Fixed/Single Speed Commuting

iPete

goonz wrote:

My Cinelli Mash fixed gear is finally ready. I was very tempted to take it out this morning but I pooped it and took the SS. I think I will take it out in the park on the weekend first. Any pointers on what to be careful of other than not to stop pedalling?

Take an entirely different style to riding around traffic and lights.

Do not try and filter any tight gaps, especially curb side and do not make tight low speed turning circles, if like me, you will end up jamming your foot in the wheel and keeling over.

What gearing you running?

goonz

Ha! Yep I will be keeping well back of traffic and wont be filtering anything until I know what I am doing. I do have a habit of coasting to lights so thats going to have to change!

Got 49X17 on it, gives a lot more skid patches than 48X18. Hope my knees can take it!

Your vigo ready?

iPete

Not yet, need to re-build my racer first, if the vigo build stalls I don't want no working bikes.

Skid patches! can you skid it? I wouldn't worry about those but its a nice gear inch either way.

goonz

Definitely cant skid yet, ill be too busy trying to make sure I dont fall of.

asprilla

goonz wrote:

Definitely cant skid yet, ill be too busy trying to make sure I dont fall of.

Skidding 49x17? If you have legs like tree trunks.

I moved from 49x18 to 49x17 on Monday. Legs are very tired but average speeds are up.

Lefthook

goonz wrote:

My Cinelli Mash fixed gear is finally ready. I was very tempted to take it out this morning but I pooped it and took the SS. I think I will take it out in the park on the weekend first. Any pointers on what to be careful of other than not to stop pedalling?

Watch out to changing back to the SS or geared bike. I have more issues when I have ridden the fixie all week(cant skid, have both brakes) and swap to the 'good' bike. I approach a junction where you just need to slow, but not stop. On the fixie you would just start resisting gently to slow down. On the geared bike just keep sailing on, until brain kicks in a second or two later and tells me I need to use the brake levers in a panic!

pastryboy

iPete wrote:

Do not try and filter any tight gaps, especially curb side and do not make tight low speed turning circles, if like me, you will end up jamming your foot in the wheel and keeling over.

You make it sound like riding fixed is riddled with compromises and he needs to be worried. I don't think there's any notable difference between how I ride on fixed or geared and I will happily switch between them regularly even though I do 99% of braking on my fixed with my legs. Every time I go to fixed from a few weeks on geared I forget I can't coast and get a 'kick' but it only happens the once. Filtering on the kerb side should generally be avoided anyway.

I wouldn't get too hung up on whether or not you can skid. It's simpy not a good way of stopping because it will destroy your tyres. You will get used to stopping just by resisting the pedals with a front brake as backup. You can hop skid if you want but I do that more for my own amusement than it actually being a productive way of stopping - a light touch on the front brake is what a sensible person would do and, combined with resisting the pedals, will give you all the stopping power you will ever need.

iPete

pastryboy wrote:

iPete wrote:

Do not try and filter any tight gaps, especially curb side and do not make tight low speed turning circles, if like me, you will end up jamming your foot in the wheel and keeling over.

You make it sound like riding fixed is riddled with compromises and he needs to be worried. I don't think there's any notable difference between how I ride on fixed or geared and I will happily switch between them regularly even though I do 99% of braking on my fixed with my legs. Every time I go to fixed from a few weeks on geared I forget I can't coast and get a 'kick' but it only happens the once. Filtering on the kerb side should generally be avoided anyway.

Take what I said in the context of a first ride, I've not tripped over my front wheel in years now

indyp

itboffin wrote:

Generally on a FGSS go 1/8th as its thicker and usually stiffer therefore should last longer.

Failing that anything you have lying around will do.

Thanks

goonz

So a quick update, finally got the courage to take the fixed gear out for a first ride. Wow thats definitely different! Wasn't as bad as I thought, but I definitely had to keep thinking and ride a lot slower than usual. Had to remember to always keep my right hand on the bars for an emergency brake, tried to figure out how to slow the bike using the pedals but I always used the brake to kill most of the speed first.

No filtering, braking much earlier and definitely no coasting! Nearly got a kick when I tried to coast over some really bad road how I would normally do it on my SS as I hate putting lots of pressure on the pedals and bike when riding over potholes and bad road surface but in fixed you have to keep pedalling so more force through the wheels.

Im using a slightly larger gear than my SS so will ease into it anyway for a few weeks and see how mu legs feel. Just a couple of miles journey and I could definitely feel my legs pain in areas not used before so I reckon my commutes will definitely strengthen new muscles.

Overall I enjoyed the experience, still a bit hairy with only one brake but I'll get the hang of it.

Doris Day

goonz wrote:

So a quick update, finally got the courage to take the fixed gear out for a first ride. Wow thats definitely different! Wasn't as bad as I thought, but I definitely had to keep thinking and ride a lot slower than usual. Had to remember to always keep my right hand on the bars for an emergency brake, tried to figure out how to slow the bike using the pedals but I always used the brake to kill most of the speed first.

No filtering, braking much earlier and definitely no coasting! Nearly got a kick when I tried to coast over some really bad road how I would normally do it on my SS as I hate putting lots of pressure on the pedals and bike when riding over potholes and bad road surface but in fixed you have to keep pedalling so more force through the wheels.

Im using a slightly larger gear than my SS so will ease into it anyway for a few weeks and see how mu legs feel. Just a couple of miles journey and I could definitely feel my legs pain in areas not used before so I reckon my commutes will definitely strengthen new muscles.

Overall I enjoyed the experience, still a bit hairy with only one brake but I'll get the hang of it.

Would it be possible to post a pic please.

EKE_38BPM

Goonz is really making me want to resurrect my fixie but that is at the end of a long chain of other fettling.


I may have to buy a cheap and nasty fixie wheelset just to scratch the itch.

goonz

Doris Day wrote:

Would it be possible to post a pic please.

Not the best, but all I have of it all built up.

goonz

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Goonz is really making me want to resurrect my fixie but that is at the end of a long chain of other fettling.


I may have to buy a cheap and nasty fixie wheelset just to scratch the itch.

Do it you know you want to! :P

Honestly speaking it does feel a lot more fun than either the road bike or the SS. Thanks for all the tips to everyone that gave me advice.

EKE_38BPM

goonz wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Goonz is really making me want to resurrect my fixie but that is at the end of a long chain of other fettling.


I may have to buy a cheap and nasty fixie wheelset just to scratch the itch.

Do it you know you want to! :P

Honestly speaking it does feel a lot more fun than either the road bike or the SS. Thanks for all the tips to everyone that gave me advice.

Nice looking bike, but may I suggest switching your brake lever to the left. It allows you to signal right and brake simultaneously.

I'd also have a 'dead' lever on the other side just for reasons of symmetry/tartiness.

goonz

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Nice looking bike, but may I suggest switching your brake lever to the left. It allows you to signal right and brake simultaneously.

I'd also have a 'dead' lever on the other side just for reasons of symmetry/tartiness.

Ive always known front brake on the right so I wont be changing that and I actually prefer the one lever look ha! :oops:

goonz

Heres a side profile

Doris Day

goonz wrote:

Heres a side profile

Your bike is so pretty/ handsome.

Thank you for sharing

buccal

Chaps,

Can I have some gearing advice please?

I'm currently running about 77 gear inches on my daily which feels about right for my level of fitness.

I have just bought one of these for wet weather commuting:

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/adv ... y-one-disc

The question is whether to:

(a)change the gearing on the new bike to match my current bike

(b)increase it over 77 to force me to work harder when I'm on the new bike

(c)keep it much lower so I can focus on my technique, spinning, when I'm on the new bike.

Any suggestions?

itboffin

eek! think of your knees man :shock:

carry on as you were

asprilla

I gear down the wet weather SS, mainly because when it's wet it's usually windier too.

76GI When it's dry and 70 when it's wet.

ddraver

Well 3 days in to fixed commuting and i think I'm getting the hang of it now. As people have said you need to look a lot further ahead than with a "proper bike" and get used to not pedalling (which requires more effort than you think).

What I have nt even begun to get the hang of yet is trackstanding and the hop skidding (or any type of skidding to be fair) thing yet.

It's a Cinelli Mystic Rats which comes with a 48 x 17 fixed which I increased to a 19 while I get that hang of it (and also becasue Putney Hill is a killer without it :oops: ). I'm even starting to get the hang of the stupid 380mm bull horn bars even though I ve already ordered some 440mm

had my first experience letting it run on a long hill tonight which was an experience. I might have to put the cadence sensor on it just to see how fast I can spin

The only thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the tiny crank arms. I'm finding myself on the back of the saddle a lot even though it's as far back as it ll go. Thinking about putting one of them fancy Brooks Cambium Saddles on it next...

iPete

Fixed took me a solid month or two to get the hang & really enjoy. The legs take time to adapt. Even when I change the gearing, it takes a solid week ~150 miles to re-adapt.

Trackstanding, have a look on that youtube place for tutorials. Weaker foot at the front, with the wheel turned towards it. So for me that is left foot forward, steer left. Shift weight back a little and you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

This site is really handy for working out cadence at speed, inches etc. http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches

I personally think 48x17 is the perfect gear for London, Richmond Park and some of the Surrey Hills.

Skizzzz, don't even bother unless running a weeny gear.

goonz

Last night first ride in rain on the fixed, it was scary but didnt actually touch front brake once. Managed a wee skid but that was mostly because of the wet surface than my awesome leg power.

This morning tried the little skip skids and worked quite well, need to practice more but it helps slow you down quite effectively.

iPete I see what you mean about skidding on a low gear, I run 49/17 and I really struggle to try and skid it but that may just be my weak legs!

Trackstanding next, good advice on the technique I always thought stronger foot forward which is where I have been going wrong!

dav1

I think it took me two weeks to get used to the fixie but about two months to really be comfortable with it. Six months later I absolutely love riding it and am in no hurry to fix up my old geared commuter again.

Skip stops are quite fun, I tend to use a few skips to get the speed down enough for comfortable resisting and/or to come to a full stop with my feet in the right position to track stand. The one thing on mine I have to be careful of in a track stand is the toe overlap, its very easy for me to catch a foot on the wheel but its fine now I am used to it.

My gear is 44:16 at the moment, have a 14t in the spares box waiting to go on this weekend, which I will probably regret.

Decided that Marlborough hill in Bristol needed conquering this morning before the change though, legs very sore now...

goonz

I also suffer from toelap on slow manouevres which makes filtering and slow traffic crawling quite hairy and another reason im not fully confident with track stands just yet.

EKE_38BPM

Why do you want to do skids? Are you 11 years old and trying to impress your mates or do you just enjoy wearing out your rear tyre faster than usual?

Brakes are there for a reason!

In all of my years of riding fixed (front brake only with the lever on the left) I never tried to do a skid on the road (but I did when decending wet, grassy banks because using the front brake would have been a quick way to taste that wet, grassy bank).

As a one off forshitsandgiggles, I get it, but regularly just seems stupid to me, so I come back to my original question:Why do you want to do skids?

EKE_38BPM

Oh yeah, track standing is the acme of cool and shows the rest of the world just how great you are.

iPete

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Oh yeah, track standing is the acme of cool and shows the rest of the world just how great you are.

I'm still working on one handed and hopefully no handed soon, then no handed sipping a double espresso.

Forget cool or what others think, completing a 20 mile NFD commute (no foot down) is still one of my greatest achievements, level par with Ironman.

anonymousblackfg

I think it's spelled FUC (Foot Up Commute)

As for skids, I do like seeing hipster scattered over the junction when theirs goes wrong, please get practicing.