Fixie

Find myself into riding this thing again. Everywhere. A lot. What a great bike.

The Mystery bike mysteriously disappeared!

Well, okay, it wasn't mysterious I guess. But it is gone. After giving long thought to my cycling needs, and the style of riding that I do most often, a skinny tired road racing bike was a ride that would be much use by me. So, I found it a good home. Or a good home found it. Jeff is going to put it to good use and is going to use it in some triathlons. It would indeed be a fine ride for that. Quick, but comfy. Man I will miss that bike.

Back to further thinking of my cycling needs. When I consider what bikes I actually ride, and where I actually like to ride them, I can't really dream up figures and stats. What I ride is what I ride. What I ride is my LHT and my Karate Monkey. That's pretty much it. My fixie used to see a lot of use, but after a bit of a close call earlier this year (my foot slipped off the pedal while trying to do an emergency skid stop) I kind of wonder if it's the smartest thing for me to ride a brakeless fixie, when I have a wife and family at home. I love them, they love me, and they do want me to make it home safely.

Put brakes on the fixie? Well, the kicker for me and that bike is it's pure aesthetic. I love how clean it is. When there's brakes installed, it just doesn't look as good to me. It's the clean and pure line of just bicycle that I love about that bike.

So, I'm selling it. I posted previously that I was going to sell it, but I didn't have it priced to sell really. I think I was trying to sort of go through the motions of selling a bike, minimizing my possessions, without actually having to do it. Now it's time. I'm listing it for $400. Maybe that's high? Don't think so. Paul Hubs, hand built wheels. It's a solid bike and it's well put together. If I can't get $400 for it, I'll sell it for less. I will sell it though. That's the sure thing.

I'm not sure why, but there's something about having lots of bikes that really doesn't sit well with me anymore. Not sure why. I used to revel in the fact that I had 13 bicycles, all road ready, and all mine. Not all were fancy or worth bragging about, but I like to have them. Now, I'm constantly weighing the pros and cons of each one of my bicycles. So far this year I've rid 6 from my collection. I feel as though I'm not done yet.

The question is always in my mind: "if I could only ride the KM or the LHT, which would be the best for me." I can't say. I could get some gears for the KM, and set it up for more of a utility bike that would still do well off road. I could get some slightly more aggressive treads on the LHT and use that as my only bike. I had a little email dialog with a local cyclist this week who suggested the Salsa Fargo would be the perfect in between bike for me. Yes, it might very well be. But, chances of finding one of those used are slim to none. And, I'm not going to be buying any new bikes in the near future.

For now, I continue to weigh the options and ponder what to do next. And of course, ride my bikes!

Cheers,

Jeremy

Fixie Ramble

mad fixie skills

Chris Akrigg THE MAURICE.0 from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Mad skills that would shame any fixie hipster

Tempted

As if you can resist this type of temptation. One for the bicycles.

Fendered and Lit

Fixie getting ready for the slop. Now studs yet, but the fenders came in handy this morning. Light was proven inadequate; had a very close call this morning. Situation that was unavoidable, but somehow I came out. Probably 4" from my back tire. Would have been a side on T-bone, and I wouldn't be posting this right now. Still doesn't seem real to me.

While it lasts

Seeing as the season is changing, and soon riding a slick-tired brakeless fixie won't be an option, I figure I should get out on it while I still can. I love the hand-less view of this bicycle

Seem to have a thing for panda shots lately...
ONE SWEET RIDE

Rough Riders

Taking a short cut to the bank after lunch. Opted for the fixie, just for the performance advantages. Don't say 28s can’t go off road? I appologize for the poor photo quality. This was taken on my blackberry.

It's all about Performance

Check it.


Good for a laugh.

Found the problem

The front wheel of my LHT was built up with a Dyno hub by Peter White. I have the stock front wheel hanging in my parts department. There was some type of rim tap installed (not sure if it was I who put it on or PWC) but it was pretty thin in a few spots. The ridges of the spoke holes were sticking through in a few locations. I was able to determine exactly which spoke hole was causing the problem (props for matching up the logo on the tire with the valve hole and careful removal of the tire and tube while changing flats) and installed a new rim tape from MEC. I combed over the rest of the rim and the inside of the tire just to be sure, and they looked fine. We’ll give her a week or two to see, but I’m pretty sure that this little problem should be gone now.
On the fixie, I found that I had a failed presta valve. No tears in the rubber or anything, just the air leaked through the valve itself until it was down around 15PSI. I know you can tighten up the little valve inside the stem on a Schrader valve, but I don’t think this is the case with a presta. New tube on there and we’ve got both bikes back on the road again. Thank goodness!

Harkening the days of my childhood

I remember when I thought it was the coolest thing ever to ride down the street with no hands. I'm now getting pretty good and gentle no-handed turns on the fixie. Kind of has that same old feeling. Some things you just never grow out of.

Fixie Redux

After hauling all the boxes from the garage into the basement last night, I decided it was time to set up the fixie for the short urban jaunts that she'll be used for now. This included a small french style bar I found off some junk bike (nice aluminum, more upright and very comfortable) and removing the rear rack and the front brake and bike computer. I'm still waiting to get to the other house to pick up the skinny tires, as I won't be needing my slush/gravel treads for a while.

fixie having breakfast with me in the new kitchen nice and narrow, and very comfortable

Ah it feels good....

....to be back commuting by bike.

We moved into our new home last Friday. I was in Philadelphia for business earlier in the week, and lost several days for working on finishing up the bathroom.

With moving all this past weekend, I'll be taking some day off work later this week to get the other house ready for renters.

But, I've got my fixie at my new house (none of the other bikes have made their way there yet) and she's rolling nicely to work now. At a casual pace, I can make it in six and a half minutes. Feels good to get to a lifestyle less reliant on cars.

Speaking of cars, the Marlin is being picked up tonight by a Gent from Saskatchewan, and the cavalier will be sold a little later on in the week. Much going on, but it's for the better.

Ride yer bike! I'll be riding mine.

14 Miles of (mostly) Gravel

With the temps rising (+12C) today, I figured the gravel should be firmed up enough to ride. I like to run mostly on the gravel, and until now, it's been pretty soft. 6 miles were on a really nice little country road that passes a bunch of acreages, a golf course, and a whole lot of horses. I used to run this route on weekends and it was always quite busy. Being the middle of the day and most people at work, it was a great quiet ride.

I love the fixie for it's silence. The tires on the road were the only noise that came from me. A great little get away in the middle of the day indeed.

Foggy Fixie Lunch

Road a nice gravel road out of town, jump on the # 1 and started spinning. Then, started grinding. On the other side, spinning again, followed by grinding. Thus is the cycle of riding a fixed gear. Good fun. The crest of the climb seems so much sweeter on a fixie than it does when on a gear bike.

Finally got a few pictures that I tried to get a while ago. Only bummer was that it was ridiculously foggy.

I stabbed my toes into the stiff crusted now, and felt like an ice climber for a moment.

To have this much fun on a lunch break is a beautiful thing.

Fixed after all

After the snow cleared up this morning, and a judgment call that turned out to be the right one, the fixie was the steed of the day. Started out on the roads, which for the most part were clear of slush, just wet. Ended up on a bike path and headed towards my old house. The bike paths were pure slush. Past the my old house, the golf course, and checked up on a trail I’d seen the other day while looking at show homes. It is a great path along an irrigation canal, but once off the beaten bath, 6” of soft snow proved too much for the fixie. Even with those nice fatties mounted. So I turned around.
On the way home, I hammered Wheatland trail, which is the route I used to commute on every day. It’s been too long since I’ve had nice asphalt that was snowless. It felt so great to wax it out on a road bike is temps above freezing. Snow and ice biking have their places, but when you’re limited to only that type of riding for months on end, it sure feels good to whirl up the cranks a bit. Of course I was soaked, but I was planning on that.

A nice little 18kms for lunch. Mmm tasty.

Wrenching on the Fixie

I spent a little time of the fixie last night.The biggest thing I wanted done was to get the 700-38s mounted, in anticipation of the spring roads coming soon. Gravel on the shoulders will be the name of the game. I also added a front brake. Even though this was a 27" bike, I'm able to get away with std. reach calipers 0n a 700c wheel. That's nice, because I've got about 5 pairs to choose from in the parts bin. I ended up going with some dia-comps, just because they have a quick release mechanism.
With this nasty weather we're having (it's -20C, -4F) I've been forced to work in a little corner of the basement rather than my unheated garage. I've got a little shop set up in one room, and use other rooms for staging bikes. I thought the gritty old fixie wouldn't mind spending time in a bathroom I've recently ripped apart.

Pennyfarthing Crash

Pennyfarthing Crash

Classic case of crappy tires

For those who don't regularly check FGG

you missed this one today. Dude uses a steering wheel on his bike. Apparently they feel like a set of narrow bullhorns. While I don't think I'd ever do this and I don't necessarily think it's a great idea, I do like it. To me it represents someone who thinks a little differently about bicycles and what they are. It's thinking like this that keeps bicycle design progressing. Or at least gives us some weird art bikes to look at.