The things people dump..

[Andrew Tarpinian]

On Sep 8, 2009, at 5:51 PM, The Dong wrote:

>> One thing I don't understand, what's this obsession with a fixed  
>> ratio?
>> Gears were invented for a reason.
>
> In Scotland, it's because we begrudge the extra costs of 'many  
> gears' ;)
> In other lands, it used to be because there were no other gears than  
> the
> one ratio you got. Now, it should be about lightening the bike to
> simplistic minimals, as well as finding your perfect ratio. In  
> reality,
> track racing bikes have only one gear, because the rider cruises at  
> one
> speed for 99% of the race. I think the craze comes from there a bit.
>

Completely from there, most fixed bikes you see in the US are track  
bikes or have slightly relaxed track style geometry. The bike  
messengers (in need of simplicity, responsiveness and control) got it  
from the the track guys and then it worked it's way down.

> Get off and push is acceptable, even on a mtb at some points, I  
> suppose.


One of the beauties of this type of bike in a city environment is you  
rarely have to get off or even put your feet down :)