The truth is most of the time when I ride with young guys who are part of the fixie culture I feel guilty. After all, their bikes were usually dumpster finds with a hundred bucks or so of improvements added. They don't buy the Phil Woods hubs or the Superbe Pro Track crankset because they can't afford them. One day I was riding with three guys who each ride more in one week than I do in a month. My collectable bike cost more than all three of their bikes put together. Who was the real cyclist? ... the guy with the NOS brake hoods or the guy with the stamped steel dropouts? I used to make 75 bucks a week and bike everywhere I went, now I make that in an hour and a half of overtime, which I usually refuse to do because it seems like too much of a hassle. Now I often take my bike by car to some nice place to ride because I can't risk getting hit (again) by a car. These guys are fearless, full of life, friendly and poor. They have everything I used to have and all the excitement of living on the edge. Isn't living on the edge the very definition of riding a skinny two wheeled bike anyway? Sometimes I feel like a member of some exclusive club of men who pontificate while fiddling with their pipes and wearing shawled smoking jackets. That's an ok feeling, but being young and invincible is an even better one. Bless you fixie crowd....
Garth Libre in Miami Fl USA