Rode gears and freewheel for the first time in a year

SimonAH

The PF hit my fixie today - and my home kit was out of patches. I spent an hour putting my old Carrera Vanqish into roadworthy condition (been used as a parts bin recently) and rode the commute to get some patches from my office kit.

Bloody hell it felt weird!

Had to force my legs to freewheel ( and it still gave me an 'oh shit, the chain has broken' feeling)

Anything off the top two gears felt stupidly spinny

......but.... Way faster and pedalling in circles!

slowfox

I, too, have a Vanquish that has been gathering dust since I succumbed to riding fixed.

And I, too, recently rode it into work to lend to a colleague who's considering his options in anticipation of the Cycle To Work scheme being relaunched by our employer.

Freewheeling definitely feels broken, and I had to remember to coast around corners, so wired, now, to pedalling through them.

And the very first speedbump back on the fixed nearly caught me out, as I prepared to glide over it, standing on the pedals to let the bike flex up and down beneath me...

You can definitely ride faster on a geared road bike (no great surprise), but since my commute is pancake flat, all them gears seem overkill, so I'm sticking to the fixed, for now.

redvee

SimonAH

You'll be taking the stabilisers off next

Blue Meanie

I've got a 'test-bike' from work with one them 'freewheel' things, you sort of get used to it after a while

Normally save the mtb / road-bike for weekends, but with the weather I havn't used a freewheel since Dec.

Still definately fixed at heart, just 'freewheel-curious'

SimonAH

You can definitely ride faster on a geared road bike (no great surprise), but since my commute is pancake flat, all them gears seem overkill, so I'm sticking to the fixed, for now.


Sorry, I wasn't clearer. By way faster I mean way faster on the road bike than I was before swapping to ride fixed. This could be just down to improved fitness but I think it's more about improved technique forced on me by the rigours of riding fixed such as;

Pedalling on downhills, not coasting.
Pedalling in circles (smoother all round)
Attacking the hell out of hills

I do miss screaming round tight bends with opposite lock and all the weight on the outside pedal which you cant do on a fixie.

I don't miss having to do the ungainly stork dismount tho' The fixie 'step off the back of the bike' manouvre is so much neater. 8)

gtvlusso

Feels weird dunnit - going from fixie to roadie....I am on fixie this week, but will be back on roadie for a 60 miler on Sunday.