gettin fixed

It’s been 6 weeks now since I built The Fooj. It’s the only bike I’ve ridden since then, as I intended to spend some quality time getting used to riding a fixed gear to see how I like it. Today I finally got out the old Scatmobile for a geared ride, so I’m feeling ready to compare the two.

Getting started riding a fixie was easier than I thought. Sure, it was a little awkward at first, but not nearly as difficult to adapt to as I expected. After a few weeks, I felt pretty comfortable on it, though I’m still leery of emergency braking and taking turns at speed. I tend to ride cautiously near intersections to avoid getting into such situations, which takes some of the fun out of it.

Riding a converted old touring frame has proven to be a bit of a downer. While I love the feel of steel, the long wheelbase and relaxed geometry are too stretched out for my tastes. It also makes it harder to do skid stops or ride no-handed. As much as I love the Fooj, I’m trolling the internets for a tighter frame. I’m not sure I want to go full-on track geometry, but at least to modern road racing geometry.

One of my expectations turned out to be spot on: I’d love the ability to turn the fixed-ness on and off at the flip of a switch. Not gonna happen, but it would be pretty neat. Most of the time riding fixed is very comfortable and fosters a feeling of greater control over the bike. But then sometimes I want to stop pedaling, duck down, and let gravity haul me down a hill at 30+ mph. That’s one of my favorite parts of riding a geared bike.

On the other hand, the simplicity of the fixed gear is sweet. Especially since my gears were acting a little squirrelly today on my road bike. I think it’s time to take it in for a tune-up. I think it has somewhere around 2000 miles on it with nary a problem, so it’s about time. Then again, I bet Bob can help me do it myself. In the mean time, I’m going back to riding the Fooj.

new contributor

Hi, my name is Graham and I ride bikes.

My primary ride is a Scattante R-660 double, which is a few years old so it’s not exactly like what they’re showing there but close enough. Being the Performance Bike house brand, it doesn’t have much street cred, but I’m rather pleased with it. I don’t think you can beat it for the price.

I’m also building a fixie, which will get its own post sometime soon. I’m entertaining the idea of getting a mountain bike but I really don’t have time for all that right now. I don’t get on my road bike enough as it is. I ought to be riding to work but there are complications that prevent that at the moment.

My typical ride is to go from my house near Oakhurst out to Stone Mountain Park, which makes for a nice 25 mile round-trip, and of course more if I decide to loop around the mountain, which I have not been doing lately. I’ve mapped my typical routes here. Today, though, I changed it up and rode over to Piedmont Park instead, which made for a shorter and less hilly ride. I experimented with different gears, trying to work out what sort of gain ratio I want on my fixie.