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Nice try ubercat, but I was endo-ing in 1989 so your BITD excuse won't even fly over your own handlebars, sucka!

doop doop doop:

http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13742

Boombats wrote:Nice try ubercat, but I was endo-ing in 1989 so your BITD excuse won't even fly over your own handlebars, sucka! :o

LOL! :) Apparently I'm considerably older than you. Considerably.

Ubercat, they didn't have endos in your day because that front wheel was so damn big, right?

phildodd wrote:Ubercat, they didn't have endos in your day because that front wheel was so damn big, right?

That's actually my press photo.

LOL. That's funny.

ubercat wrote:True. This wasn't invented when I was riding - well, at least to the level it's developed now. Back in my day an endo was exactly what Manny Cunt did in the pic above. Freestyle has come a long way.

Man, I remember how doing endos was all the rage when I was in grammar school, like, K-5 garde school. Doing it with the toe in the front fork (since BMX bikes didn't have front brakes) so you would balance exactly as much on the front wheel as possible without tipping over. That would have been '84 at the latest. Get with it!

Part of the reason I remember so well is I can picture the exact spot on the sidewalk in front of that school where I went too far and did a faceplant in front of everybody. Sweet.

I started doing freestyle BMX shit in 1986. I stopped in about 1991, and then had brief rejuvinations twice in my 20s.

I love playing guitar way too much to risk breaking my wrist doing silly bike tricks.

My cousin was a pro flatlander for a while. that was funnt.

Ben

benadrian wrote:I love playing guitar way too much to risk breaking my wrist doing silly bike tricks.

I broke my left wrist three times before the age of 13. Same bone all three times - Scaphoid bone.

Okay. I've heard and read a lot of the arguments as to why single-speed/fixies are so good, and I still just don't get it. Each justification seems to produce a contradicting argument, which follows. Will someone please let me know what I might be missing here?

1) They're lighter

- Since most of these bikes are steel frame bikes, often 30+ years old, with 32 to 37C tires I just can't buy this. If weight is so important, why not ride an aluminum frame with 23 C or smaller tires? The weight added by a deraillieur set and shifters could easily be made up for by taking a shit before you bike, or not carrying such a gigantic messenger bag. Unless your deraillieur set is made of thorium or lead, it just isn't that much weight. And a pound for a set of brakes is an easy trade-off for the safety of having them in the city.

2) They're easier to maintain/fix

- Who are all these people who are constantly busting deraillieurs? Seriously, how the fuck can a decent modern set of deraillieurs give anyone such problems that you'd get rid of them outright? Are you constantly heel kicking your bike like a horse, urging it to 'giddyup'? I ride about 400 miles a month and have never had a problem with a deraillieur. If your bike has 30 year old crappy shifters, deraillieurs and cogs on it, then maybe it's time to get a new group? Then you can get indexed shifting, thus avoiding the argument that your chain is always rattling. I adjust my deraillieurs about once every couple of months. It's not hard. It's really not that big a deal folks! Ten minutes at most. Super hip-cool bike guys should be able to do this no problem.

3) They ride smoother

-Again, I just don't quite get this. If you have indexed shifting and a well matched chainring/cogset, this shouldn't be an issue. I ride with a front dual 42/53 ring and a rear 8-speed cog. When I'm riding the most common 42T and 13/15T rear my chain is perfectly perpendicular and aligned. If I've got a good tailwind or otherwise able to ride really fast, the 53T and 11/13 T lines up too. For those time I'm dealing with hills or a bad headwind, perfect perpendicular chain alignment is the least of my concerns. But 99.9% of the time my bike is well adjusted and rides quiet and smooth.

4) You're "more in touch with the road/you feel the road more"

- I'm not so sure about how riding one of these puts you more "in touch" with the road, but if you really want to "feel" the road you should be riding an older aluminum frame bike with straight axially strung spokes and Bontrager hard-case tires inflated to 120 psi. I guarantee you'll "feel" every little bit of the road then! And, you'll be plenty fast thanks to super-low rolling resistance.

The only reason I can really see for these bikes is just that they "look cool". Which is fine. There's no shame in just wanting a bike that "looks cool" and was cheap to build/acquire (except for those douchebags on craigslist wanting $300+ for an old Schwinn Princeton single-speed conversion), but all this excess justification just doesn't seem to hold water.

I ride fixed in a very, very hilly city. I also ride gears. Comparably, the fixed is easier, hands down. It's faster, it's more efficient, & it has fucking brakes. No reason to die for looks.