[SDCBC] [CABO] Fwd: [CBC] Wired mag article on city bikes

[John Forester]

At 04:38 PM 9/27/2007, Jim Baross, Jr. wrote:

>FYI.
>Do you ride a fixie or one-speed yet?


Yet? About 1950, as a university student, I was riding all over the 
Berkeley Hills on 88" fixed, because I had a double-sided hub and I 
had not got around to repairing my Cyclo Oppy derailleur. But I 
repaired the derailleur, probably before I entered the Navy; too much 
strain in both ascending and descending.

I now have a Schwinn Paramount track bike with (as I remember) 66" 
fixed and two brakes. I would ride that on the flatter portions of 
Silicon Valley and even in the foothills, reaching something like 135 
rpm on descents. But not over the real hills.

I also have a 1930s Schwarzkopf track bike with wooden rims and no 
brakes, used by a German track team in the 1930s and left behind in 
St. Louis, but that I use only for parades and theatrical effects.

Is John Eldon correct in saying that the current fixie craze will not 
last long? I would not make that prediction. There were always those 
who recognized its superiority in flatland traffic riding, or even 
over mild hills, but these were cycling enthusiasts, not beginners. 
So, I suppose, there will be fixed-gear enthusiasts for some time to 
come. Messengers frequently use fixed.

The article fails to distinguish between one-speed freewheel bikes 
and fixed-gear bikes; I think that these serve two different 
populations. The one-speed is simple and suitable for short flatland 
trips. Its prevalence in such places as The Netherlands makes some 
American dreamers think that it is equally suitable for American 
utility cycling, as it has been for American useless cycling. (I 
don't have a good word for this, but I expect you know what I mean.) 
I don't doubt that, but I believe that very few American trips can be 
suitably made by the one-speed, even fewer than can be suitably made 
by the multi-speed bicycle. The multi-speed has many advantages, 
particularly as the trip length increases and as the grades get 
steeper. Therefore, I think that one-speed bicycles are not a new 
phenomenon on the American scene, but are just the new form of the 
one-speeds that have been around for decades, and won't form a much 
larger market.


John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St.
Lemon Grove, CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481 www.johnforester.com