[SpinWheelz]

I ask the question because that was my observation from the weekend spent on the road on a fixie rather than a freewheeling singlespeed. Now, I haven't tried a comparo in the dirt, so my thoughts are around the road only.

On the road, flowing with the fixie just seemed to be a lot more effortless. Could this be a result of energy return? When I'm not cranking away to climb a hill or what not, I'm cruising along and I'm taking it easy and I'm realizing that I don't nearly have to work as hard to keep this this moving, probably because the bike's perpetual motion is helping me cruise along. It feels like the bike's regulating my speed and effort as much as I'm regulating its speed and motion.

For some reason, I've always had it in my head that riding a fixie is tough business whether you're on the road or you're in the dirt (more so in the dirt, no doubt). But when I felt that riding the fixie was easier than my freewheeling singlespeed, it came as a nice surprise.

That is, until and unless someone put an end to this fallacy I've put in my head. Confirm? Disprove? Am I mental?

 

[Legbacon]

Assuming the fixie and SS are identical the it would take the same amount of energy to ride them as there is no external power source. That being said when I rode my fixie mtb over a particularily brutal piece of trail with lots of ups, downs, and concrete blocks I cleaned it easier than when SS'd. I think this is because on a fixie you maintain momentum better because you never coast.

 

[2xPneu]

Agreed...on level or rolling terrain a fixie just flows. It's a great feeling.

Point it downhill for a steep or long run and it's a whole 'nother story. Not bad, but would definitely be easier and faster on a coastie. But who cares? Pain and suffering are all part of the fixed experience

 

[meat tooth paste]

Fixie just cruises on its own and feels so much easier than riding a single speed on the road.

Have yet to ride fixie on the dirt, think I will pass.

 

[SpinWheelz]

I dread where this is headed. I started riding MTBs about 3 years ago, purely on a recreational do-something-before-I-eat-myself-to-death sorta thing. Then all sorts of unconventional things started to set in: the bloody singlespeed thing, an obsession with colorful BMX chains, 29" wheels, left-hand drivetrains, and now this.

I feel like I'm conforming to some stereotypical counterculture oxymoronic bollocks: tattoos and beards are next, I know it. I don't like needles and being Chinese, I'm going to have great difficulty growing a beard.

 

[hollister]

: tattoos and beards are next, I know it.

hey!

i resemble that

on the road, riding my fixie does feel easier than my ss.ymmv

 

[monogod]

I feel like I'm conforming to some stereotypical counterculture oxymoronic bollocks

march to the beat of your own drum. if you dig it, then do it.

its only when you "do" to be "hip" that youre "square".

 

[hollister]

march to the beat of your own drum. if you dig it, then do it.

its only when you "do" to be "hip" that youre "square".

well said:thumbsup:

 

[2xPneu]

its only when you "do" to be "hip" that youre "square".

Huey Lewis said something like that more than 20 years ago.

 

[monogod]

Huey Lewis said something like that more than 20 years ago.

yep. although totally irrelevant to the thread he did include a couple of those words back in 83 (on "sports") in a song about being a renegade who's cleaned up his act.

but the line was "its hip to be square"

 

[jlang002]

Yikes...I hope none of you are named Patrick Bateman.
(Bret Eaton Ellis fan here)
-jon

 

[Drevil]

You still have the knobbies on there? Wander off-road...it'll make you feel good good good.

 

[SyT]

I have never ridden a fixed gear, I think I could get into it on the road, but mtbing? I can see myself pedal striking into the mother of all crashes 50 yards into it.

 

[2xPneu]

I can see myself pedal striking into the mother of all crashes 50 yards into it.

It's part of the game, you learn how to avoid pedal strikes in a number of ways as well as use them to advantage over logs. It's not rocket science, it's just a bike you can't coast on.

You learn to adapt. If you don't, you die and someone else with superior fixie skills then breeds and soon we will all be genetically engineered fixie riders. That assumes you believe in evolution. Those who believe in "creationism" or "intelligent design" would not adhere to this philosophy as they would believe that "intelligent design" would naturally mean freewheeling.

 

[SpinWheelz]

I had given it a whirl on knobbies when I first built up the bike. It was on some pretty easy fireroads that went round this big hill in the middle that you could climb straight up (about a quarter of mile only). I faired well, but then again, it was hardly the sort of dirt terrain I'm typically riding. What the heck, I'll give it another whirl and try and get my ya-yas that way.

 

[monogod]

common myths dispelled

It's part of the game, you learn how to avoid pedal strikes in a number of ways as well as use them to advantage over logs. It's not rocket science, it's just a bike you can't coast on. You learn to adapt.

werd! im with ya on that one :thumbsup:

If you don't, you die and someone else with superior fixie skills then breeds and soon we will all be genetically engineered fixie riders. That assumes you believe in evolution. Those who believe in "creationism" or "intelligent design" would not adhere to this philosophy as they would believe that "intelligent design" would naturally mean freewheeling.

no offense, but the broad sweeping generalizations regarding evolution are pure bovine excrement because there is a world of difference between macro evolution and micro evolution.

adapting to one's environment and/or honing one's skills WITHIN a species is micro evolution. there is no new genetic material added to the dna.

the hypothesis that one species can evolve traits OUTSIDE its species is macro evolution. this necessitates substantial new genetic material being added to the dna. (impossible because of the dna ceiling)

people who believe in creationism and/or intelligent design do believe in micro evolution but not in macro evolution.

for example... when you develop the muscle strength, endurance, and coordination to ride farther and faster over increasingly difficult technical terrain (whether fixed or free) it is an example of micro evolution. adaptation to the environment by a species has occured without new genetic material being added to the dna. creationists recognize this to be true.

converse example... those who believe in macro evolution believe the concept that if enough generations of humans spent enough time in the water they would eventually develop flippers and/or gills. this would necessitate new genetic material being added to the dna. creationists disbelieve this theory.

interestingly, darwins own rock pigeon mutation experiment disproved his theory of trans species evolution... but ya dont hear a whole lot about that fact.

the difference between micro and macro evolution is simple... the former actually happens and the latter is an utter crock of crap fairytale spun by a pseudo scientist (his formal training was in theology, not science) who just made up things to explain what he didnt understand in lieu of actual scientific knowledge, process, and evidence.

 

[Godless Communist]

people who believe in creationism and/or intelligent design do believe in micro evolution but not in macro evolution.

people who believe in creationism and/or intelligent design have far bigger problems than which evolution to "believe in."

 

[SpinWheelz]

Someone once posted something about how monogod has a tendency to veer wildly off topic for the express purpose of needing to continually prove that he's gotta be right about something or everything.

Exhibit A, I guess.

 

[monogod]

people who believe in creationism and/or intelligent design have far bigger problems than which evolution to "believe in."

yeah, like dealing with people who believe that humans evolved from rocks! :lol:

oh, and btw its not a matter of which evolution to 'believe in", its a matter of which type of evolution actually occurs and which does not. :thumbsup:

 

[monogod]

Someone once posted something about how monogod has a tendency to veer wildly off topic for the express purpose of needing to continually prove that he's gotta be right about something or everything.

Exhibit A, I guess.

guess you forgot this is a DISCUSSION board. its where we share thoughts, ideas, and opinions. i, just like you and everyone else, am free to post anything i dang well please. if you dont like the contents of my posts then by all means hit the ignore button. it will give you (and the rest of us) much more peace of mind than your incessant whining, complaining, and personal attacks.

also keep in mind that your last post to this thread is way more off topic than my reply to something that another poster first introduced into the thread. :thumbsup:

pot... meet kettle :lol: