to fix or not to fix

gunny_bedford

hi

i am thinking about getting a winter training bike, to save my lovely new Madone 5.2 from the misery of a British winter ( see my post in the wanted in case you have one !)

however i am debating whether to buy a fixie instead of normal geared bike, my logic being a fixie would be even better at surviving the winter grime than a geared bike.


However i have some concerns that getting one might limit my training over the winter. I am not the best hill climber in the world, but do like to through in the odd nasty one during my usual 50 - 60 miler weekend ride. My concern is if i used a fixie i would not be able to cycle up said hills without getting off !! I hate getting of my bike and will only bail out at the very last minute !!! so i would end up riding flatish routes during the winter and avoid bigger hills. i guess trying to attempt to ride up the hills would be good training, but i would not want to knacker myself to the max every time i attempted a big hill.

i have never thrown a leg over a fixed bike, so have no real experience to be guided by, what does anyone else think ? would it improve my cycling over the winter, or would it be best to stay with gears !

thanks

Neil

Monty Dog

Depends on how big the hills are, how fit you are and what your pain threshold is!

markos1963

I thought the same Neil until I rode one and now i love my SS/fixie. I'll admit Norfolk isn't the most hilly of places but I can get up a 10% hill near me without too many problems. It does help your hill climbing as you have no choice but to go for it on hills.

rolf_f

Just get a cheap, old school racer (of the sort you might be tempted to convert to a fixie) and use it as it is. You won't have to stick to the boring flat stuff and they cost barely more than a fixed to maintain anyway (spares a few quid on ebay - just get a few in so you are prepared for failure - but you'll probably only want a spare rear mech and spare down tube shifters. Something from around 1990 should be straightforward to keep running but still be mechanically simple.

davenice

I've got a triple and use all the gears (especially when going up hills) - I don't think I'm that powerful.

I had to do about 10 miles after my rear derailleur cable snapped a few weeks back, so I wedged the rear in about gear 4 and then just had the three gears at the front to choose from. I was really surprised at how easily I was able to cope with it.

I keep meaning to try leaving my bike in a typical single speed gear and see how far I can get.

Dave

cyco2

Riding a low geared 72in or 69in fixed for the winter is a really good way to lose all your strength. Fit for twiddling but when you get back on gears you'll find using bigger gears is very painful. I read in a magazine by a coach who suggested that all you got to do is spin a bigger gear after spinning a fixed all winter. This does not happen. You will have to learn how to ride gears all over again. I have never heard of a professional or elite riding fixed for the winter. For a daily commute I guess it would be okay but not to train on.

cougie

I love my fixed for the winter. It regularly beats far flasher carbon bikes uphill.
It's long descents that I find slower than on gears. Thats where my mates catch me up.
Mine does north Wales with 3 mile climbs and shorter steeper ones.

Not sure about the losing power but I don't seem the worse for it compared to my mates on gears throughout the winter. Then again none of us are pros.

Very low maintenance and a very different ride.

rolf_f

cougie wrote:

I love my fixed for the winter. It regularly beats far flasher carbon bikes uphill.

No it doesn't - you beat people on far flashier carbon bikes uphill. That's an important distinction!

marcusjb

I commute fixed and love it, but I am considering riding some or all winter events fixed as I think it really helps with both aerobic fitness and strength.

I love the simplicity and ease of maintenance - I hate going out for a winter 200 and then having to spend a couple of hours cleaning the salty muck out of everything. I'd far rather shorten the life of my £500 fixie than my £3K audax bike!

I'm not yet strong enough to ride a really hilly 200 fixed, but most winter events tend to be flatter, so I reckon I have a good chance of managing them fixed. What I do find with fixed is you've no choice but to MTFU and get on with it - gears do encourage laziness.

I'd only ever ridden fixed a couple of times (mainly on track at Herne Hill taster sessions etc.) before taking the plunge and buying one at the start of the year. I love it! It's such a different way of riding, it's certainly helped with my aerobic fitness as well.

If I can manage some 200s over winter on fixed, I might think about some longer stuff as well.

So all in all, I say go for it - fixed is amazing, maintenance is easy, it can certainly help your fitness - I'm not sure on the claims it will lose your strength, makes some sense, but I guess if you find you are spinning out, you gear up, learn to push that harder gear, then gear up again etc. I know people who push 84 inch gears by the end of winter even on the hilly stuff - they got a LOT of strength!

centimani

I guess it very much depends on the person. We don't all make the switch to SS or fixed and like it !
Got myself a cheapie Raleigh framed SS just before last winter. I live in a moderately flat area, but found it just plain boring on a SS. Also, bearing in mind the wind tends to be stronger in the winter, those headwinds seem (and are) harder to fight against.

It just didnt do it for me.

You could also argue, if you work harder and improve fitness on a fixed, then why not work harder on a geared bike. At least you can bail out and take an easier gear if the going gets too tough.
JMO and experience.

That said, there does seem to be a lot more glances from cyclists when you're on a SS/fixed, i like the look, the simplicity, but riding one just didnt float my boat.

secretsqizz

marcusjb wrote:

I my £3K audax bike!h!

How can anything so ugly as an Audax bike cost that much?

marcusjb

Oi - I like orange bikes!

amaferanga

Fixed is great for winter commuting and riding from a maintenance point of view, but it's a myth that it is better for fitness. It also won't help your pedalling technique much if at all.

So if you want an easily maintained bike that'll be a bit tougher up hills, a bit unpleasant on long down hills (especially on rough roads), but is a bit different then fixed might be worth a try.

This'll be my 3rd winter riding fixed, but I don't really train on fixed, just ride and commute. Proper training will be on the turbo and on a geared bike on the road.

cougie

I do use mine on the turbo - with magnetic resistance I dont see the difference between that and a geared bike.

cyco2

cougie wrote:

I do use mine on the turbo - with magnetic resistance I dont see the difference between that and a geared bike.

Riding fixed on a turbo makes sense since the resistance can be changed. This can help in increasing strength and give the impression of riding gears. I had to ride 72in gearing because of all the hills which made me fit to climb them but I was still doing a lot of twiddling between them which was not good for road race training. The fact that you do turbo training as well does get over the loss of strength that could occur with too much twiddling.

cougie

If loss of strength occurred then I'd notice this after winter. My mates don't ride fixed. I've not noticed it. Don't forget wiggins and co race track too and that's fixed.

thiscocks

cyco2 wrote:

Riding a low geared 72in or 69in fixed for the winter is a really good way to lose all your strength. Fit for twiddling but when you get back on gears you'll find using bigger gears is very painful. I read in a magazine by a coach who suggested that all you got to do is spin a bigger gear after spinning a fixed all winter. This does not happen. You will have to learn how to ride gears all over again. I have never heard of a professional or elite riding fixed for the winter. For a daily commute I guess it would be okay but not to train on.

Sorry, don't agree at all. You are never going to loose any strength riding those sort of gears fixed (or ss). Are you speaking from experience as that is quite unusual. It is normally the other way round where you have less strength coming from a geared bike.