Why fixies are good for cycling

Swobo, Sky, Baxter and Crosby

I got some time with the busy bee of Swobo, Sky Yaeger.  I have owned two Bianchi Volpe's that had the 'Chick Designed' decal on the seat tube, her signature.  One I built up as the ultimate touring bike, the other I turned into a sweet cross racing rig.  I sold the cross bike and still regret it. 

Sky is still working her magic, most recently with the Swobo Crosby.  At just over a grand, this bike is all things to all people. Fixed or free, rim or disc, road or off.  The rear dropouts are modular, easily allowing you to switch between horizontal single speed dropouts and a dropout with a vertical derailler hanger (which Sky wore around her neck at Sea Otter):
It also has rim brake mounts and disc brake mounts, depending on your fancy.  Kind of reminds me of Sheldon' Brown's everything bike.  Here's a closeup of the modular dropout and SRAM Torpedo Hub on the Crosby.  As you may know, I question the use of fixed gear hubs in urban riding scenarios, but for those of you that dig it, you can switch this hub between fixed and free by sticking a screwdriver in that little hole and turning an unseen screw.
Another Swobo bike that debuted at Sea Otter was the Baxter.  Internally geared, super smooth shifting Alfine hub, tail light blinky on the seatpost, a pretty much perfect urban bicycle.

Soma Fixie / Fauxie wheels

What you're looking at here are a set of attention grabbing anodized wheels with a fixed gear style nut (no quick release) and a machined brake surface. Are these

a) urban wheels with a nut to foil bike component thieves?
b) a product aimed primarily at people who ride fixed gear bikes with brakes?
c) a confusing combination of compromises (not convenient for road riding due to the nut but not meant for track riding either)?

Ines Brunn

This is the most strongest woman I have ever seen. Watching her move is like watching an animated version of this:

But, with a lot of grace and a little bit of humor worked in to her act. Ines does acrobatic cycling.


There she is with her trick bike. It has a 1x1 gear ratio and a straight fork. No trail. It still has a bit of rake, but Ines has no trouble steering it with her feet, head, butt or any of the other body parts she (and not you) is able to balance on. She also has a huge riveted leather saddle, good for standing on, and a pretty fancy chrome handlebar/stem combo that looks like it was made with some metalworking craftsmanship.

That guy standing next to her in the picture is planning on riding a wacky penny farthing kind of bike across the country to raise awareness about a transcontinental bicycle pathway. He's a bit of a nutter. More on him later. For now, enjoy this fantasticness:

As seen in Santa Fe - hipster congregation

I was walking down the street in Santa Fe, NM last weekend and one fixie riding hipster after another rode by me.


Then I saw a lamp post with a bunch of fixies locked to it.


Then, around the corner I saw a ton of bikes piled on each other, using nothing but their oddball handlebars and direct drive gear trains to hold them together (and I see at least one U-lock in the photo).


Apparently they were all headed to the Del Charro.

Santa Fe is not exactly urban, and it seemed like many took the train up from Albuquerque. What lead them here? Was a strong magnet pulling on their chromed steel Nitto handlebars, steering towards this place? I kept walking, so that if that was true, it didn't pull my fillings out.

High tensile = low budget

Witness the 2009 Mongoose Maurice HiTen.  As in, high tensile steel.  It used to be that bikes made of 'high tensile' steel or 'HiTen' were sold at KMart or had streamers on the handlebars.  High tensile steel has a lower strength to weight ratio than Chrome-Moly steel, making it a nice intermediate material between sewer pipe and the stuff grown-up bikes should be made of.  Performance Bike has apparently got into the department store bike game with this offering.  BikeSnobNYC should be gratified that it is an urban style fixie and that its low asking price ($289.99) and upgradeability make it a harbinger of the coming"Fixed Gear Apocalypse".  They are offering a Chrome-moly version for about $200 more.  However, given today's economic situation, I'm sure they're selling plenty of lower end bikes as basic transportation.

Photo swiped from PerformanceBike.com

As seen at the velodrome

Clear anodized frame. The owner said that it was faster than paint.  True?  Cant say.  It may be lighter than paint because it only adds some oxygen atoms to the frame but it doesn't make the frame invisible to the wind (read about transparent aluminum for more on that).  This guy must be concerned with wind resistance and not weight though, as he's chosen a heavy disc wheel for the back.  An anodized frame has the same cross section as a painted frame, but a different surface finish.  NASA points out that skin friction (the component of aerodynamic drag contributed by surface finish) gets better as the surface gets smoother.  Therefore, a polished painted surface will be faster on a track bike than a rough anodized surface so don't let anyone tell you that anodizing makes something faster, there are other factors involved.

It does look mighty sweet though, and should be cheaper since all it takes is a big tank and an egg timer (and much less precision work than painting).  Bonus points - it is probably more durable than paint (and might be a good choice for a mountain bike like the hard-anodized Maverick).

As seen at the velodrome

The rare double disc bicycle.  Caught this guy at the Masters Nationals track races in San Jose.  You never see two disc wheels on time trial or triathlon bikes.  The usual reson given is that wind can really mess with your steering by hitting your front disc.  I suppose that even an outdoor velodrome is fairly wind free though.  The only other place I've seen that is at an indoor velodromes in the Olympics.  Here's an article about Taylor Phinney with a picture of him on a TT bike with double discs.  In general, it seemed like a lot of people dropped a lot of $$ on gear for the masters races.  It was always fun to see a guy line up on a lugged steel frame now and then between all the carbon and other fancy stuff.

Weapons of minor destruction

Yes, someone is making aggressive bicycle commuting weapons. Who among us hasn't shaken our fist in disdain at a careless driver? How many of us have wanted to hurl something at a honking lunatic? Why, just a few nights ago, two kids in a jalopy pickup truck yelled insults at a group road ride I was on. Well, if you head on over to Fixies Inc. and peruse their catalog, you will come across these:

"CarScratcher barplugs"

If they're sharp enough to scratch a car, they're probably sharp enough to pierce flesh, and while some messengers might welcome that, I for one have enough trouble keeping track of the holes I've got without adding new ones. But hey, if they can bust these out on a lathe and make a buck, I'll blog about it.

photo from http://www.cycles-for-heroes.com

One stop shop

For the bicycle courier that finds themselves strangely attracted to car doors. This website, ilovemybike.co.uk, is offering a gold plated fixie with brakes and cycling insurance.

Leather toe clip sewing kit - Bicycle Blog

I thought these were cool and I was going to blog about them anyway, but then I found out I could win them if I created a link:

Win this leather toe clip sewing kit - Bicycle Blog

They might go really nicely with the fixed steel and leather motif of D's Cannoli project and let you wear your classy kicks on your bike without scuffing them up like this guy:

Taken from http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/search/label/Men%20Milan

Lots of interesting stuff from the Velodrome

Like this picture of fellow Bay Area Blogger - Beth Bikes!:

An unattached skin suit. Brilliant!

Stay tuned to this space.

Crazy things I saw at the track

I went to Hellyer Park Velodrome this past Friday to witness the American Velodrome Challenge. Saw some great racing under the scorching sun and the electric lights. Check out this video I took of the women's Keirin race:



Besides the feats of strength, hot racing action and shocking crashes, I was really interested to see some of the kit these guys (and girls) were sporting. Check out the disc wheel seen on a Specialized factory rider's bike:

That's right, the thing was narrower'n a washed up starlet and narrower than the tire as well. Just enough width for the tire to get glued on. This guy killed the competition too with an amazing display of power, I've got to believe that aerodynamics played some role in his victory.