The things people dump..

[Andrew Tarpinian]

On Sep 8, 2009, at 5:10 PM, Peter Korsten wrote:

> Andrew Tarpinian schreef:
>
>> speaking of which, I might be converting a 70's raleigh grand prix to
>> fixed, maybe, if I can get it performing better as is I may not. They
>> just don't make frames like they used to, really wonderful
>> craftsmanship, made in Holland. Now a days any affordable frame is
>
> Make that 'the Netherlands'. :)

yea yea, well it says Holland on the bike :)

>> made in Taiwan which is ok, and most are real nice but they are
>> cheaply made, and are well missing a bit of soul. The grand prix was
>> not a top of the line bike, I feel like now a day you have to pay out
>> the ass for real quality.
>
> One thing I don't understand, what's this obsession with a fixed  
> ratio?
> Gears were invented for a reason.

You wont get it till you ride one. I have geared bikes, and they have  
their purpose certainly, but in a lot of situations multiple gears are  
overkill and not necessary. It's more like a zen thing, it's so  
smooth, so responsive, so simple and so quiet (silent.) It's weird but  
I compare it to a car with a automatic vs manual transmission, gears =  
automatic, fixed = manual, think of you as the transmission/gears,  
want to go slower, pedal slower, much more control.

Fixed track bikes just work wonderfully in city environments and are  
so much fun to ride. On hilly roads and mountains sure stick with a  
geared.