Is there still a fixie subculture anywhere out there, or am I showing my age? Im still enamored with the whole “fixie punk” aesthetic. Considering jumping back on social media is there are still people doing this. But I realize its a niche subculture from the early 2000’s thats been made fun of since day 1.
its all reddit soijacks now
I don't know. I suspect it's more underground so you will have to look harder, but people are probably more dedicated, since that's what happens to groups when they shrink.
>>2033562THIS BECOME TRENDY IN MY CITY A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. NEVER SEEN THEM AGAIN
>>2033562here in france we do
it is so old at this point that it is now throwback/retro chic. it was definitely social suicide to be into it until about 5 years ago but it's been long enough that it's kind of cool again though certainly not mainstream, it's more like the eroica larpers where people are like "oh, I see what they're going for" and then shrug and move on>>2033567please stay on /fa/ capslock poster, you're obnoxious
>>2033562>Is there still a fixie subculture anywhere Not where i live. But i love seeing the faces of roadies when they realize that i ride a fixed track bike.Im pretty sure im the only one here riding one.t. rural south germanyBut i actually would love to have some mates with the love for retarded bikes here to meet up sometimes.
>>2033577that face is probably the fact that your speeds are just awkward and cause problems similar to an e-bike, rather than being impressed by what a bad ass hardman you are:-refuse to slow down when it's appropriate because it's too hard to speed back up, so you end up yelling at peds in the crosswalk and taking blind corners too fast and screaming in terror when you almost crash-can't go faster than your legs will spin so you're gingerly crawling down hills while the roadies pile up behind you until there's an opportunity to passeveryone else goes according to perceived effort whereas you go according to one, non-negotiable cadence, so it's also obnoxious when you pass someone because slowing down slightly would suck despite a headwind or a brief uphill, and then you slow down a minute later and I have to pass you or linger behind you nobody has anything against fixies and nobody is "mogged", it's just that your presence demands accommodation and not everyone is always in the mood
>>2033578so which gf was stolen by a fixie brah?
>>2033562The fixie faggots all grew up and became just faggots. The only guy I know that still rides one has an early aughts mtb frame with 26" wheels. The second-hand market seems to be all consoomerist-retard-oriented shit like Fixie Inc. Punk's dead and that's a good thing. Fuck those Peter Pan fags.
>>2033562walmart sells a 90 dollar fixie, you could invent a fixie culture in your area for like the cost of a mid-tier trek
>>2033562south korea has a lot of fixie culture and apparently some parts of south east asia as well
>>2033618lmao, virgin post of the day, on /n/ of all places
>>2033618rightoids unironically think that if they ban abortion they might finally get laid
>>2033562Yeah, people still ride fixed gear. I wouldn't call it a subculture because that's faggot shit.
>>2033578Kek this is not what i do.I only ride on long ass country roads with not much elevation.Sure roadies overtake me but mostly the ones that ride in groups. I can keep up with single riders no problem.My gear ratio is quite high and i love to use it for training sessions from time to time so my cadence sits at around 85-100 most of the time. I dont try to 'mog' anyone or be a douche. Most roadies who notice just give me a friendly smile and sometimes a small talk about my bike and how its like to ride one.
>>2033618ok grandpa
>>2033618wrong type of bike faggot
>>2033562It's super niche. I also see the typical weirdos in my hipster suburb with them. But it;s nowhere near as big as it used to be, because people realized it's impractical
alt girls are peak, deal with it gay boy
they are more popular than ever since they were popularized by NYC courier youtube videos like 5-10 years ago
most of them went alt-gravel-bikepacking with 90s-retro-vintage-hobo-junkie-mtbs
>>2033562Just get a fixie and realize how much they suck. Then your fantasies will fade away
>how to brand yourself unsalvageable human trash for life in 1 easy step
single speeds baby all the rage
>>20336781995 was thirty years ago grandpa
>>2033742youtube was around in 1995?
>>2033681>whining about hobo vintage retro>posts bike with 650b, disc, and other modern techwhat did xer mean by this?
>>2033747650b isn't modern
>>2033578Gearfags are the ones who only use one cadence. SSers have to use every possible cadence during each ride.
>>2033646what?
>>2033562A pure fixie culture is still around in my city but not as popilar as it was around 10 years ago.Most of the zoomers are on the #bikelife shit so its a bunch of latinx on a mix of mtbs, fixies, and those big bmx bikes.
>>2034213>A pure fixie culture is still aroundthere goes that fag talk again
>>2033562my only bike is a fixie but I don't know anyone else who has one, I hardly know anyone else who rides a bike at all. in my city you can't really get around on a bike or walking, all the infrastructure was designed for cars only
>>2033585it's a trash bike though, people won't like riding it
>>2034260seethe more, cumgargler
>>2034269You talk like a fag and your shits all retarded
>>2034383fuck you pendejo
>>2034383sit yo bitch ass down
>>2033562no those kids finished their marketing degrees 15 years ago and all drive Wagoneers and Range Rovers now
>>2033562Zach Gallardo has been steadily pumping out sponsored fixed gear YouTube videos for about a decade now. If there weren't a subculture he wouldn't be sponsored.>Considering jumping back on social mediafaggot
>>2034393Yeah they forked into two paths: Joined antifa and got addicted to fentanyl or work mid tier white collar jobs with a house their parents helped them buy in 2018.
>>2034028That's absolutely correct
I wanna be riding right now
>>2033646Kek
>>2033631No one thinks that
>>2033576>please stay on /fa/ capslock poster, you're obnoxiousNO U
>>2033562Sure there is, anywhere there's college dropout heroin addicts from middle-class upbringings, you'll find your fixie subculture OP.
>>2035514>y-yea my life is boring, b-but, but... I BET YOU DO HEROIN!!1!
>>2033562What happened to people just riding bikes? Why can't I just ride a bike and not make it an identity? I shop at Walmart but I don't make shopping at Walmart my personality. I fish, but I don't make it my entire culture. Why can't people bicycle without it being some cringe in-group nonsense?
newbie here: I genuinely want to know, why ride a fixie at all, if you can use a single speed bike with brakes and coasting?are there anytihng im missing? its just a fixie but better, you can coast when you're tired or whatever, the chances of falling is lower. you have brake as extra safety measure.I never got to ride a fixie so maybe I don't see the full perspective.
>>2035612I agree with you but some people like the control over the drivetrain that you get with direct drive of fixed. not many, though. most of the people who did it because of the trend gradually dropped it for multi speed bikes
>>2033618This happened because the men became weaker. 30 years ago every man could throw a punch. Young and old. Now most men can't even do that. That's gotta be some kind of litmus test that tells you if you have had any adversity and confrontation
>>2035612It feels like it "coasts" better but that might just be me. Like when I stop powering the pedals, the bike still goes for a long time
>>2035612riding fixed trains a smooth pedal stroke because the crank wants to spin at the same speed for the whole rotation . Most riders especially new ones do not pedal in smooth circles they push down twice and the rest is slower, but this is bad form. This makes riding fixed initially feel unnatural but it's going to make you a better rider. If you don't have fixed it's also something you should also focus on doing. Pedal in smooth circles. It also trains high cadence by forcing you to spin that up at speed and it also trains not coasting. Basically a bunch of good habits. Many serious pro or junior road cyclists ride track or fixed for training. You can do tricks with it, namely skids, which is fun. And the slow speed control in traffic is superior because you don't need any incline to do a trackstand (stay still in one spot). Yes it's easy on just a normal road bike and you can alwyas point the wheel back but it's easier with fixed. Trackstands are something every serious rider should learn because it makes riding with clipless much safer /easier. You know you're good at it when you can do it no-hands, also, take a bottle from the frame and drink while doing it.
>>2035612also brakeless fixies are kinda a new thing. Bunch of old boys i ride road bikes with all used to ride fixies on the street in the 80s and they ran brakes and skidding apparently wasn't a thing, for one because you just chew through tires. Because your pedals are directly linked to the traction of the rear wheel and you can feel it slipping more directly, some people will also say that it's safer and you have more control, especially in the wet or snow. There's also mechanically speaking the appeal of it being a more simple machine. Bicycles used to all be fixed gear and the freewheel mechanism is an added complication, which some see as inelegent. The creator of the tour de france said that freewheels were for women and children.
>>2035660>riding fixed trains a smooth pedal strokeRiding fixed will fuck up your pedal stroke. You'll be pushing down for too long because you can get away with it. And you never pedal in circles. You never pull up. That has been debunked and it ruins your knees. You push down from 1-5 at low cadences or 2-4oclock on faster cadences. Your legs are just pistons pushing down
>>2035700>You never pull up.>Your legs are just pistons pushing downLmao, pulling up has been debunked and is far worse for your knees than mashing. Pulling on the upstroke is only useful for race-ists in sprint conditions trying to make podium after their domestique carried them to the finish line. In real world scenarios, fixed gear is more useful than clipless race-ist gotta go fast gear cope
>>2035703>>2035700both retards
I just found out from this thread that fixie bikes are weird. I have a $200 Amazon fixie that I’ve biked 600 miles straight on. I’ve never felt like I wanted gears because I have strong legs and can pedal up the steepest of hills on it. I assume this board is mostly tubbies who bike once a year during the summer at the beach.
>>2036058What's your gear ratio? If it's less than a 3:1 ratio, you're a leglet and climbing is easy because you're on a gear ratio made for weak girl legs
>>2036085what is the ratio of your mom hooking up with random guys that are not the same race as her?
>>2036058You nailed it. 100%. I will add that I get skinny on geared bikes. I don't lose muscle mass on a fixed gear. It keeps you from being a twig
>>2033595Lmao. All they do skid around in avenue and nothing more. Korea is too mountainous for fixie.
>>2033562I still love the look of “dated” super pistas, love the chrome pista frame and im going to admit I love how leader frames look I had one and it rose like shit and sold it but it was a great looking bike
>>2033562we all got into gravel and gravel bikepacking now. the pipe line from fixie degenerate to gravel alt jock is real.
>>2035612in addition to answers already stated, it's fun. i have a flip/flop hub on one of my single speed bikes and i ride it however i'm feeling. i like a freewheel for commuting by myself because i tend to ride fast while alone, and i like to ride fixed when riding casually with other people. it feels different and fun. i wouldn't ride fixed all the time because i'm old and my knees are fucked up. also riding fixed without a brake is dumb. don't do that. be safe. and above all, remember that anyone on a bike is a friend to you. it's one fewer car on the road. pay no attention to culture bike tribe nonsense. do what you like, have fun, be cool, be a friend to anyone on a human-powered wheeled machine.
>>2038464>be a friend to anyone on a human-powered wheeled machine.I always greet everyone who is on a bicycle, from old grandpas on e bikes to roadies and maybe 2% of them greet back. Mostly the roadies and thats it. Why are cyclists generally cunts? I really dont get it. Is it too much to greet the only cyclist you see in about 30 minutes of your ride?And its not even that, most of them look at me like there looking at maggots or something disgusting.Fuck that, i'll become that asshole that blasts by you if you're fixing your tube on the side of the road without asking if you need help.
>>2038471dunno. where do you live? i've lived all over and the culture around interacting with strangers--on or off bikes--is different everywhere. anyhow, i say keep being the friendly one and don't let the people who aren't get you down. it costs nothing and makes the world at least slightly less shitty.
>>2038484South Germany, yeah maybe you're right but the looks i get sometimes really piss me of. Some of the worst are those guys with 40 year old steel shitters that ride around in sandals and no helmets.
>>2035612>are there anytihng im missing?With a freewheel, it's easier to ride the bike while standing, which is helpful on a single speed bike when going uphill, since you can't switch to a lower gear. Riding while standing is extremely exhausting, so the standard is to alternate pedaling and coasting. Obviously, you can't do that with a fixie.
>>2033562I got a flip flop hub. Freewheel on one side, fixie on the other. When the dinky little freewheel I had installed started to die I switched to fixie to see what it was like. It was pretty miserable. I live in a very hilly area, and coasting is half the fun of riding. I like putting in maximum effort to get up a steep hill but then being able to relax and catch my breath on the way down. Riding fixie was pretty miserable. And I still had brakes.Also. You need foot retention to safely ride fixie, especially if you ride brakeless. I hate that. I hate foot retention. I like being able to move my feet around and dismount without having to worry about disengaging from the foot retention. Fixie just isn't for me.
>>2039971That's what all the fixie hipsters in my city have. I only occasionally see a true fixed hub on the road, and it's always the nastiest filthiest man you've ever seen riding it. Single speeders are harmless dorks (like the rest of us)t. 3-speeder
>>2033562Yeah it's still out there. Fixies are the perfect bike for flat inner cities so you'll usually find them there, as reflected by its immortal status in NYC. Also, the colder cities where maintaining a car is extra expensive can easily have some of the best bike scenes in the country (like MPL). Just a year or two ago I was in a gang in Charlotte NC that had a Friday ride and would travel together to other cities/states. They still ride. It's not the crowd from the 00s, all those people are old and have long lost their interest in cycling and ride hipster motorcycles now or worse. If I were to describe the average person from the dozens of people I rode fixies with in the past 5 years, they're in their early-mid 20s, got into fixed <=3y ago, and are/were skateboarders.For the autists that don't understand fixed gear, the most practical value it has is much lower maintenance, especially if you're brakeless elite. The rest is heavily romanticized, and it's beautiful. You can always find a bunch of fucking nerds to ride with on their $$$$ bikes and reddit personalities. But if you want to meet wild people that like blowing through reds, drinking fast and getting drunk and then riding some more, doing coke in the bathroom, affording to live in a city in a cool neighborhood because of some hack where you're immune to traffic if you have big enough balls, never having to cram into the subway with the normies because you can get to manhattan from brooklyn faster than 99% of the fuckers in your city, not even the cops can stop you (they don't even try), it's all beautiful.I avoid cyclists and the bike scene in general now despite it being one my biggest passions in my life because the average cyclist now is a insufferable douchebag. I miss the cowboy days when the average cyclist was a mixture of young, poor, and wild. Now the average cyclist is some wealthy entitled libtard that whines incessantly. Kind of like punk rock.
>>2033562But yeah, the best way to find le fixie culture, or cool people in the bike scene in general, is going to be:* Critical Mass: very hit or miss, depends on the city. Can easily be ran by/taken over by authoritarians/grifters/activist/etc* Bike Polo: used to be too punk in a trainhopper vibe kinda way but now it's a pretty serious "altsport". Find a weekly game or whatever in your city, you can just hang out and drink.* Freakbikers: the people that weld tall bikes and low bikes and all sorts freakish things. They usually hang out/work at bicycle co-ops
>tfw no trashy tomboy dyke gfwhy even live?
>>2035661>also brakeless fixies are kinda a new thingLmao what year do you think it is right now? who is currently the president of the united states where/when you’re posting from?>some people will also say that it's safer and you have more control, especially in the wet or snow.I exclusively ride fixed and have for coming up on 20 years, but my brother in Christ- literally what? Have the people that you’ve heard say this ever tried skidding in an emergency when there’s snow on the ground? Follow up- which letter of the alphabet would you say their collar bones most closely resemble? Assuming they’re still with us, that is.
>>2035661A sustained skid isn't a very good way to slow down unless you master "whipskid", which is initiating a skid while leaned over so the rear wheel of the bike begins to slide out sideways. The more you skid the tail out, the more you increase the contact patch of the skidding tire. Starting to go too sideways? It's fine, just stop locking your rear wheel and the bike will magically upright itself cause physics.But really, the pro strat is "skipstopping". Basically instead of using all the energy required to lock you real wheel, you use juuuuust too little which will break traction and hop the rear wheel into the air (allowing you to slow it down much easier and do a more effective braking as it micro skids upon landing back down on the street). Once you get really good at this, you can do an ABS like pattern that will work vastly better as a braking technique.>>2040067Dawg what? You sound stupid as fuck. 20 year veteran my ass, I know skaterboys that started cycling a year ago that are superior to your ability or understanding, in cities where it snows maybe once every 3 years.
>>2040054Bros, how to acquire fixie pixie alt gf?
>>2033577living around Heidelberg, even here there's only maybe 5-6 regular fixed gear riders left, all the others just go for the look but ride with freewheel or even gear hubs.
>>2036942I got stuck halfway and built a fixed gear gravel bike.
>>2036942>>2040533>Tfw old enough to be part of 2nd and 3rd wave fixie fad cultureAfter going from shitty gaspipe steel to aluminum track bike between 2nd and 3rd wave, I wanted to take fixed gear to an extreme as the 3rd wave fad died and so I built this fixed gear cruiserI think after 2nd wave, a lot of fixie hipsters evolved into MTBros similar to 3rd wave fixie hipsters evolving to gravel unracers. I think 4th wave is around the corner but this time it'll be very different, I think fixie culture is moving towards pedalpalooza type group rides more than swimming through traffic like Hotline kind of rides, it'll be more chill and it'll be about who can carry the most amount of beer during the party pace rides
>>2040562Also for those who are curious, my maximum rated capacity is 72 12oz beer cans. I've done 96 12oz cans before but that's over 20lbs over my rated capacity and I like to stay within that rating for safety. I also refuse to carry bottles, only cans here
>>2040565>over 20lbs17 lbs over my rated capacity actually, i just did the math
>>2040562I love this so much, looks very comfy. More pictures please.
>>2040047>Fixies are the perfect bike for flat inner cities so you'll usually find them there, as reflected by its immortal status in NYC. Also, the colder cities where maintaining a car is extra expensive can easily have some of the best bike scenes in the country (like MPL).Yeah these really only work in flat cities. In my experience, there was a big fixie scene in St. Louis, but across the state of Missouri in Kansas City it's practically non-existent. They do the critical mass ride in STL and it would always have like 200+ people, but in KC they're lucky to get 30 or 40 if that. Riding a bicycle on steep hills just isn't fun
>>2035498it's crazy how I see assholes like this even today
>>2043053>flat inner cityNow thats weird. I live in the sticks, on my way to work I need to pass through thr next large city as the place is on the opposite side. The city is wedged in between the river and mountains. Steepest gradient (excluding locally very steep gradients) I could find in that citx so far is 27%. I ride 48-17 so iust like everyone else really.I love taking the fixie in summer when I dont got stuff to haul and there's no chance of rain.
>>2033736i dont think fixies are that bad dude
>>203357615 yrs ago isn’t retro ya obnoxious twatOk what were they going for then? Oh you don’t know? Didn’t think so
>>2033581Wow you seem really upset about this. Must have really hurt you when those women had sex with those guys huh? Why are you such a pussy and care if another guy gets a woman that you didn’t? You sound like the actual fag here
>>2033719The expensive ones don’t suck at all, they ride nicer than bikes with gears for the same price
Lots of angry boomer British guys in here for some reason
>>2045591
>>2033562>am I showing my ageYes. It's always some gen x nuboomer going on about bikes without a derailleur like this is somehow good and interesting. It is not.
>>2045591>t. incel mansplains women
>>2035425>>2045591>no one thinks that>proceeds to show that he thinks that
In the cities I imagine it would be niche but more commonplace. In rural areas less so. I'm the only guy in my town that has one and most people just assume I'm riding a massive bmx bike because of the one gear.
>>2033562The richer zoomer kids with broccoli haircuts are big on them in suburban Chicago. They'll hang out on top of the parking structure nearby and do little tricks while pedaling backwards and stuff. The bikes have more a track/road look than the hipsters with steel frames (those have moved on to e-bikes and old bikes with quill shifters).
>>2047406>most people just assume I'm riding a massive bmx bike because of the one gear.Why would people assume this and not that you're simply on a single speed?
It seems like the hipster subculture has flamed out given the prices for fixies on CL these days. I see bikes that would have gone for $1000 during the height of the craze selling for $200-300.During the most annoying phase of the trend all these cool local bike shops would get an old trash peugeot frame someone found in a ditch, bondo over the rust holes and powdercoat it and build it up as a fixie. Because the self-unscrewing french BB is really fun on a fixed gear. And hipster would pay $900 for it.
>>2047470We don't have a bike shop where I live so knowledge in general surrounding bikes is lacking. People know what mountain bikes are. Same with bmx. Road bikes aren't too common because of how shit the roads here are for them so most people here who ride bikes choose hardtail mountain bikes. So when people see my bike with a flat handlebar and one chain connected between a big chainring at the front and a small at the rear...Big bmx. It is what it is.
I saw a number of similar bikes like this today in Tokyo - so I would saw yes
>>2045552>Same price>Receive less>Be happy
>>2033562What makes a good or bad fixie? Like what does a bad fixie feel like? Are they too heavy and clunky or something?I vunteer at a thrift store and come across bikes every now and then but now I am wanting one I haven't seen them in a long time.Managed to find one of these near me though (brands says rhythm 00 if that rings a bell to anyone)
>>2033562whats your goal exactly? posting on social media or riding fixed gear?i think if you live in new york there's still a weird group you could join and race and run redlights and get killed, but like, if you like fixed gear bikes i don't think there's anything stopping you from just riding one. to me its just a bike not a lifestyle...i just got started riding bikes as a hobby and my local road bike shop seemed confused why i wanted to ride fixed, but helped me anyway. he told me here in japan they're pretty rare, but i think that's also part of the appeal too. it's quirky and unique right?anyway, who fucking cares just ride ya wierdo bike and have fun
>>2047708I've also added a "ride with pride" and a "love cycling, hate racism" sticker now.
>>2047670a fixed gear isn't less. You trade in either steep climbing or fast descending, for the ability to control your speed with your legs, do tricks, track stands, ride backwards, more safety on slippery surfaces, a quieter ride, less maintenance, never having to change brake pads or cables, no rim wear, and a unique style of riding. Whether that trade-off is worth it depends on your preferences.
>>2047675That's just a bmx bike. Also from what I see it's mostly about the weight of the bike. If it's over 10kg it's considered bad.
>>2038486these guys think your are gay and cruising for homosexI mostly greet friendly and/or fuckable people
>>2047670sincerely correctexcept they're not even the same priceless moving parts, less maintenance, less worry, just pedal at your pace all day and enjoy life
>>2043084>>2035498This is just what the average midwestern transplant dresses like in the "trendy" parts of brooklyn now
>>2033562most major UK cities have a fixed gear scene; alleycat races, mass social rides and white food delivery cyclists larping as messengers abound
>>2050636>nowAre iphones still a hot new status symbol in your universe? Is obama still president? Do you catch yourself hatewatching white female "rappers" on the youtube?
>>2051663do we still have things like this? last time i did a critical mass ride i think was around 2010 or 2011 in manchester
i still see 30 or 40-something year old hipster everyday-cyclists riding thiers and the occasional pack of youngsters at bikeparty who mustve been children when it was a fad. youll also see packs of fixie kids at the wheelie-bike rideouts
>>2035612something trancelike about riding a fixie. i fucking love it-not a fixie guy
>>2051733In my area those died down long ago only to resurface very recently and I am absolutely disgusted by what I am seeing hijacking the legacy.
>>2051887Mass never died in my city but leadership has similarly been hijacked by a no fun allowed queer urbanist group, it's a different vibe now
>>2051726>Are iphones still a hot new status symbol in your universe? Is obama still president? Do you catch yourself hatewatching white female "rappers" on the youtube?Not sure what Obama has to do with anything but yeah people especially girls will generally look down on you if you have an Android
>>2051977obama is the surname of a former US president who held office from the '00s to the mid '10s, which was around the time trendy people stopped dressing like >>2035498 in brooklyn
>>2051978I don't know how people dressed 15 years ago in Brooklyn but this is how people dress here now. Jorts, weird facial hair, shirts that are either too big or too small, shitty one-off stick and poke tattoos. All of this stuff is popular.
>>2051891Thats exactly what I mean I see now, it's sober mid-40s hags and boomer twinks on electric cargo bicycles blasting obnoxious music while trying to be slow and inconvenience traffic as much as possible. All adorned in the obligatory helmet and hi viz vests.
>>2051726I remember that video. The glasses girl seemed incredibly hot to me at the time. I miss the 2010s.
>>2035707Your mom
>ride fixed for 7 years in 20s>hurt knee>stop riding for the next 5>recently decided to try it again for nostalgia while listening to MASH soundtrack>crash badly and fuck my bike and arm upit's over
