October 29th, 2007
cos Tourists Are Money
My own experiences with fixed gear are distinctly tourist. Pre-marriage days I wanted something for the 20 mile winter commute. Fitting 700c wheels into a singlespeed frame was simple enough. A calliper brake in the Kona Project 2s easily reached the rim for front-brakeage. The back wasn’t so simple. The rear seatstay bridge wasn’t drilled for a calliper, and V’s wouldn’t reach the rim. Sod faffing, slap on a fixed cog and away I went.
The bike saw use for two winters before I ended up with a Rocky Mountain Hammer rat bike to do the same job. Gears and freewheel included. The fixie was fitted with flat bars and proper size wheels* and went out for precisely one off-road ride before a flight of steps made me see the error of the off-road fixed-gear way.
Since then I’ve been happy to let the fixed-gear bandwagon trundle on it’s merry way without me.
Now though, once again there is a fixie in the household. It’s not mine though.
* 26″, naturally.
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January 4th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
in the end…
they are all just bikes