Fixies all the rage

Cyclists fixated with latest trend
STEPHEN CAUCHI
May 19, 2009


Pedal power ... fixie riders say they feel more connected and more grounded by having no gears
IN the 1980s, BMX was the rage. In the 1990s, it was mountain bikes. Now it's "fixies" - fixed-wheel bikes with no gears or free-wheel mechanism. There's no coasting; when the rear wheel turns, so do the pedals.

So what is the appeal of a bike where the rider can never rest? They are hip, for starters. But the sensation of always having to pedal has its fans.

"The fixie riders say they feel more connected and more grounded by having no gears," said Bicycle Victoria's Garry Brennan.

"As in everything, there are fashions in bikes. There's been a mountain bike fashion, there's been a BMX fashion, and currently fixies are a strong trend worldwide, especially among younger riders.

"Fixie people have a feeling of kinship with other fixie riders. It's a tribal, clubby thing."
The trend, said Mr Brennan, appears to have sprung from bicycle couriers, who chose fixies because they were less likely to be stolen, had fewer parts, and were reliable and easy to maintain. Track racing bikes are also fixies.

"The coolest fixie is generally a former track bike," said Mr Brennan. "There are some beautiful old steel track fixies from the 1960s and 1970s around the streets of Melbourne that have been reincarnated as urban street bikes."

In fact, restoring fixies (or "blinging" them) is part of the appeal. "Fixies can be blinged out with bright, shiny clean chains - sometimes the chains can be coloured," said Mr Brennan. "The hubs can be coloured, they can be blinged with special narrow handlebars. They're groomed like precious poodles."

And, striving for a complete connection between pedalling and movement, some owners will even remove the brakes (legal overseas, but not in Australia), and slow down by applying back pressure to the pedals.

"That's a positive for them. It's that feeling of connectiveness. They will tell you that their bike-handling skills have improved because of this level of connectiveness. You don't have the margin of error."
Evan Wilson, of Cyclic Bicycles in Flemington, said new fixies cost anything from $600 to $3500.

"The main market is uni students, the art crew, and people who are training - people who are doing competition. They're a bit of a fashion statement and there's a lot of customising you can do."
Fixies account for 30 to 40per cent of his bike sales, but only 10 to 15per cent of revenue because of their cheapness. But new fixies were not hip.

"There might be a dozen new bikes on the showroom floor to cater for the market. They might make up 5per cent of fixed-gear bikes around town. The rest are recycled bikes, old track bikes, imported track bikes. Guys bring in something, saying strip (the gears) and make it a fixie."

Mr Wilson said fixies had boomed in the past decade, and especially in the past three years. And Melbourne "by a long way" was the fixie capital of Australia.

"It's very much the Melbourne culture. Bicycling in Melbourne is so easy, there's so much of it in Melbourne. "You cycle in Sydney, people want to kill you."
So why are they so popular? "It's enjoyable - you want to go faster, you pedal faster. It's also about not going as fast as you can."

That's a sentiment shared by long-time fixie Damon Roe, 31, of North Carlton. He bought his bike second-hand for $200 about nine years ago and has been upgrading it since. "I have actually replaced every part of it since I got it, with parts more suited to its original vintage."

Mr Roe has a geared bike but prefers the fixie. "There's a lot more feedback between you and what's going on on the ground and the speed you're travelling at, because the pedals are travelling in a fixed relationship.

"There's the physical sensation of riding it, there's the political part of not buying into all the latest, greatest gadgets, and there's the classic style of it.

"Old Italian men would look at my bike in the street and smile, or tell me stories about what they used to ride. You don't get that with a modern-day mountain bike."
Source: theage.com.au