Wow - according to this, Spokane (#30) has more hipsters per capita than Seattle (#33). That's a bit difficult to process. Seattle is literally built around biking. I guess the actual bikes are more practical in nature and less hipsterish? As in, an actual means of transportation rather than personal branding. Still pretty hard to believe. UW alone should tip the scales.
The Fixie Bike Index
61–70 of 89 posts
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not entirely accurate. There are plenty of carbon fiber or titanium bikes that completely change your understanding of what is light with regard to a bike. [edit: missed a word]
Expensive bikes usually get a heavier locks, so it tends to even out.
My single speed bike is 24 pounds. A racing bike is 15 pounds. A U-lock is not 10 pounds.
Anyway, I can't think of any time I've ever brought a lock along while on my racing bike. It's for riding, not for errands.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#63Fixies have always been a fun subject of armchair economics. As late as '06, it was very rare that you'd come across track bike-specific parts. This was especially so with frames. Finding an old track hub in a used parts bin was practically winning the jackpot on a slot machine. Prices and competition for used parts was high, but mostly stable and flat. Ebay and track-specific forums were where you'd buy your parts;…
I still find it hard to find good-quality non-trendy track parts that aren't competition-quality. I want to pay $100 for a track crankset. When I last looked, that was not an option, and I paid $200-and-change for a White Industries crankset + chainring. Still better than a track-grade Sugino set, which would end up around $500-$700.
(Also, track parts fall apart on the road. The high-end Izumi chain is a nice example.)
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#64This analysis is interesting but deeply flawed, as you're just using one variable. I don't think anyone would refer to OC as the most hipster place in America. Weather is a huge missing component. Another is hilliness/other bike-friendliness (bike lanes, etc). The top 12 cities in the analysis are warm-weather cities (mostly California/Hawaii). For example, no-one is buying bikes in Chicago at the moment, because it'…
Chicago has been a main hub of the fixie/track scene for years, way before the big fixie boom.
It's true.
I hosted chifg.com after the great bikeforums schism. And that was prior to lfgss.com. I also helped quite a few other cities get up and running with communities, probably about 15 or so.
The first was NYC though. They were the ones who after the BF schism set up an invite only community for fixed gear bikes.
Tracing earlier than that and you only find messengers/couriers riding them, go back to 1987 and you pretty much end up with 1 Toronto messenger and Buffalo Bill in London.
By the time I set up http://www.lfgss.com I already figured that the fixie thing was dead, but if anything it boomed afresh.
As trends go, I think it ceased to be fashion a while ago and became utility. It wouldn't have survived otherwise.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#65Fixies in Portland are OVER! It's all about the abomination mutant cycles.
Put a bird on them. Then pickle them.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#66Missing detail: A fixie is actually borderline-practical in Manhattan because there aren't many hills. If you live in Brooklyn, you've gotta ride over some really steep bridges to get to Manhattan. So the hipsters ride single-speeds, or retro-bikes, which are actually more hipster than a fixie these days. Get with it, grandpa!
> hipsters ride single-speeds, or retro-bikes, which are actually more hipster than a fixie these days.
Is the difference between a single-speed bike and a fixie that a single-speed bike has a freewheel so you can coast without pedaling?
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#67Isn't there a bit of a huge problem using the number for sale as the metric here? Couldn't more supply equate to less demand?
I'm with you on secondhand sales being a poor correlate for actual ownership. It's completely reasonable that more for-sale listings indicate cities or places where people don't want their fixie anymore. Additionally, Priceonomics only looks at sales taking place on eBay, Craigslist, etc. So, not only are the numbers skewed toward areas that have more active internet users, the buyer may not even be in the same region.
This is why data shows fixies selling so often in Manhattan: it's all the hipsters that moved to Manhattan, who found less use for their bike, and then sold it back to somebody else in Brooklyn.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#68Missing detail: A fixie is actually borderline-practical in Manhattan because there aren't many hills. If you live in Brooklyn, you've gotta ride over some really steep bridges to get to Manhattan. So the hipsters ride single-speeds, or retro-bikes, which are actually more hipster than a fixie these days. Get with it, grandpa!
> hipsters ride single-speeds, or retro-bikes, which are actually more hipster than a fixie these days. Is the difference between a single-speed bike and a fixie that a single-speed bike has a freewheel so you can coast without pedaling?
Yes.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#69this is flawed, because they are making the assumption that only hipsters use fixies in SOCal. The surfer community has tons of beach cruisers that are fixed gear, and I dare you to go to a parking lot or a lineup and call a bunch of surfers 'hipsters'....
My grasp of the details of bike terminology is rusty, but don't cruisers usually have a single-speed freewheeling coaster-brake hub, rather than a fixed hub? So when you stop pedaling on a coaster, the wheels keep turning freely, and when you try to back-pedal, it applies a brake inside the hub? As opposed to a fixie, where the pedals turn whenever the wheel turns.
You are correct.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#70Damn Synchronicity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity
I am seriously considering getting a fixie or single speed and this article pops up on Hacker News.
I remember about 5 years ago getting a fixie was more of an enthusiast cyclist endeavor than a hipster one. I don't care, it's better for training and feels less inhibited.