How To Be An Urban - Fixed Gear Hipster ( Fixie How To )
by Tom (Humour)
Let me start this fixie how to by saying that Fixed gear bikes are hip again. And I’m not talking about the guy with the full Lance Armstrong costume and the three-grand, carbon-fiber wonderbike that spends more time strapped to the roof of his Lexus than it does on actual pavement.
No, I’m referring to those hip guys and girls riding around on their singlespeed messenger-style bikes, jeans rolled to mid-calf, and an oversized courier bag slung over a shoulder, gracefully flowing with the pulse of downtown traffic.
You've no doubt seen them and asked yourself, "Hey, how can be I as hip as them fixed gear hipsters?" The answer, my friend, is right between your legs: Get yourself--or better yet, build yourself--a fixed gear bike. Or at least dress like you have one.
To understand this Fixie how to, you must first understand what type of cycle that we are talking about here. Fixed gear bikes, or "fixies," are the simplest bikes ever invented. They have one gear and no freewheel, which means they can't coast; you pedal all the time. Most fixed gear bikes don't even have brakes, because you can (theoretically) stop them by applying back-pressure with your legs. But most of the fixed gear hipsters you see don't bother to stop much, anyway, as they've mastered the skills used by NYC bike messengers of scanning ahead, anticipating traffic patterns, and finding "holes" to slip through unscathed. As for the bike itself, the true hipster will take an old 1970s-era European ten-speed--a Peugeot, Cinelli, Bottechia, or the like, and strip it of its gears, brakes, cables, and shifters, and then rebuild the rear wheel to accommodate a single cog.
Other less-hip fixed gear riders will simply buy one off the shelf; Bianchi, Redline, Raleigh, and others are flooding the market with inexpensive urban fixed gear bikes to satisfy the increasing demand.
But even these fixed gear bikes are modified to withstand the rigors of urban assault riding: decals are removed to thwart thieves, handlebars are flipped and chopped, and the frames are often swathed in rubber inner tubes to protect the finish from bike lock damage and to give the bikes a stealth look.
The Fixed Gear Riding Outfit
To designate yourself as a fixie hipster on or off the bike, you must adopt the fashion style of the new urban athlete. Leave the lycra shorts, rainbow jerseys, and cleated Italian cycling shoes for the Tour de France wannabes. - A too-small T-shirt emblazoned with an obscure high school sports mascot is de rigeur, as is some sort of hat--either a vintage cycling cap, a Kangol-style Ivy, or some quasi-military khaki cadet cap.
- Rolled-up jeans are required, and retro Vans slip-on shoes both look cool and eliminate the risk of laces getting caught in the chain.
- Socks are optional, but if you go that route, it's argyles or nothing.
- Plastic-framed Buddy Holly glasses complete the look.
- If you add Asian-themed tattoo “sleeves,” you get to move to the front of the hipster line. Haaaa!
Riding Fixed Gear Accessories
Accessories are simple: you have to have a messenger bag, and generally speaking, the bigger the better. Chrome, Timbuk 2, and Reload are among the most popular brands, offering dozens of custom features. But to be really hip, you must have a cell phone holster on the shoulder strap. This not only facilitates access to your phone, but passers-by might mistake you for an actual bike messenger with a radio, instantly increasing your hipster cred.
Riding Fixed Gear Technique
As for riding technique, if you go brakeless you’ll want to learn to skid-stop. Unweight the rear wheel by putting your crotch up against the handlebar, and lock the rear wheel with your legs. With no weight on it, the tire will skim the surface of the road like a hydroplane. It's difficult to control the fixed gear and it takes awhile to stop, but it can save your pride should an errant pedestrian step in front of you. Nothing is less hip than crashing your fixed gear in public, so practice this and other evasive maneuvers before hitting the streets. Or simply take the less-hip option and just install a front brake.
The fixie revolution is upon us. Fixed gear Bikes are cool again, and the bandwagon is ripe for jumping. Sure, you can still pedal around on that old mountain bike, BMXer, or road bike, and each will get you from point A to point B just fine. But riding a hipster fixie is about much more than motion. It's about a fixed gear movement. Hope you enjoyed my humourous fixie how to and remember that being hip, takes a sense of humour.
Warning: main(/home/content/h/i/p/hipsterpad/html/comments/comments.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/content/h/i/p/hipsterpad/html/articleFixed-gear.php on line 405
Fatal error: main() [function.require]: Failed opening required '/home/content/h/i/p/hipsterpad/html/comments/comments.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/content/h/i/p/hipsterpad/html/articleFixed-gear.php on line 405
