Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Fixed Gear Rules, "Commands"
Fixed Gear Rules, "Commands"
1. Read Sheldon Brown's fixed gear resource site. This is chuck full of fixed gear information, fixed gear conversions, safety tips, etc.
2. Riding fixed is not like riding a geared bike such as a 10-speed, 9 speed bike. The hub in a fixed is fixed, with no freewheel. It keeps pedaling as long as your wheels are turning, which brings us to the next two points:
3. Unclipping requires practice, that's if you're using clipless or clipped pedals. Since you cannot coast, you have to time your plant foot to unclip and plant - this takes practice. Others get it right away, and for me, it took me two to three weeks to get used to it.
4. And this continous pedaling motion means you cannot place your fingers near the drivetrain when the wheels are turning!! This means fingers away from the chainring, cog, chain, spokes. My advice - leave the bike stationary when tinkering with it. Don't even use a bike stand since you might get tempted to start cranking the pedals like you were cranking a roadbike - uh uh uh, nah nah nah, No, No, No. Just keep the bike on firm ground, clean it without turning the wheels or the pedals.
5. Re-read items numbers 1-4.
6. Be careful when going downhill. You will spin fast. Thus, use a set of brakes. The hipster notion of brakeless fixies is for me plain old "stupid". One time a truck cut in front of me from a blind intersection - he didn't see me. I was going downhill, fast. If I didn't have my brakes, and just used back-pedaling (I'll explain this later) to skid and stop, I would have hit the truck. There are many needless accidents that happen because a fixed rider didn't put brakes to look "cool". (And if you're dead, you're cool, too, and that's the uncool part of it).
7. Practice, practice, practice. I call the 3 P's. Also you can say Practice, Patience and Pedal. Backpedaling, which I mentioned earlier, is the idea of applying backward pressure to slow down the bike - you basically "stop" pedaling forward, and apply reverse pedaling motion. It does have its merits - when you navigate through a turn, you can apply some back pedaling, when you go on a downhill grade, you can apply back pedaling with your brakes. When you near an intersection, you can apply back pedaling to slow the bike down. For quick, cold, emergency stops - backpedaling has its limits. This is why you still need brakes. When you race on the track like Raymund, you don't use brakes - you'll be zipping through at 40mph like everyone else. But you won't see an SUV cutting through the lanes of a track velodrome where you'll need to stop immediately.
8. When using clipless (I recommend clipped initially so you can unclip fast), make sure you can clip out. I fell trying to unclip only to realize the tension on my clipless Shimano pedals was a tad too tight.
9. Be safe.
10. Be smart and read the resources provided by Jay, and others. Again - Sheldon Brown.
1. Read Sheldon Brown's fixed gear resource site. This is chuck full of fixed gear information, fixed gear conversions, safety tips, etc.
2. Riding fixed is not like riding a geared bike such as a 10-speed, 9 speed bike. The hub in a fixed is fixed, with no freewheel. It keeps pedaling as long as your wheels are turning, which brings us to the next two points:
3. Unclipping requires practice, that's if you're using clipless or clipped pedals. Since you cannot coast, you have to time your plant foot to unclip and plant - this takes practice. Others get it right away, and for me, it took me two to three weeks to get used to it.
4. And this continous pedaling motion means you cannot place your fingers near the drivetrain when the wheels are turning!! This means fingers away from the chainring, cog, chain, spokes. My advice - leave the bike stationary when tinkering with it. Don't even use a bike stand since you might get tempted to start cranking the pedals like you were cranking a roadbike - uh uh uh, nah nah nah, No, No, No. Just keep the bike on firm ground, clean it without turning the wheels or the pedals.
5. Re-read items numbers 1-4.
6. Be careful when going downhill. You will spin fast. Thus, use a set of brakes. The hipster notion of brakeless fixies is for me plain old "stupid". One time a truck cut in front of me from a blind intersection - he didn't see me. I was going downhill, fast. If I didn't have my brakes, and just used back-pedaling (I'll explain this later) to skid and stop, I would have hit the truck. There are many needless accidents that happen because a fixed rider didn't put brakes to look "cool". (And if you're dead, you're cool, too, and that's the uncool part of it).
7. Practice, practice, practice. I call the 3 P's. Also you can say Practice, Patience and Pedal. Backpedaling, which I mentioned earlier, is the idea of applying backward pressure to slow down the bike - you basically "stop" pedaling forward, and apply reverse pedaling motion. It does have its merits - when you navigate through a turn, you can apply some back pedaling, when you go on a downhill grade, you can apply back pedaling with your brakes. When you near an intersection, you can apply back pedaling to slow the bike down. For quick, cold, emergency stops - backpedaling has its limits. This is why you still need brakes. When you race on the track like Raymund, you don't use brakes - you'll be zipping through at 40mph like everyone else. But you won't see an SUV cutting through the lanes of a track velodrome where you'll need to stop immediately.
8. When using clipless (I recommend clipped initially so you can unclip fast), make sure you can clip out. I fell trying to unclip only to realize the tension on my clipless Shimano pedals was a tad too tight.
9. Be safe.
10. Be smart and read the resources provided by Jay, and others. Again - Sheldon Brown.
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