glue on
>
> In the early days they refered to all the parts that make up the ratio as
the bicycles' "gear" . Raleigh had a devise "for the variation of
gear"--that devise was the 3-pin crank.
>
> Fixed gear is just easer to say than a hub without a roller clutch--maybe
inreference to a sprocket that is "fixed " directly to the hub with no
clutch inbetween.Interesting how terms originate.
>
> sam lingo
>
> pleasanton tx
>
>
>
>
> >From: REClassicBikes@aol.com
>
> >To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>
> >Subject: [CR]Fixed gears & track bikes
>
> >Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 06:02:21 EST
>
> >
>
> >Twas me who kicked this one off, on another list.
>
> >
>
> >It is one of my most irk some missed used phrases.
>
> >
>
> >I have now been told in no uncertain terms, by Sheldon, that I am wrong.
>
> >
>
> >However I do not see it that way. Several things suggest otherwise to me.
>
> >
>
> >We (English speakers) call a freewheel a freeWHEEL, because it not a
fixed
>
> >WHEEL.
>
> >
>
> >If we were trying to distinguish a freewheel from something described as
a
>
> >fixed GEAR, a freewheel would be know as a Free GEAR. It is not.
>
> >
>
> >So despite Sheldon's posting, containing several sophistries, I believe
the
>
> >correct term to be Fixed wheel.
>
> >
>
> >I will freely accede that the term "fixed gear" is widely missed used and
>
> >widely misunderstood. This is as much in print as in everyday verbal use.
>
> >
>
> >I once read a cycling manual that advised me to "sleep on my back, with
the
>
> >window open and wear goggles" if I wanted to be a racing cyclist. Print
is not
>
> >proof.
>
> >
>
> >The term "freewheel" is not really applicable to direct drive (ordinary)
>
> >bicycles, because in their heyday, before the common up take of the non
direct
>
> >drive (safety) bicycling, freewheels were not generally used and there
was no
>
> >need to differentiate between fixed and free wheels.
>
> >
>
> >A Sturmey Archer ASC, is a three speed hub, providing a fixed wheel in
each
>
> >gear. It is not a fixed gear.
>
> >
>
> >This may be a little off the wall, but surely a track bike is one that is
>
> >used on the track. Irrespective of how it is constructed.
>
> >
>
> >Most tracks and indeed the UCI have rules requiring certain conditions
(no
>
> >brakes, no engine!). Incidentally this usually includes the rule: No
freewheel.
>
> >(as opposed to no free gear)
>
> >
>
> >Regards
>
> >Martin Coopland, Scotland, http://www.BatesBicycles.com
>
> >_______________________________________________
>
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>
> >Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
>
> >http://www.bikelist.org/mailman/listinfo/classicrendezvous
>
>
>
>
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