Fixed - Not Broken!

Hey, as you may have read my brother and I love food, art and bikes.

So I thought we could start it off with the bikes. I started to get into bikes about 2-3 years ago, when I decided to rebuild my old off-road bike. This soon became an obsession so I decided to go to my local velodrome and had a ride on one of their track bikes, better known as a “fixie”.  Since then I’ve built two fixies, one with a brake and one without (My track bike). After constantly talking about fixies with my brother, I finally got him to try my one out, and about 1 month after he decided to buy his own and customise it to his liking.

Now you may ask me what a fixie is and why they are so special. Well the answer to all your questions will be explained throughout this blog.

My (Ben's) Track Bike

Me (Ben) on my Track Bike

Dan's Fixie

Me (Ben) skidding on my Fixie

Dan on his Fixie

Dan on his Fixie (Again!)

The first bicycles originally had only one gear, much like the fixies seen today. There are many reasons why fixies have only just started to be “in fashion”, but probably the biggest is due to the fact that you can customise them relatively easily. You can have as many different colours as you like. The fixie community is very friendly and chilled, they are a great crowed to hang out with and to learn new things about your bike, the art and the food in the area.

Fixie is an acronym for fixed gear. You have one gear and you can’t coast (stop peddling). A lot of people ask me if it is hard to constantly pedal, but I find it easier to maintain my speed and it also feels more natural. Most of these bikes come with a flip-flop wheel which will allows you to choose from riding fixed or single speed (which allows you to coast, but still only has one gear).

Well, hope this kind of explained what a fixie was, and we'll update soon.