Cool to see my home state of Oregon up there on all those indexes. A bit surprising to see Bend though. To tell the truth, I think it's too cold up there to be that pleasant a place to ride around much.
The Fixie Bike Index
51–60 of 89 posts
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#52Missing 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!
Hurumf Kids today "Young man when you get to my age and your knees are shot you will thank the bicycle gods for gears" :-)
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#53this 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.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#54Isn'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?
My first thought was that more used fixies for sale might mean the trend was over in those cities, and the hipsters were all trying to get rid of theirs so they could buy glow-in-the-dark parkour shoes (I just made that up).
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#55I'm surprised that Allentown, PA has the fewest fixies for sale per capita as there is a velodrome there. http://www.thevelodrome.com/contact-us/directions/
My first thought ties in with your observation -- the people that are really into their fixed gear bikes aren't selling them.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#56Does anyone know where the data came from? How it was collected?
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Please keep the current scaling of the charts, but label it with the actual per-capita values instead of 0 - 100. (I agree with sequoia's comment.)
We're just looking at a sample of the data so the actual per capital figures aren't meaningful. Would have loved to have showed that, but instead we just normalized the data to 100.
We're just looking at a sample of the data so the actual per capital figures aren't meaningful.
Yes they are. The per capita value is meaningful, albeit inaccurate, because you're estimating the value based upon a sample.
Whatever number you multiplied every single index to get it into the range [0, 100], divide by that to get the per capita value.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#58You failed to note that the relative hilliness of two cities could have a huge effect on the reliability of using the "fixie index" to measure relative hipsterness. Even if they were equally hipsterish, it would stand to reason that LA would have more fixies than SF, since the bike is far more practical in that city.
You can get almost anywhere a hipster would want to go in sf without worrying about the hills. It's easy to go around them for the most part, and barring a few exceptions, mostly low-density residential on the hills themselves.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#59"There are more bikes offered for sale in Brooklyn than Manhattan, but only 8.3% of them are fixies versus 9.5% in Manhattan."
This is key. Fixies as fraction of for-sale bike population prevalence of fixies on streets.
From a purely anecdotal angle (supported by BikeSnobNyc's recurring photographs of DIY fenders), there's a lot of cheap mountain bikes in Brooklyn. In contrast, a Manhattanite who commutes by chauffeur or all-Dura-Ace, not-for-sale-on-Craigslist Colnago isn't part of the sample.
Re: The Fixie Bike Index
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Single-speed are also lighter if you have a walk up apartment.
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]
...and an expensive carbon fiber or Ti frame w/o a 10-speed cluster on the back and required shifters/derailleurs is still going to be heavier than the one-speed/fixie version.
I used to race off-road, and when racing in N. California (1994) came upon a bunch of guys racing for (iirc) Ventana/Paul -- lovely bikes, one speed (freewheeling, not fixed). For me, it was love at first sight. I had my own single-speed built up by next year, and raced it in (Canadian) National races, long cross country races (Cheakamus Challenge Squamish->Whistler), World Cup races, NORBAs, blahblahblah, and ultimately the First Annual Single Speed World Championships[1] in LA (1999).
I do it because I love it. After years and years of completive cycling, I knew "bike riding" very well, so the one-speed aspect allowed me to explore a new facet of cycling. Sort of full-circle in a really good way, if you consider that your first bike as a 3,4,5yo is probably a one-speed too. And when you want to get up a hill, you just pedal harder. I'm glad I got into it and was able to enjoy that aspect again while I'm fit. My current rig is a fixie (for last ~3-4 years). I ride it because I like it. If somebody tells you should try a fixie (or even single-speed) because it's simpler, or lighter, they're kidding themselves or lying to you. Ride it because you like it.
[1] Started and ended at a bar. Winners got tattoos; if you didn't accept tattoo, you forfeited your position. IIRC the site of next years race was determined by a rally, and the winner got to pick. The fun and joy of bicycles is (was?) alive in that culture.