Wide bars trend on fixies, whats that all about?

Scoob84
Scoob84 Posts: 76
edited July 2018 in Commuting chat
After being stuck behind a fixie this morning struggling to filter between two lanes of traffic because of the riders preference for wide bars, it struck me that there is a trend among fixie riders these days to opt for wider bars. Back in the day it used to be narrower the better to weave through traffic, then fixed baskets attached above the front wheel, and now wide bars. I assumed this might be something maybe to do with polo, but the size of his chain ring suggested it wasn't. It also occurred to me that i'm no longer in denial about being out of touch, so can some someone explain this to me.

Ta

Comments

  • graeme_s-2
    graeme_s-2 Posts: 3,382
    "Wide" as in normal road bike width, or "wide" as in wider than a normal road bike?
  • lettingthedaysgoby
    lettingthedaysgoby Posts: 1,732
    Hipsters following ridiculous trends, who'd have thought it.
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    Fashion doesn't have to be practical. Look at flares, white jeans, designer beards. For that matter, look at the whole fixie trend; the first people to ride fixies round town were trackies, doing it because they could and most other people couldn't. I doubt practicality was even a consideration.

    Don't be in denial about being out of touch; celebrate it! You can now make decisions for yourself without first having to refer to the herd :-)
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • Scoob84
    Scoob84 Posts: 76
    Graeme_S wrote:
    "Wide" as in normal road bike width, or "wide" as in wider than a normal road bike?

    wide as in very wide, like mountain bike bars that haven't been chopped down
  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,098
    TGOTB wrote:
    Fashion doesn't have to be practical. Look at flares, white jeans, designer beards. For that matter, look at the whole fixie trend; the first people to ride fixies round town were trackies, doing it because they could and most other people couldn't. I doubt practicality was even a consideration.

    Don't be in denial about being out of touch; celebrate it! You can now make decisions for yourself without first having to refer to the herd :-)

    Alternatively, it's a stupid, impractical hipster-driven fad, and those that succumb to this trend are merely sheep who are unable to think for themselves :evil:
    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • Scoob84
    Scoob84 Posts: 76
    like this...

    https://www.brothercycles.com/2016/05/r ... ift-build/
  • Scoob84
    Scoob84 Posts: 76
    SecretSam wrote:
    TGOTB wrote:
    Fashion doesn't have to be practical. Look at flares, white jeans, designer beards. For that matter, look at the whole fixie trend; the first people to ride fixies round town were trackies, doing it because they could and most other people couldn't. I doubt practicality was even a consideration.

    Don't be in denial about being out of touch; celebrate it! You can now make decisions for yourself without first having to refer to the herd :-)

    Alternatively, it's a stupid, impractical hipster-driven fad, and those that succumb to this trend are merely sheep who are unable to think for themselves :evil:

    i suspected this, but there has to be something behind this surely.
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    SecretSam wrote:
    TGOTB wrote:
    Fashion doesn't have to be practical. Look at flares, white jeans, designer beards. For that matter, look at the whole fixie trend; the first people to ride fixies round town were trackies, doing it because they could and most other people couldn't. I doubt practicality was even a consideration.

    Don't be in denial about being out of touch; celebrate it! You can now make decisions for yourself without first having to refer to the herd :-)

    Alternatively, it's a stupid, impractical hipster-driven fad, and those that succumb to this trend are merely sheep who are unable to think for themselves :evil:
    That's exactly what I was trying to articulate...
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • mamil314
    mamil314 Posts: 1,103
    Did OP just discover hybrid bikes.
  • Scoob84
    Scoob84 Posts: 76
    mamil314 wrote:
    Did OP just discover hybrid bikes.


    I take it you haven't discovered fixies yet
  • frogonabike
    frogonabike Posts: 157
    Scoob84 wrote:
    like this...

    https://www.brothercycles.com/2016/05/r ... ift-build/


    The title says it all! Rad. Okay then :lol:
  • lettingthedaysgoby
    lettingthedaysgoby Posts: 1,732
    Scoob84 wrote:
    like this...

    https://www.brothercycles.com/2016/05/r ... ift-build/
    They seem to have forgotten the brakes.
  • cooldad
    cooldad Posts: 32,599
    FTFY
    I don't do smileys.

    There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda

    London Calling on Facebook

    Parktools
  • mamil314
    mamil314 Posts: 1,103
    Scoob84 wrote:
    mamil314 wrote:
    Did OP just discover hybrid bikes.


    I take it you haven't discovered fixies yet


    That is correct, sir, i am in process of building my first one. Drop bars for me!
  • cookeeemonster
    cookeeemonster Posts: 1,991
    Ok. Wasn't sure what this thread was about until today. Bianchi celeste fixie (not a bianchi though) WITH THE MOST RIDICULOUSLY WIDE BARS I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! I literally said "f**k me" as I rode past - I didn't mean to say it aloud, I was amazed. They were so wide his hands didn't cover the grips...how on earth he gets through traffic I don't know (was a RLJ'er of course).

    Great Eastern Street. Hipster Central. Looked an utter wankpuffin.
  • fixerupper
    fixerupper Posts: 32
    I had a fixie in 1967 an bike mad uncle of mine gave it to me I was 14 or 15 . it was a rough old thing ..it was my first full size bike ...I got on with it OK but never really bonded ....I saved up pocket money and bought a free wheel and five speed derailleur for it , centre pull brakes and paint job ..that was a great bike. it had very strange s shaped forks ..it got nicked from our back yard in south London ....
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,439
    I spotted one locked up outside B&Q in stafford yesterday, an SE Lager, massive bars (for a roadie) upper 600mm maybe even 720. Would be shocking in traffic.
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • jds_1981
    jds_1981 Posts: 1,858
    OMG saw one while heading home on Friday. Asking the canal tow path, the cyclist in front of me flinched and twitched around. Just in time to miss the bars.
    FCN 9 || FCN 5
  • timothyw
    timothyw Posts: 2,482
    Fashion victims, basically. They and the people/cars that they clip.
  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 5,846
    edited July 2018
    Am I OK using 747mm Knuckleball bars on my Voodoo for commuting, given it isn't a fixie? ;)

    Edit: Good old mobile predictive text! :lol:
    ================
    2020 Voodoo Marasa
    2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
    2016 Voodoo Wazoo
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,439
    You're off your head, but you're ok as long as it's got gears. HTH.

    Edit - I had 780s on my voodoo, it was crap for commuting.
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • jds_1981
    jds_1981 Posts: 1,858
    https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/315943/
    They're even questioning them on there.
    FCN 9 || FCN 5
  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 5,846
    prawny wrote:
    You're off your head, but you're ok as long as it's got gears. HTH.

    Edit - I had 780s on my voodoo, it was crap for commuting.

    I know that already, but can we get back to bike bars. ;)

    But I don't have to even consider squeezing in tiny gaps between cars at 0600-0700 and on the way home, I barely ride on substantial roads 1300-1500ish.

    It ain't fast, even in the usual 29er mode, but my Voodoo gives me a decent upright position to see what is going on around me and gave me hydraulic brakes far cheaper than a drop bar roadie. Plus when I can be bothered, which isn't often this year so far, the extra 2Kg+ over my Cube gives me a bit of harder training on hill reps on the way home. :lol:
    ================
    2020 Voodoo Marasa
    2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
    2016 Voodoo Wazoo
  • Scoob84
    Scoob84 Posts: 76
    jds_1981 wrote:
    https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/315943/
    They're even questioning them on there.

    I'd have hoped those guys would have provided an answer. Even if its just a trend thing, it surely must have a reason behind it, even if those who follow it don't know this.

    Anyway, saw two chaps gunning around Mitcham on these bikes the other day, so its catching on to untrendy areas.
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    Scoob84 wrote:
    I'd have hoped those guys would have provided an answer. Even if its just a trend thing, it surely must have a reason behind it, even if those who follow it don't know this.
    The reason is presumably to stand out and look different.
    Normal bars -> Everyone has them
    Narrow bars -> That's sooooo noughties
    Best go wide then. And if wide is trendy, really wide must be really trendy...
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • Scoob84
    Scoob84 Posts: 76
    TGOTB wrote:
    Scoob84 wrote:
    I'd have hoped those guys would have provided an answer. Even if its just a trend thing, it surely must have a reason behind it, even if those who follow it don't know this.
    The reason is presumably to stand out and look different.
    Normal bars -> Everyone has them
    Narrow bars -> That's sooooo noughties
    Best go wide then. And if wide is trendy, really wide must be really trendy...

    Saw another chap commuting on one of these this morning. I can't say he himself looked particularly trendy. He was riding a Cinelli though (cool), but looked like something that could be bought from Evans (exclusivity coolness points dropped) and i caught him freewheeling, so he wasn't riding fixed (very uncool). Wished i had asked him now...

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