Am I too fat/old/unfashionable for a fixie?

Onan

I know lots of you people here are fixed/single speed riders, and I'm thinking of getting a charge plug. In fact, I'm more than thinking about it. I'm right on the cusp. It's not too late to pull out, but it may be by tomorrow!

I love the bike, and it suits my needs. I'd be sacrificing the comfort of my hybrid for a bit more fun on the short hop to uni.

A slight doubt has krept in though. I'm approaching 30, I'm severely overweight, and I'm deeply, deeply unfashionable. Not pretend, ironic unfashionable either. Proper, fat bloke who looks like he lets his mum dress him unfashionable. I don't think I fit the image.

Now I don't know much about what goes on in london, all that fakenger stuff hasn't reached us up here in stoke yet (unless I'm just out of the loop), but when it does, will I be the only fat, sweaty, asda george shopper on one of these in a sea of hipsters?

Wooliferkins

No, you'll be like the rest of us who've been riding fixies for years.(First fixie 1995)

DevUK

I'm about to order a Plug Freestyler, for the full Fakenger look. But seriously, I tried a plug and didn't get on with the bull horns initially, and I prefer the wheels on the freestyler. I'm 30 and 20st, with mediocre fashion sense

roger_merriman

It's a bike ride it I don't think I've bothered with fashion, for years don't think I ever did mind you!

highwaymunky

Get the bike, and it will make you cool! No seriously it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks, so long as you like the bike and enjoy riding it.

As for being over weight the lack of gears gives you two options when doing the commute or any ride.
1: Get off and walk the bike
2: MTFU
As the 2nd option becomes the prefered option the weight will fall off mate. When I got mine I lost 1.5 stone in 3 months last year. Plus you end up with legs like pistons from suffering up all those hills..... is it hilly in stoke?

If you like the bike go for it, F**K the potentious Wa***rs who say you have to look a certain way. Just ride man......

That'll be £100 for your theropy session today...... i take cash, card or paypal.

il_principe

Of course not. But why get a charge? Horrible things.

gtvlusso

If you build your own fixie, people will think you are old school!

I am too old for a fixie at 35, I see the yoofs of today on them in Brizzle and feel that I am cramping their style.......

However, I have been riding fixies on and off for years.....so, morally, I have the high ground (who gives a rats!)

BentMikey

Nah, get a bike you love and enjoy life riding it!

Harry182

Long before bicycles were fashion statements they were, well, bicycles. Take fashion out of the equation and get the bike you enjoy riding.

wgwarburton

Onan wrote:

...A slight doubt has krept in though. I'm approaching 30, I'm severely overweight, and I'm deeply, deeply unfashionable....

Ahh... thirty, tricky age: You can look forward to hitting forty, soon. Then you can genuinely stop caring about fashion. It's quite liberating, TBH! I used to shy away from wearing those convertible trousers with zip-off legs, 'cos they make you look like a berk: then I realised that I was over forty and was going to look like a berk whatever I was wearing, so I might as well be a comfortable one.

I'm 45 (and... um, not thin) and ride fixed. None of the other fixed riders I've actually met round here have been fashionistas, though I've seen a couple of posers on pretty bikes around town. I've also been know to ride fixed in a suit, on occasion (lunchtime errands).

Don't worry about it, ride what you want.

Cheers,
W.

Oddjob62

This time last year i was 31, overweight (still am but not as bad), and just starting to build my first fixed gear.

will3

Onan wrote:

A slight doubt has krept in though. I'm approaching 30, I'm severely overweight, and I'm deeply, deeply unfashionable. Not pretend, ironic unfashionable either. Proper, fat bloke who looks like he lets his mum dress him unfashionable. I don't think I fit the image.

penny farthings are fixies y'know.................

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Mongoose Maurice? The budget conscious Trek District

DevUK

My SS is on order as of today!

merlinghnd

I am 46 and got a Boardman SC bike as my first fixed/single speed and it is fantastic. Spent a few weeks on the free wheel and then flipped the wheel to fixed which is quite exciting. It is my winter commuting bike but may well turn into all year bike. No gears to fiddle with, cycling at its simplest and best. It is quite a big step to go from freewheel to fixed but practise makes perfect. Enjoy whatever you do get.

Onan

My plug is paid for and on it's way to the bike shop as we speak. Too late to back out now. It is pretty hilly here, but my commute is short enough that it won't kill even a fatty like me, and having to MTFU will be good for me.

Il Principe wrote:

Of course not. But why get a charge? Horrible things.

What do you think is horrible about them? Just the aesthetic, or anything functional? Some people go on about them being heavy, but it's only a couple of lbs heavier than a proper road bike, and frankly, I can crap that much in one morning.

I think the one with the bullhorn bars in blue with brown leather looks dead sexy.

Onan

merlinghnd wrote:

I am 46 and got a Boardman SC bike as my first fixed/single speed and it is fantastic. Spent a few weeks on the free wheel and then flipped the wheel to fixed which is quite exciting. It is my winter commuting bike but may well turn into all year bike. No gears to fiddle with, cycling at its simplest and best. It is quite a big step to go from freewheel to fixed but practise makes perfect. Enjoy whatever you do get.

Cheers feller! I was tempted by the boardman, looks like excellent value, but I was after a steel frame. Looking forward to not have to mess around with gears too.

dylanpavier

Don't worry about what other people think of you. Just do it!.

I've just turned 39 yrs old, married, mortgaged, a Parent and overweight, but I don't give a monkey's what other folk on bikes think of me. I've ordered my Langster and I intend to ride it fixed - the first time i've ridden fixed in about 30+ years, but so what?

Enjoy life and have fun :P

Onan

I do need to learn to stop worrying about what other people think. It seems to kick in at puberty, and never go away.

I've been agonizing over jeans recently. I usually commute in in me jeans, cuz that's what I wear, and if they're too baggy, I roll up a leg or two, but I'm becoming concerned that a fat old feller on an off the peg singlespeed bike with his jeans rolled up might look a bit ridiculous.

I mean, it will, but I shouldn't let that bother me.

biondino

Onan wrote:

Am I too fat/old/unfashionable for a fixie?

Yes. Yes, I'm afraid you are. Which is EXACTLY why you should ride one. Once people like you, me and the other geriatric fixed-gearers on this forum are spied by the hipsters, they'll ditch the fixie quicker than you can say "D-lock the ****" and the rest of us won't have to worry about being mistaken for fashion victim tw4ts.

Stuey01

biondino wrote:

the rest of us won't have to worry about being mistaken for fashion victim tw4ts.

Says the man with the pink saddle and bar tape :roll: