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The Fixie Bike Index

blog.priceonomics.com

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Re: The Fixie Bike Index

#81

Post by georgieporgie »

tlear wrote: post #4
schiffern wrote: post #3

>For those unfamiliar, a fixed gear bike requires riding in a single gear and the only way to stop the bike is to pedal backwards to help skid the bike to a halt. Lack-of-brakes do not a fixed gear make. All bicycles should have at least two ways to stop. Fixed gear bicycles are no exception.

I guess you can skid and you can use your foot to break the back wheel. If you see messenger races those guys go downhill at 50kmh with pedals spinning free then use foot to break the back wheel, complete insanity if you ask me.

It's simply astounding, the number of people who do not understand that most of your braking potential comes from the front wheel.

Re: The Fixie Bike Index

#82

Post by msellout »

izak30 wrote: post #71
hack_edu wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chicago has been a main hub of the fixie/track scene for years, way before the big fixie boom.

Are you saying, that in Chicago, you were riding Fixies before they were cool?

I think there's something about the "before they were cool" statement that Higgs-Boson-like goes back in time and prevents it from happening.

Re: The Fixie Bike Index

#83

Post by msellout »

georgieporgie wrote: post #81
tlear wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you can skid and you can use your foot to break the back wheel. If you see messenger races those guys go downhill at 50kmh with pedals spinning free then use foot to break the back wheel, complete insanity if you ask me.

It's simply astounding, the number of people who do not understand that most of your braking potential comes from the front wheel.

But it's harder to put your foot on the front wheel at high speed and not fall.

Re: The Fixie Bike Index

#85

Post by ilaksh »

When I was a kid, I thought all bikes had only one gear. Not because I was "hip" or "hipster" (absolutely the opposite) but because my parents were cheap. I had been riding my used "fixie" bike (from the thrift store) for a year before I found out about bikes with gears, and I actually never learned how to use different gears when riding.

Re: The Fixie Bike Index

#86

Post by unwind »

liuhenry wrote: post #32
sequoia wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100 what???

100 doesn't represent a physical number. It's just an indication of the relative frequencies. If, for example, Manhattan had typically two fixies for sale per person (this is completely made up), then Brooklyn would have 1.25. Yes, per capita literally does mean "per person", but the purpose it serves here is to allow meaningful comparison of more than just raw numbers. Manhattan might have 1,000,000 fixies, and Broo…

"Fixies per person" in a geographic region isn't a "raw number".

I don't get your point with the example, for those values I get "fixies per capita" of 1 in Manhattan, and 2 in Brooklyn. That clearly states that there are twice as many fixies per person in Brooklyn as there are in Manhattan.

If you also normalize based on Manhattan, you'd get 100 and 200 which say exactly the same thing but with more zeroes and no longer being "per capita".

Re: The Fixie Bike Index

#87

Post by aerligtalt »

One critique of your "Top 50 Cities in America for Biking." You seem to actually be evaluating churn in the bicycle resale market, not riding or ridability. Of course college towns have more bikes for sale - partly due to their practical nature for getting around, and partly due to students buying bikes when they arrive and selling them when they leave.

Re: The Fixie Bike Index

#88

Post by toddheasley »

pitdesi wrote: post #36

This 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'…

Admittedly this is just a guess, but might the Carson velodrome explain Orange County's dominance in this index? There's precious little overlap in the Venn diagram of people who race track bikes (on tracks) and people who ride track bikes because bike messengers ride track bikes.

Re: The Fixie Bike Index

#89

Post by liuhenry »

unwind wrote: post #86
liuhenry wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100 doesn't represent a physical number. It's just an indication of the relative frequencies. If, for example, Manhattan had typically two fixies for sale per person (this is completely made up), then Brooklyn would have 1.25. Yes, per capita literally does mean "per person", but the purpose it serves here is to allow meaningful comparison of more than just raw numbers. Manhattan might have 1,000,000 fixies, and Broo…

"Fixies per person" in a geographic region isn't a "raw number". I don't get your point with the example, for those values I get "fixies per capita" of 1 in Manhattan, and 2 in Brooklyn. That clearly states that there are twice as many fixies per person in Brooklyn as there are in Manhattan. If you also normalize based on Manhattan, you'd get 100 and 200 which say exactly the same thing but with more zeroes and no lo…

Sorry if that was unclear. The original comment stated that using per capita in this manner would be "inaccurate", but you can't compare Manhattan and Brooklyn simply by comparing the total number. What I was trying to explain in response was that Priceonomics didn't have "fixies per person" data, only the total fixies for sale in a region (the "raw number"). Without using per capita, these results could easily be misconstrued.
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