Just finished building the fixed

I just got on and did it with mine, expect a day or two of it catching you by surprise when you slow and forget to keep pedalling before it becomes second nature. just be more wary of where the pedals are when you stop as it's nasty pulling up and being 'flatfooted' because of the pedal angle being off.

also watch your filtering as you will be constantly pedalling and where you could fit through a wafer thin gap before beside the kerb by putting the pedals at 3 & 9 o'clock doing that fixed will now result in a nasty kerbstrike that will bunny hop you and the bike and make a horrible noise at best or throw you into traffic at worst. something that most geared riders overlook when they get arsey when I refuse to squeeze through some miniscule gap.

before long it'll be second nature, the fun comes when you go back to a geared bike for the first time when you have to slow down and it feels like your chains snapped.

Is there a big Sainsbury's car park, or such like, to go and have a practice?
Graham.

Think ahead. If you see a set of lights on green, will they be red when you get there? You want to avoid braking where possible and try to control speed with pedals and anticipation. The bike will remind you not to stop pedalling. Remarkable how you find yourself riding and thinking how many gear changes you would be doing on the same ride on a geared bike

I'm pretty new to this fixie malarky but I think its pretty cool.
I would suggest you find a carpark and just ride around a bit, then a quiet road then start playing in proper traffic.
I would suggest you learn to trackstand just to avoid clipping out/in at lights (and coz it looks cool, ennit) but try to learn to do it with either foot forward as it doubles your options at lights.

I second what Hatbeard says about the 'chain snapped' feeling when you go from riding fixed onto a geared bike and coast. You get used to riding fixed quite quickly, but like riding clipless, at some point you will forget that you're on a fixie and try to stop pedalling. The bike will remind you bloody quickly and try to spit you off. A couple of those moments are great for drumming in the fact that you must not stop pedalling!

I have to say that fixies are really good for around London, but my ride from NLondon to Portsmouth was a MISSION. I don't think I'll be attempting any long rides on it. I now have even more respect for the people who do the Dunwich Dynamo on fixies.

What gear are you running?

With a gear like that someone as fit as you (assuming you still have some residual fitness left from last year's exploits) will have no problems with the London 'hills'.
I run 73" and can do Bromley Hill seated.

Just get out there and ride it. You get used to it very quickly.

So now all you need to do is whip that fixed cog off, throw it in the bin and get yourself a nice white ind single speed sprocket and forget about spinning downhill in fear of your life, having to filter through traffic because you CANT stop and not being able to bring your bike to a 100% stop without tearing muscles in your legs.

Fixed FFS :roll:

I have just started commuting fixed.

I did a couple of miles in the park then just bit the bullet and starting commuting 30 miles a day on it. A couple of hairy moments - and v slow to start with - but its fine now (I was pretty much used after the first week). But what hatbeard said on everythig - particularly filtering. As for jumping up kerbs etc - not tried that yet and havent actually needed to.

With hindsight the park wasnt good practice - long clear flat stretches dont get u used to slowing, stopping and downhills which is the challenge with the fixed gear.

Fixed has reinvigorated the enjoyment I get from my commute - making it a bit of a challenge again rather than just a fairly mundane daily slog. And I am hoping it will increase my leg strength and get me used to significantly increased cadence (I am running it at low GI).

Mwah Mwah xxxxx