How would that fixie be geared? I mean, would it be like your lowest speed, highest speed, interim speed? Are you sure you'd be able to pull the hills okay? I can't see the average person riding a fixie from downtown to Washington Park without having to walk part of it. Now, if you want to become an ironman....

I'm looking for answers here, Dave, not more questions.

Oh sure, and why don't you ride it down to Hempstalk, Scott?

You can't throw a rock without hitting a bike repair shop in this city. Maybe you should leave well enough alone and get it fixed. Otherwise, soon, you'll be cutting your tight polyester pants off at the calf, you'll have to get super-thick horn-rimmed glasses, a fucked-up lawnmower haircut, you will stop bathing, get tattoos of household objects on your arms and calves and worst of all, you'll probably get one of those stupid Breaking Away cycling hats.

Make it a single-speed. That's what I did on my new bike, which allows me to not deal with gears, not feel like a fixie elitist, and coast down hills. It's a win-win.

How is it that nearly every fixie owner has the same 'uniform'?

Otherwise, soon, you'll be cutting your tight polyester pants off at the calf, you'll have to get super-thick horn-rimmed glasses, a fucked-up lawnmower haircut, you will stop bathing, get tattoos of household objects on your arms and calves and worst of all, you'll probably get one of those stupid Breaking Away cycling hats.

This is what I'm hoping for, to finally be a Portlander.

Why don't you ask the city to buy you a new bike? They have $100,000 sitting around to spend on such crap.

Get a flip-flop that way you will have single speed and fixed gear...

As far as the single speed thing goes, yes it just is simpler to fix your self and if you choose the right gear ratio your ride will be a smoother one since with a single speed (and fixie) your chainline is much better.

The only real upside to a fixed hub is that you and your bike become more a single machine - oh and you have a real excuse to lock up your back wheel and slide out.

This is so easy. If you can go wherever you need to go with your current bike in a random gear - without shifting - that's your ratio. You can also mess with crank arm length.

Just convert to a single speed, that's what I did for the exact same reasons and haven't looked back after 1.5 yrs.

If you really think riding a fixie would be fun (it can) try out somebody's first. It is awfully awkward if you don't know what you are doing, and it can be hell trying to go down hills. Whatever you do, make sure you get one of those teeny hats that match your bike though.

a vote for not-fixie here. way i see fixies and othersuch trends, i don't want to be the person who jumps on the bandwagon and makes it tip right over. 'cause then you have a has-been bike AND a broken bandwagon, where before you just had a bike that needed work. i tend to call trends over about two years before they have even begun their true reign of terror, though. i thought dark-rimmed glasses were over in 2001. hoodies? 2003.

or i suppose you could base your decision on mechanics. i see the appeal of simplicity, but since i learned to use my gears, i wouldn't trade 'em for anything when i'm headed up/down terwilliger.

I got into fixies for the same reason -- dereailleurs caused me nothing but bruised balls and grief. Had no idea that it was a burgeoning trend at the time, I was shopping for a three-speed when I stumbled across a fixie and was instantly sold. Haven't regretted it once, and I bike a hell of a lot farther and higher than Washington Park every day. (and no, I'm not in particularly great shape)

That said, your bike isn't a very good candidate for a fixie. You want a bike with "horizontal drop-outs"; yours has vertical drops. It isn't impossible, but you could probably sell your bike, cough up another fifty bucks, and end up with something better.

And ignore the "trendiness" stigma, incidentally. Not-doing-something-because it's trendy is as pathetic as trying-something-precisely-because it's trendy.

Go with the one-speed w/ freewheel as mentioned above. Eliminate derailer problems and get good torque from the get go w/o going "fixie."
And, continue to wear whatever you damn well please. A "real" PDXer knows that cycling is an individualized gig, not just a trend.
Good Luck!

hm, ignore what I said about the dropouts, here's a conversion that someone did with the same bike:
http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2007/feb/JessMace.htm

I'll be cruising by the Merc neighborhood around 2:00, if you're about 6' tall and can spare twenty minutes, we can swap and you can ride my fixie downtown.

Damn, Cowboy_X, I'm peeling out of here just before then. I don't suppose you'll be passing by tomorrow?

And thanks for all the info.

ya sure, email me

Fixies are anachronistic. Don't be part of the de-evolution.

Nothing makes me laugh and laugh like idiots on fixies, whipping back and forth through city traffic as if the laws of physics somehow do not apply to them because they are saving the world. It's just a matter of time before one of the trendoids whizzes uncontrollably through a stop sign, the wrong way down a one-way, and winds up under my wheels, before I even have a chance to slam on the brakes. I have close calls like that daily.

Sure, I'll feel bad for a while, but, on the bright side, there will be one less moron in the world. Natural selection at it's finest.

I don't like it when people call fixed gear bikes a trend.

They are the simplest implementation of a chain driven bike design possible. The've been around longer than single speed freewheels or derailleur based bikes.

who does a good job of turning a 10 speed into a single speed freewheel? i'm sick of my gears too. how much should it cost?

Scott, your bike sure does have a great personality.

get a helmet, too.

so you're not the "one less moron" part of "natural selection"

I always ride with a helmet! I even stop at every goddamn stop sign, because I just know there's cop hiding in the bushes just waiting to give me a $242 ticket I can't afford.

re: Nothing makes me laugh and laugh like idiots on fixies, whipping back and forth through city traffic as if the laws of physics somehow do not apply to them because they are saving the world.

How is any of this particular to fixed-gear bike riders? You just described an irresponsible cyclist, you can find those on any kind of bike.

Coming to the conversation kinda late... Alex McFarland at North Portland BikeWorks is well known for helping set up bike polo bikes, which involves making the bikes fixed-gear for backwards maneuvering and low-speed control. So, there is at least one resource for conversion.

As for me, I'm too fond of the multi-gearing... Portland is hilly. Calibration can be a pain in the ass at times, but not as much as huffing up a hill in a too-high gear and then trying to descend without the pedals taking out my calves.

I recently traded my geared bike in for a Single Speed/Fixed Gear, and I haven't really regreted it yet. It's taken some time to get used to it, and it's been an incredibly humbling experience, but I don't regret it.

I got have one with a flip flop hub so i can switch to a coasting gear if I want/need to as well as front and rear brakes, and I highly endorse that approach as it's let me wuss out a couple of times until I was better acclimated. Anyways I think they're tons of fun and I say go for it.