Getting Fixed

The dis-oriented author just got fixed. I have eight children, so some of you might be saying that it's about time — I do not mean that kind of fixed. This week, my wife bought me an early Christmas present, a fixed gear bike.

Fixed gear bikes use a single fixed cog instead of a freewheel. You only get one gear and you cannot glide — ever. I already had a classic Brodgestone RB-1 with Phil Wood hubs that I recently upgraded to an Ultegra triple crank, a Specialized StumpJumper FS mountain bike and a Burley Duet Tandem but until I got my fixie, a Redline 925 with drop bars, my biking life was not complete.

I have wanted a fixie for decades. When I first started bicycling I was living on Guam and I rode with the local club, Bicyclists of Guam. There were few serious cyclists on the island then (1974) but the club had a Navy guy who rode a beautiful Scwhinn Paramount track bike with a front brake and a fixed gear. I don't know how he did it but even on our longest ride through the hills of southern Guam he managed to make it to the top of every climb.

Later as I began to do some racing myself, I wanted to get a fixie to add to my training. Since there is no gliding, I hoped it would help smooth out my pedaling and get me accustomed to spinning at higher RPMs.

As a business traveler, I fond it frustrating to be in places with great cycling and not have my bike. Recently I was in Minneapolis with my road bike and I went out two nights after work to ride the trails. It was awesome, after a long day at work, the exercise was just what I needed. Since then, I have been seriously planning how to travel for work with my bike.

The problem with taking bikes by air is that airlines charge a fee to carry bicycles. The fee can be as high as $70 each way. So even if I purchase a case for my road bike it would not be practical. The solution I decided on was to get S&S couplings put on my road bike. S&S couplings are strainless steel connectors that allow a regular bike (with steel or titanium tubes) to be disassembled and packed in an airline legal suitcase.

Of late, the complexity of packing and unpacking my 21 speed road bike has seemed somewhat daunting. It was this complexity that drove me to get a fixie. In addition to all of the other benefits, I eventually will get couplings put on this bike and make it my travel bike. Most of the places I would ride are flat or gently rolling. I am really looking for a bike to ride in the evenings after work not a bike to do long distance touring on.

The fixie is perfect.