Two-wheeled trade-offs
Although
‘transportation’ sounds mainly as a mere functional activity, it can also
contribute to your appearance and looks. Everyone understands the difference
between traveling by a big Rolls Royce or by a rusty granny’s bike.
When it comes down to
hipsters and alternative folks, growing a beard and wearing alternative
tripping flower-printed clothes might seem to be enough to get that cool
appearance. But it’s not.
The ultimate mean of transportation that properly fits their looks and
lifestyle is the fixed geared bike; aka the fixie. And then I’m not
talking about the racing bicycles most of the (wannabe) hipsters travel by.
Although it seems cool, it’s not the real deal if the pedals are not directly
linked to the chain (hence, the key property of a fixie).
Fixies are beloved for
their simplicity, natural mechanics and authenticity. Before they became
popular, they were used by urban postmen in America. The advantage of the
direct link of the pedals to the chain is that you don’t need brakes. With some
skills, you don’t even need to dismount for traffic lights because you just
wait in a sur place(standing still in balance).
An important drawback of
these brakeless bikes is that they aren’t particularly safe, especially
not if you use them like the American messengers did: crisscrossing through the
crowded traffic to deliver mail and packages as fast as possible. But to be
honest; neither is speeding with 260 km/h in your Ferrari. So, when it comes to
transportation it is not surprising that safety is being traded off against
appearance, not to mention swag.
The ultimate hipster
mean of transportation has another requirement. Even if one owns a fixed
gear bike, it is still not socially accepted by the fixie-community if the bike
is some ready-to-use bike shipped from of China. A genuine fixie should be
built and tweaked by the owner himself.
I made one myself too.
Not to become a real hipster, but I thought the simplest type of bike was the
most convenient to use (to be honest, also because my dad is a huge fan).
Anyway, since I know what a fixie is supposed to be like, I somewhat despise
the wannabees on the road with their geared or single-speed racing bikes. Maybe
just because I’m jealous of the fact they can shift gears and don’t have to
pedal all the time.
I must admit I don’t use
my fixie that often. In this country, without mudguards, kickstand and a
regular ring lock, it turned out not to be that convenient at all. Not to
mention the continuous fear that the precious rims might get damaged or stolen.
So besides safety and swag, there is another trade-off factor: convenience. And
most of the time I take my slackened image for granted, leaving my fixie at
home to just ride my dull rickety grandpa’s bike.
