Bill Mendell
Palm Springs
From: bgmendell <bgmendell@yahoo.com> Subject: Fixed Gear-When and Why To: bluebutterflybicycleclub@yahoo.com Date: Sunday, May 2, 2010, 8:26 AM
bill mendell
From: Richard Risemberg <rickrise@earthlink.net> Subject: Re: Fixed Gear-When and Why To: "bgmendell" <bgmendell@yahoo.com> Date: Sunday, May 2, 2010, 8:15 AM
All the original safety bicycles were fixed gears; they were, in fact, designed for riding in the world. path racers, touring bikes, city bikes, racing bikes were all originally fixed.
The fixed gear touring tradition never died out completely in England. Riding fixed on the street predates freewheels by twenty years and gears of any sort by at least thirty.
Forward this link to CR if y'all want:
http://bicyclefixation.com/
Fixies aren't to everyone's taste, but they certainly aren't only for the track.
Now, derailleurs WERE originally designed for racing, so maybe regular bikes oughtn't to have them? Just be fixed or have hub gears?
Sometimes I think that America's real national sport is historical amnesia.
RR
Bill Mendell Palm Springs
On May 2, 2010, at 8:03 AM, bgmendell wrote:
bill mendell
From: Bill Mendell <bluebutterflybicycleclub@yahoo.com> Subject: Fixed Gear-When and Why To: bgmendell@yahoo.com Date: Sunday, May 2, 2010, 7:48 AM
From: Diana Slyter <gearheadgrrrl@unions-america.com> Subject: Re: [CR] Fixed Gear-When and Why To: "Mike Larsen" <mnbikeresto@yahoo.com> Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Sunday, May 2, 2010, 7:31 AM
Back in the 70s, out of curiosity and too much time on my hands, I tried a fixed gear on the street for about a week. I quickly figured out that the fixie was more hassle than advantage and put the freewheel and derailler back on. In the ensuing three decades I've had no temptation to ride a "fixie" on the street again.
Diana in Minneapolis
On May 2, 2010, at 8:53 AM, Mike Larsen wrote:
> Listmembers;
> Was the fixed gear originally designed for racing on the wooden velodromes and when was it designed. I am pretty sure it was not designed for college kids to be riding around the inner city with no brakes. But at my early aging mind I have been wrong many times, just ask my wife.
>
> Mike Larsen
> St. Paul, MN
> USA
>
>
>
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Richard Risemberg
http://www.bicyclefixation.com
http://www.newcolonist.com
http://www.rickrise.com