So my fixed gear bike has been the most reliable and fun means of commute transportation for the last 15 days out of 31 days of the new year. I’m working on having more bike commute days than truck commute days this year. I slacked off riding to work the first week of the year and I’ve had a few days where I had to drive my truck for work but I’m beginning to think that a bike commute is not only better for my physical health and the environment but it is also better for my mental health. I had a bad day Monday at work with a computer crash and an ill fated group of construction detail drawings but I’m in such a good mood that I could ride my bike to the moon. My Fiance asked me last night, “Are you going to ride to work in the summer when its hot?” I said “yes, of course I will, it is still pleasant in the morning and I rode my bike to work a few days last summer. Its hot going home but who cares If I’m a sweaty mess when I get home.

So back to the fixed gear alternative. It has become very trendy as of late to have a fixed gear. This “Fixed Gear Apocalypse” was suddenly apparent when I asked a young hipster type at a recent AlleyCat Race what ratio he was running. He said “46-17″ but I just got a 20 tooth cog for the back. I asked him why he would cut his effective speed so much, he replied “So I can do more flatland stuff and tricks and skids.”………. Hmm so riding is not really all that important anymore just doing tricks and skidding is the new focus.

I started riding fixed gear back in July of 2006 when I built a Fixed Gear conversion from a Raleigh 10 Speed I bought at a yard sale for $12.00. I rode it to school 5 days a week and have been riding fixed gear ever since. I am in no way any kind of innovator in this field but I feel like a fixed gear pioneer in the Fresno area. When I would walk into a bike shop asking for a 1/8″ chain they would look at me funny and ask If I rode BMX bikes. I would tell them it was for a fixed gear and 2/3 of the time I would have to explain the concept to the young lad. Calling a shop looking for cogs, chains or chainrings for fixed gear bikes is useless also.

But….. The in the last six months or so a bulging mass of fixed gear interest has emerged in the local bike shops and on the ever mind altering internet.

This trend has reared its ugly head with goofy accessories and fixed gear specific fashion clothing. Google it for the most up-to-date crap on the market.

Trends don’t usually bother me too much but sometimes they hit a little too close to home.

Back in high school I drove an old 30’s hotrod pickup around. I went to a car show in Los Angeles and purchased a Mechanics Jacket with a “SoCal Speed Shop” patch on it. I wore it to school and then to college with the truck. I was the only person I knew to have such a jacket until a year later when I saw more and more young kids wearing such a jacket with no apparent affiliation’s with classic cars at all. I still love that jacket and thank goodness it is no longer sold.

Trends come and go but my love for bikes and old cars and anything mechanical will never fade.

I like bikes, all bikes, any bikes, big bikes, small bikes, old bikes, new bikes, fast bikes and slow bikes, shit bikes and sweet bikes, carbon and aluminum, steel and molybdenum, integrated and external, threaded and non-threaded, dished and centered, single bolt and double bolt, triple, double and single, skinny tire and fat tire, brakeless, tubeless, and gutless, lugged, bonded and monocoque, hybrid, mountain and road, track and fixed for the road. I like bikes.

Back to work………