Externe column: To fixie or not to fixie

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.