<< I recently completed Paris-Brest-Paris on a fixed gear. My favorite bik e, which I have used for PBP, Boston-Montreal-Boston, and twice on the Furna ce Creek 508....>>
Welcome Emily and if I must say, Wow, what an accomplishment
<< Ultimately, I love my Raleigh because it's still comfortable and I still enjoy being on it when I've
been on it for two days and nights, not because it gives me some kind of pretentious counterculture cachet.>>
What a huge endorsement for this classic style & design. Thanks!
Dale Brown Greensboro, North Carolina USA
-----Original Message----- From: Emily O'Brien <emilyonwheels@emilysdomain.org> To: Tom Harriman <transition202@hotmail.com>; Morgan Fletcher <morgan@hahaha .org>; Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Sent: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 4:48 pm Subject: RE: [CR]fixie thing, Whats Wrong with that?
Hello All, I recently subscribed to this list, and thought I'd weigh in on the fixed ge ar thing. By way of introduction, I am an enthusiastic brevet rider, and I recently completed Paris-Brest-Paris on a fixed gear. My favorite bike, whi ch I have used for PBP, Boston-Montreal-Boston, and twice on the Furnace Creek 50 8, is a 1974 Raleigh Professional, which I have set up as a fixed gear. My PBP
ride report is at http://sheldonbrown.com/
The whole fixed gear fad has two sides, in my opinion. One side is the craz y maniacs with their faces full of hardware and tattoos who strip down a steel
frame that's too small and ride with no brakes on track bars with no tape th at they can barely reach, with a grubby messenger bag, a u-lock sticking out of the back pocket of their tight cut-off jeans, and a bad attitude about how hardc ore they are because their gear is higher than yours.
The other side, though, is that as this fad has become more and more mainstr eam, it has produced a lot of demand for new fixed gear and singlespeed models fr om major manufacturer that are actually very practical and economical for a wid e range of applications. These are designed for road use, with practical considerations like rack and fender mounts; while they're trendy and sometim es tasteless, they are much more bike for the money than anything in the same p rice range that has gears. And they have the advantages of being cheaper and eas ier to maintain and handle bad conditions better, which makes them ideal for urb an transport. The options for cheap, sturdy, reasonably light road and commute r bikes have increased enormously since the major manufacturers started cashin g in on the fixed gear fad.
So while the abovementioned punks are obnoxious, I think anything that expan ds the options for practical, inexpensive road machines that are highly suitabl e for a variety of uses is ultimately a good thing.
And there are those of us who ride classic bikes built up as fixed gears who
appreciate them for what they are and how they ride. Ultimately, I love my Raleigh because it's still comfortable and I still enjoy being on it when I' ve been on it for two days and nights, not because it gives me some kind of pretentious counterculture cachet.
Emily O'Brien Medford, MA
> -------Original Message-------
> From: Tom Harriman <transition202@hotmail.com>
> Subject: RE: [CR]fixie thing, Whats Wrong with that?
> Sent: 01 Dec '07 19:09
>
>
>
> Dear Bruce.
>
> I used to feel the same way, until I came across a fixie group at this ye
ar
> s Death Ride.  For those of you not on the west cost, the Death
Ride is a v
> ery difficult mountain climbing ride just outside of Lake Tahoe, Ca.Â
 For t
> hose who complete the entire ride it's five mountain tops, 16,000 feet of
t
> otal climbing, and 126 miles.  Completing this ride on a modern
bike is dif
> ficult, doing it on a single speed shows real commitment and talent.
>
> I also herd tales of fixes on the years Paris-Brest-Paris.  Als
o a ride tha
> t requires great amounts of talent and commitment.
>
> I'm even thinking of taking the old road racer out of the corner on the c
lo
> set, going down to one gear, and seeing how the old timers rode when the
sp
> ort was young.  There's nothing like exploring a little history
to give us
> an understanding and gratitude for your elders.  But I won't cu
t off peaces
> of the frame, as I may want my gears back.
>
> Happy Holidays-Fixes or modern Geared.
> Tom Harriman
> San Francisco, ca.   Â
>
> > Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:16:42 -0800
> > From: morgan@hahaha.org
> > To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > Subject: Re: [CR]fixie thing, Whats Wrong with that?
> >
> > bruce thomson wrote:
> > > the fixie phenomenon is a typical American social trend that will end
u
> p as a flash-in-the pan shelf life. I have seen some of the bikes done lo
ca
> lly, and some too on the net and there seems little to rave about.Â
 It is a
> bout more of belonging or going along with the fringe crowd., not really
ri
> ding bikes.  Many of these fixies will only ride a few blocks a
nd park at a
> Starbucks and hang with the rest of the wannabe's .  There are
a few who c
> an ride and have done well in showing that it is more than being with the
'
> in' crowd, but they are not the chain smokers and tattooed fringe element
.
>
> > >Â Â Now what I have seen on the bikes want to have me throw u
p.  Luckily
> most of the grubby little cretins dont get their hands on a classic frame
,
> but when they do there seems to be no interest in the history or restorat
i
> on value of a classic steel frame.  I was in a bike shop two we
eks ago look
> ing for a T.A. extractor for my Reynolds 531 Raleigh and one of the kids
wi
> th all of the chrome shit hanging off his face offered me $20.00 for the
fr
> ame.  Needless to say I declined.  I have seen what
those butchers do. The
> y cut OFF the dérailleur hangers and burn off the drop-outs to
have so
> me cheap-ass track lugs crudely brazed one.  Thats why when I s
ee the fixie
> crowd I want to take a shower. The idea of receiving these frames back fr
o
> m them is highly unlikely.  Most will undoubtedly be tossed and
the next fa
> d picked up.  BT
> >
> > http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/
> >
> > This guy skewers the fixie crowd best. He is hilarious. He has some
> > words for our tribe as well.
> >
> > Read the older posts. Good stuff.
> >
> > Sorry for posting so frivolously, Dale!
> >
> > Morgan Fletcher
> > Oakland, CA
> >
> > P.S. http://2inches.com/
> > _______________________________________________
> > Classicrendezvous mailing list
> > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> > http://www.bikelist.org/
>
>
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