two wheels good! singlespeed better! fixed gear bestest!

I have always loved cycling and bikes since I was a little kid and got my first, a red tricycle with solid tin front wheel and painted-on spokes effect. I loved that trike and rode it round and round the garden cackling manically, little feet a blur, occassionally garroting myself on a fallen clothes-line. There was a very direct connection between me and the bike - I pedaled forwards, it went forwards, pedal backwards and it went backwards, slow down or stop using your legs, no need for brakes!

Then I had a succession of increasingly sophisticated machines - the first two wheeler was fixed-gear and I got expert in running alongside and leaping aboard while somehow locating my feet onto the pedals and the end of windmilling cranks. That was a great bike, man. I mean, you could pedal it backwards. How cool is that?

But then, at some point, an invisible boundary was crossed - I got my first bike with a freewheel.  From there it was a slippery slope to Sturmey Archer 3-Speed equipped Chopper clone (said gearstick placed with no apparent concern that it was highly likely to interface painfully with young boys' nads in the event of inevtiable crashes. Duh.)  Then I eventually got a mountain bike (a Specialized Rockhopper with lovely dark purple sparkly paintjob) with 21 gears and V-Brakes, etc. All of which seemed perfectly natural - you may as well use technology to let you ride where you wouldn't otherwise be able to, right? Having loads of gears is cool! The more the better! And who wants to have to pedal all the time? Isn't it nice to freewheel now and then? Well, maybe. Maybe not.

I've always sort of 'put-up' with derailleurs for their perceived advantages, but they never stay indexed properly for long, and because I'm lazy and inept I can't be arsed to be tweaking them all the time, and to be honest, I don't go mountain biking much these days, and I've started to really enjoy road riding, specifically through London. I only ever use about 3 different gears in London and I started to seriously question whether it was worth all the faff of having multiple gears. Plus my bike (a 2003 Kona LavaDome which I honestly DO love, really) and I just went through a winter in Toronto, and let me tell you, when it gets down to -35C your fancy-schmancy derailleurs aren't going to work. Or, occassionally and alarmingly, your brakes. And then your bike sort of starts to randomly ping and squeak in alarming fashion. In fact, riding a bike in -35C is probably not sensible behaviour, but I'm English and I didn't know any better. But I digress.

I noticed quite a single-speed culture in Toronto, particularly among the bike couriers, who must face particularly hardcore conditions in a Canadian winter. Most of them rode slicks, weirdly, given that all the roads are ice. Anyway, I'd started to think about 'simplicity' as a powerful tool for increasing general levels of happiness, quite a lot, so these elegantly stripped down bikes have become something of an obsession. There, I said it, I'm in the grips of one of my occassional bike obsessions. Sorry dear.

Of course, now that my filter has been opened, I'm seeing singlespeed bikes everywhere on the streets of London. Looks like I'm late to the party. It seems there are legions of singlespeed enthusiasts, and even a fairly sizeable hardcore of 'fixies'  - folks who ride fixed gear bikes (no freehweel!). Check out fixedgeargallery (I love the intarwebs) for literally thousands of photos  of fixies' beloved fixed gear bikes. And tell me that a lot of them ain't durned purty!

And so but I'm basically totally obsessed with getting a singlespeed fixed gear bike. Just as soon as I can afford it (which may be a while...) I'd quite like a Condor Pista, in blue. But then again, maybe I really want a Surly Steamroller. Decisions, decisions...

So, whaddya think? Am I nuts? Are gears worth the hassle? Would you buy a singlespeed bike? (Think about the simplicity and lack of maintenance! Just get on and ride! A highly evolved machine with maybe just one (front) brake. Lightweight, sleek, beautiful. You know you want one...)

UPDATE: I *knew* my fresh meme sensors were twitching: Wired says fixed gear bikes an urban fixture. [Thanks, ChrisG!]

Comments

[Tim]

Not fixed gear exactly, but how about a Raleigh Grifter? The planetary weight is easily compensated for by the icy coolness of the gripshift.

[Rik]

Ah yes, the Grifter. Assembled from finest B-grade wrought iron, once you got it up to speed there was almost no stopping it. And the gripshift! Amazing technology, allowing you to go from wildly flailing ineffectuality to the highest gear known to man with a simple flick of the wrist - that's what I call gear ratios! And it even had a handy padded handlebar for when you inevitably crashed horribly. Classic. Also shite.

[ChrisG]

"Fixed-Gear Bikes an Urban Fixture

Often brakeless and always exciting, single-speed track bicycles are not just for kamikaze bike messengers anymore. Hipsters are flocking to 'fixies' for the bikes' simplicity -- and their street cred. By Ryan Singel."

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,67149,00.html?tw=rss.TOP

[Kevin]

Your shortlist is a good one. There were plenty of Surlys on the Dunwich Dynamo this year. I opted for the Condor in blue... http://blog.londoncyclist.net/london_cyclist/2005/08/pista.html