The mainstream media seems to be piling on in the wake of the death of a fixed gear rider. This article, from Seattle's Stranger, is a surprisingly in-depth analysis of the situation. A newbie FG rider, who may or may not have been hotdogging, was run over by a dump truck. Even if he were hotdogging, he still didn't deserve to die, but because the community perpetrates this meme that having a brake on a FG dilutes the purity of the experience, he was riding a bike that significantly contributed to his death.
Unfortunately, the article misses some key opportunities to set a few things straight. The author, an experienced cyclist, tries out a brakeless fixed gear and finds it to be more or less the most dangerous and terrifying experience he's known on two wheels. OK, that's fine...but there's no real attempt to clarify the skillset involved. It's either "you have quads of steel and you can track skid" or "you'll get thrown into traffic." It just ought to be pointed out that it's possible to ride fixed gear bikes in traffic, and do so extremely safely, but two things are critical: a front brake and some experience.
The lessons to be learned, before another sheep is slaughtered at the altar of hipster transportation: Put a front brake on it. Learn the principles of a nose wheelie. Even if you never pull a nose wheelie day to day, if you panic brake, you will instinctively learn to soak up the bike's inertial efforts to rotate around the front wheel. If you stiffen up your legs in that panic, the entire bike will rotate around the front wheel and all of those lovely foot*pounds (that could be used to hold your front wheel down, multiply the friction coefficient and therefore shorten stopping distance) will instead be translated into an "endo" or a "faceplant."
However, the real asshat proves to be Lloyd Tamura of Velo Bicycles, who sells a lot of fixed gear bikes but doesn't "advise one way or another" about a front brake, adding "you can't tell people 'You're not experienced enough to ride this.'"
You can't, huh? You just take their money and what they do with the product is their problem? Great idea, why don't you sell motorcycles and loaded weapons while you're at it, Lloyd? If you were clever, you'd have a FG clinic every week where skilled riders could demonstrate how stopping quickly can save your life. You could hire a hipster and I to ride down the street at the same speed, and when someone opens a door/steps into traffic/cuts us off, the flavor of the month will be looking for fragments of his teeth, and I will be 20 feet back, well out of harm's way, maybe doing a one-hander.
I keep trying to let this go, but when I read about some kid on an FG who got run over because it's not "cool" to use a front brake, I have a hard time shutting up about it.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Thursday, October 04, 2007
fight the gearmonkey urge
I thought it was a bit absurd when gear manufacturers made a big deal of going from 7 to 8 speed rear cogs, then 8 to 9. Yes, you increase your range, but the fact is, you have to be a pretty accomplished rider to use the full range, and you have to really be in some odd spots to need most of them. One of the reasons I originally went to single speed is because as I got stronger, I started using three gears tops...then two. I got tired of dropping my chain and it seemed silly to drag around a bunch of parts to shift every once in a while, so I dropped to one. I can understand a granny gear on the front is critical on say, a loaded touring bike, but if you can't close your ride on 14 gears, and you think you need 21, 24, 27...well, guess what, you're probably just a gearmonkey and the bike industry loves you.
As a matter of fact, this is one of the ways the bike industry has moved backwards. In the 1970's, even amateur European cyclists could show up at a race and assemble their rear cog out of the trunk, based on the scouting information about the day's route. Next year, Campy expects to release wireless shifters. I'm not saying we have to go back to cobbled parts and sketchy builds, but can't they just make it strong, light, and aero (or some combination of that at a couple price points)?
Instead we have the gearmonkey machine. The gearmonkey comes home sore, possibly beaten, and rather than think "I got beat today - I need to train" they think..."I got beat by a guy with a thumb-activated carbon fiber seat post height adjuster...I need to find one of those." OK, maybe I'm being a little snarky, but the fact is, it's hard to be an accomplished athlete, and it's usually easier to buy better equipment.
The gearmonkey machine certainly isn't limited to the bike industry, just check out the last ten pages of any sport magazine. A runner buys a pair of shoes. A gearmonkey buys a pair of shoes, performance socks, a couple of coolmax jerseys (short and longsleeve), running tights with built-in circulation-promoting knee supports, and a bandolier full of tiny bottles and pockets for gu. I'm not saying there aren't advantages to be had from advanced gear, but you need to be an advanced athlete to maximize those advantages.
But wait, you say, your bike costs $200 a pound, and is loaded with carbon fiber bling...how can you take the high road? Well, I don't have a bulletproof response for that, except to say that I wanted to build my dream bike, and once I did, I haven't changed much on it. I am in the process of beating the tar out of it. When it breaks, I'll replace something. In the meantime, I have about 20+ patches on those tubes. It may look like a million bucks, but it's built to last a million miles, not to show it off until the next flavor of the month part comes out.
I'm not saying you can't buy the best gear for your bike, but if you find that you spend more time searching for parts than you do riding them, you might be a gearmonkey. If you love trying new sports, but immediately identify a slew of "must haves" before you've accomplished much, you might be a gearmonkey. (As an aside, I realize I'm a bit of a guitar gearmonkey...but I'm buying cheap, often crap gear, to learn on, which is something else altogether.)
So this brings me to today's link: the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (and a host of other blogs, I'm sure) report that the Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival 40 Mile race was won by a guy on a single speed. This is pretty significant, in that it's no Sunday afternoon race. It's one of the grand-daddies of the mountain bike movement, especially if you're stuck living 600 miles from a proper mountain range.
This guy shows up and races a bunch of gearmonkeys, but more importantly, a bunch of athletes to boot, and kicks the field on one speed. Even his sponsor, ole grand dad Gary Fisher himself, reacted somewhere along the lines of "groovy man, but how are we supposed to sell geared bikes?"
Amen brother. Stop the gearmonkey machine.
As a matter of fact, this is one of the ways the bike industry has moved backwards. In the 1970's, even amateur European cyclists could show up at a race and assemble their rear cog out of the trunk, based on the scouting information about the day's route. Next year, Campy expects to release wireless shifters. I'm not saying we have to go back to cobbled parts and sketchy builds, but can't they just make it strong, light, and aero (or some combination of that at a couple price points)?
Instead we have the gearmonkey machine. The gearmonkey comes home sore, possibly beaten, and rather than think "I got beat today - I need to train" they think..."I got beat by a guy with a thumb-activated carbon fiber seat post height adjuster...I need to find one of those." OK, maybe I'm being a little snarky, but the fact is, it's hard to be an accomplished athlete, and it's usually easier to buy better equipment.
The gearmonkey machine certainly isn't limited to the bike industry, just check out the last ten pages of any sport magazine. A runner buys a pair of shoes. A gearmonkey buys a pair of shoes, performance socks, a couple of coolmax jerseys (short and longsleeve), running tights with built-in circulation-promoting knee supports, and a bandolier full of tiny bottles and pockets for gu. I'm not saying there aren't advantages to be had from advanced gear, but you need to be an advanced athlete to maximize those advantages.
But wait, you say, your bike costs $200 a pound, and is loaded with carbon fiber bling...how can you take the high road? Well, I don't have a bulletproof response for that, except to say that I wanted to build my dream bike, and once I did, I haven't changed much on it. I am in the process of beating the tar out of it. When it breaks, I'll replace something. In the meantime, I have about 20+ patches on those tubes. It may look like a million bucks, but it's built to last a million miles, not to show it off until the next flavor of the month part comes out.
I'm not saying you can't buy the best gear for your bike, but if you find that you spend more time searching for parts than you do riding them, you might be a gearmonkey. If you love trying new sports, but immediately identify a slew of "must haves" before you've accomplished much, you might be a gearmonkey. (As an aside, I realize I'm a bit of a guitar gearmonkey...but I'm buying cheap, often crap gear, to learn on, which is something else altogether.)
So this brings me to today's link: the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (and a host of other blogs, I'm sure) report that the Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival 40 Mile race was won by a guy on a single speed. This is pretty significant, in that it's no Sunday afternoon race. It's one of the grand-daddies of the mountain bike movement, especially if you're stuck living 600 miles from a proper mountain range.
This guy shows up and races a bunch of gearmonkeys, but more importantly, a bunch of athletes to boot, and kicks the field on one speed. Even his sponsor, ole grand dad Gary Fisher himself, reacted somewhere along the lines of "groovy man, but how are we supposed to sell geared bikes?"
Amen brother. Stop the gearmonkey machine.
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