Now that's why fixed can be scary...

bikesdontfloat

Slot in behind the lead car while the lights are on red. As the lights change and the car pulls off start pedalling hard so I can maintain my position and make it easy to get over into the right hand lane where I can take a right at the roundabout.

All's going well, speed picking up, out of the saddle really cranking along, must be up to 20+ mph and keeping up with the traffic. Oops, WTF?!

At the top of the pedal stroke my right foot pops out of its cleat. Freezing with terror for a second or two, supported by my pretty much straight left leg that is still clipped in, means that I'm bobbing up and down like some demented toy. My brain finally catches up, instructs me to sit back down on the saddle (more difficult than it sounds when you're being bounced up and down at about 100rpm), apply the brakes and try to get the right foot clipped back in (again tricky at 100rpm).

I'll bet the cars behind me couldn't work out what the hell I was playing at (or for that matter have any idea how close I was to ending up sprawled across the tarmac right in front of them). Must have looked funny though.

Time to tighten up my pedals release mechanism I think!

snakehips

bikesdontfloat wrote:

I'll bet the cars behind me couldn't work out what the hell I was playing at (or for that matter have any idea how close I was to ending up sprawled across the tarmac right in front of them). Must have looked funny though.

LOL

That must have looked quite a sight

iain_j

I've seen that happen at the velodrome during a sprint - the guy was just a blur, he was bobbing up and down so fast

blackworx

iain_j wrote:

I've seen that happen at the velodrome during a sprint - the guy was just a blur, he was bobbing up and down so fast

LMAO

fossyant

eek ! :shock:

robbarker

BTDTGTTS! :-)

prj45

You got brakes?

Epic fail.

bikesdontfloat

prj45 wrote:

You got brakes?

Epic fail.

Life without brakes would certainly have been more interesting - and possibly a lot shorter!

Back-pressure braking really does rely on having both feet on the pedals.

lost_in_thought

Careful there....

I started pulling the shoe out of the cleat on my fixed, a bit tricky as you say,I tightened up the cleat, then I pulled my foot out of hte shoe... even worse... see here for the whole story.

Then, as Feltup predicted, my ankle was the next weak link...

It's a slippery slope...

:shock:

always_tyred

Fixed gears not ideal for commuting, perhaps?

If you think about it though, not that many couriers ride fixed and clip ins. SS yes, but not fixed.

patchy

i've done this several times due to a dodgy release mech that i keep forgetting to fix - first time it's pretty scary!

JonEdwards

Done that a few times now. Usually powering away from the lights. It'sgenerally down to worn cleats.

It actually happened a couple of nights ago, and it was pretty instinctive to just drop back into the saddle and go floppy legged until I caught up with myself again. So you do learn...

The scary one is when you do it under full power and end up booting the handlebars. So not only are you going up and down like a yoyo, you're all over the road too! :shock:

Greg T

prj45 wrote:

You got brakes?

Epic fail.

Isn't that the truth.

I've never applied the "no brakes on a fixed" principle to my bike as I'm really keen on not stacking it.

However I've applied the purity of the ideology to other areas of my life.

Do you use a hammer to drive home nails? You are weak. I use my forehead - it's broad and flat and by bending at the waist I can really get some momentum going. People who use hammers to drive nails are just ignoring the fact that they DON'T NEED HAMMERS. When I said my forehead is broad and flat I should perhaps have made clear that in fact it's a bit concave and bumpy, like the surface of the moon - but more cratered - ever since I did that shelving the other week.

Testing mains electricity. So you switch off at the juntion box and are just about to wire in the spur to put in a new socket - do you test with an electric screwdriver? You are weak. Merely by licking the exposed live connection you will know if it's off or not. There's no need to employ expensive and cumbersome methods to check voltage just use your God given tongue.

biondino

Fixed gears not ideal for commuting, perhaps?

Careful what you say, it's like the Spanish inquisition round here when it comes to fixie-wixies...

Littigator

biondino wrote:

Fixed gears not ideal for commuting, perhaps?

Careful what you say, it's like the Spanish inquisition round here when it comes to fixie-wixies...

I am exercising extreme moral restraint this morning after my bus episode....but these inflammatory comments reall;y are testing it to the maximum.

Fixedweasel

Fixed gears not ideal for commuting, perhaps?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MIaORknS1Dk

always_tyred

Fixedweasel wrote:

Fixed gears not ideal for commuting, perhaps?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MIaORknS1Dk

bikesdontfloat

Always Tyred wrote:

Fixed gears not ideal for commuting, perhaps?

If you think about it though, not that many couriers ride fixed and clip ins. SS yes, but not fixed.

Silky smooth, silent almost maintenance free transmission. Bullet (or pothole) proof undished rear wheel. 3 braking systems.

Nope, completely rubbish for commuting.

don_don

Littigator wrote:

biondino wrote:

Fixed gears not ideal for commuting, perhaps?

Careful what you say, it's like the Spanish inquisition round here when it comes to fixie-wixies...

I am exercising extreme moral restraint this morning after my bus episode....but these inflammatory comments reall;y are testing it to the maximum.

Ignore the unfixed, they know not what they say..

Tempestas

Pulling your foot out can be nasty, but wait until you snap a chain on a fixed on the track at around 40mph. I have and it hurts both you and your wallet....Apparantly I looked like a rodeo rider as the chain jammed between wheel and frame and I did a 40m skid before it freed up, but I still managed 2nd place and qualified for the next round.

After dismounting though I was minus 2 spokes, you may think not to bad, but when its a Corima four spoke the 2 spokes are missing from there is nothing left but to

luckily for me though the chain was brand new and the manufacturer supplied me with the funds to buy a new rear wheel

always_tyred

Crap for going up hills, crap for going down hills. Every day I climb about 400m during my round trip. A fixed or ss would hardly be ideal.

Most fixed and ss I see have a front brake, meaning that the ss has a single braking system and the fixed one good braking system and one not so good. In the event of two brake failures on a fixed equipped with both (which would suppose that the low maintenance regime had gone a little far), I wouldn't have thought that the final remaining system would be helpful in most circumstances.

Clearly its possible to commute using a fixed and clip ins, but is it really IDEAL? Fashion aside, would anyone, in view of all of the available equipment, choose a bicycle with a single, fixed gear on which do do the majority of their cycling? I don't think so. That's not to say that a normal road bike is ideal either - from a blank canvass I think one would end up with a gear-hub bike to be honest.

This is funny. Are you going to have to nail my head to a coffee table for having transgressed the unwritten law?

lost_in_thought

Always Tyred wrote:

Clearly its possible to commute using a fixed and clip ins, but is it really IDEAL? Fashion aside, would anyone, in view of all of the available equipment, choose a bicycle with a single, fixed gear on which do do the majority of their cycling? I don't think so.

Oooh me me me I do! Although this year I have done quite a lot on the rubbish roadie, I choose to do the majority on the fixed. And take a glance at the photo of my FG if you think it's for fashion. I'm slowly making it uglier.

And I have 2 brakes. It's fun to be able to slow down while signalling both ways rather than only to the left. Braking with legs is not so reliable.

However, if I lived somewhere hilly I would have gears. Horses for courses.

amaferanga

Always Tyred wrote:

Crap for going up hills, crap for going down hills. Every day I climb about 400m during my round trip. A fixed or ss would hardly be ideal.

Really?

This is the elevation profile of my each way commute. I think its ideal for fixed or SS if you're fit enough. I'm quicker on fixed/SS, its a better workout than on a geared bike and if fixed is so crap for going up hills why do people compete in hill climb races on fixed?

bikesdontfloat

Always Tyred wrote:

Crap for going up hills, crap for going down hills. Every day I climb about 400m during my round trip. A fixed or ss would hardly be ideal.
...

Fashion aside, would anyone, in view of all of the available equipment, choose a bicycle with a single, fixed gear on which do do the majority of their cycling?

I live in Birmingham - we don't have hills. None the less, I find my fixie and I power quite nicely up all the few hills it has come across. As for going down them, it's just a case of relax, go with the flow and everything is fine.

I commute on my fixie as it is a great tool for the job. I did toy with the idea of going down the hub gear route but nothing feels quite the same as riding fixed. Anyway, while commuting may account for the majority of my journeys that's not the same (in distance terms anyway) as the majority of my cycling.

Aside from the commuting fixie the shed also contains a road bike, fast hybrid, hack fixie, sit up and beg (my wife's) and a BSA Shopper (unused-found when clearing out my mother-in-law's). These will be joined in the next few months by a serious mile-eater (yet to be chosen) for doing LEL. I'm all in favour of using the right tool for the job. It just happens that for me fixed is the right tool for commuting.

graeme_s-2

I've never had this happen with my pedals. They're Crank Brothers Quattro's. There's no tension setting on them, the only way you're ever coming out of them is by twisting your foot. It's virtually impossible to just pull out of them by mistake, unless the cleats are incredibly worn (as I say, never happened to me).

I have pulled away from a junction, put my (unclipped) left foot down hard on the pedal, failed to clip in and had it slip forwards off the pedal. This must look pretty ridiculous to anyone behind as well, but at least I don't have much momentum at that point!

simple_salmon

if fixed is so crap for going up hills why do people compete in hill climb races on fixed?

Because they choose a gear that is suitable for the climb - they don't need to worry about flats and downhills - and they don't need to worry about out-of-control-downhill legs because they only go up.

Possibly.

unclemalc

Greg T wrote:

prj45 wrote:

You got brakes?

Epic fail.

Isn't that the truth.

I've never applied the "no brakes on a fixed" principle to my bike as I'm really keen on not stacking it.

However I've applied the purity of the ideology to other areas of my life.

Do you use a hammer to drive home nails? You are weak. I use my forehead - it's broad and flat and by bending at the waist I can really get some momentum going. People who use hammers to drive nails are just ignoring the fact that they DON'T NEED HAMMERS. When I said my forehead is broad and flat I should perhaps have made clear that in fact it's a bit concave and bumpy, like the surface of the moon - but more cratered - ever since I did that shelving the other week.

Testing mains electricity. So you switch off at the juntion box and are just about to wire in the spur to put in a new socket - do you test with an electric screwdriver? You are weak. Merely by licking the exposed live connection you will know if it's off or not. There's no need to employ expensive and cumbersome methods to check voltage just use your God given tongue.

Brilliant....

Littigator

I love my fixed and will love the new one I am building even more. Horses for courses I guess but it's a lovely way to ride around town (with brakes obviously). Tomorrow when i do a long Surrey Hills ride I wouldn't dream of taking it. I'll be on my geared roadie.

ellieb

Er.... What happens if the chain snaps & comes right off when you have no brakes? :?

Tempestas

ellieb wrote:

Er.... What happens if the chain snaps & comes right off when you have no brakes? :?

Read up a few posts and you will get the idea.....

_Brun_

lost_in_thought wrote:

And I have 2 brakes. It's fun to be able to slow down while signalling both ways rather than only to the left. Braking with legs is not so reliable.

I'm not quite sure when it's really approriate to signal both ways, although I can imagine it looking rather zen-like as you cruise down the road with outstretched arms.

Ooh look, another pedant!