Fixie

I popped down to the local bike shop (Stowes of Windsor) and they helpfully flipped the wheel of my Langster over for me.

I'm now riding a fixie !!

I've only ridden back from the shop so far, and my practice over the last few weeks seems to have paid off as I didn't find it too bad. Time will tell, when I head off to the normal rush hour traffic on Monday morning.

It's fun though, I can't wait :-)

Commuter Bike

DSC03868
Originally uploaded by se71

For the rest of my current contract, or at least while it's in it's current location, I'm cycling to work every day. No more trains!


It's about 13 miles each way, and is quite flat, so rather than ruin my Ridley triathlon bike, I thought I'd use the money saved from Southwest Trains and get a new steed.


Fixed wheel bikes are all the rage, and have a lot to be said for them. My new bike, pictured above, is a Specialized Langster, which can run as either a fixed, or a single speed, depending on which way round you put the rear wheel. For those not in the know, the difference is that riding as single speed means that you are able to free-wheel, whereas with fixed, you have to pedal all the time, and pedalling backwards would mean actually riding backwards. Fixed wheel bikes are what those Olympic gold medallists ride in the velodrome.


It has only one gear in either configuration, so you will struggle up steep hills, and have legs like a spin-dryer going back down them. But there are many advantages. On the flat, the gearing is such that you have a cadence (leg revolutions per minute)
higher than you would probably pick on a geared bike. Spinning at 90-100 revolutions per minute is supposed to be good for triathlon training and I think I'm in that range for most of my commute. Having no gears means less maintenance and a lighter bike. I've also noticed that my bike is a LOT quieter than I'm used to.


I'm sticking to single speed for a week or two to get used to the gearing, and I'm thinking seriously about switching across to fixed soon. The disadvantages to fixed are that it's challenging to stop especially in emergency situations, and it's not possible to rest at all y free-wheeling. That latter point is also an advantage, in that you get a much better workout on your cycle trip.


I'm on my second day cycling so far, and am really enjoying the simplicity of this bike. It's also for some reason much smoother over the bumps than the Ridley. I'm trying to pretend I'm on a fixed wheel, pedalling all the time, which is especially hard down hills, coming up to traffic lights, and clipping my left foot in on the move. I have the old fashioned clips and am cycling with trainers, but I will probably change this to a different style of pedal once I work out what I want.


Definitely recommend the experience so far.