Got my Fixie. Spesh Langster!

ct8282

So I picked up my Langster today. The guys in the shop thought I was nuts when I told them I have never ridden a fixie before. The managers words were 'try not to kill yourself on the way home'. I didn't think much of it to be honest, until I tried to mount the damn thing outside the shop!! Just a minor challenge, overcame that and briefly got on my way, until I tried to turn a quickish corner, with traffic. Normally I would stop pedalling when taking a quick corner, but what's this, my legs just kept turning! Bugger me it feels alien!

I had planned to do a quick 10 miler route before going home but soon realised it was far too dodgy to be doing that amongst traffic without getting used to the fixed hub. Made it home, 2.5 miles, just! Think I'll be changing it to the free hub side.

However, to you fixie riders, how long did it take you to get your mind to accept the fact your legs just keep on going?

16mm

If you use your legs as a brake on every corner and stop you won't try to stop pedaling completely. Probably.

eccles

The way I started was to ride a single speed bike i.e. one with a freewheel and try to freewheel as little as possible to get used to the feeling of being fixed. That helped somewhat but it still took me a couple of months before I felt totally comfortable riding fixed.

I had a painful crash during that time when I tried to stop pedalling without thinking and got thrown over the front of the bike. I've noticed a big increase in my top end cadence though and I actually find climbing lesser gradients easier on the fixed bike than I do on my normal bike.

Just persevere with it and you will get there. It's a great way to ride and a hell of a lot cheaper than a normal road bike.