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From: AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: Getting old is not for sissies
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2025 08:27:51 -0600
Organization: Yellow Jersey, Ltd.
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On 3/1/2025 7:45 AM, zen cycle wrote:
> On 2/28/2025 6:40 PM, AMuzi wrote:
>> On 2/28/2025 4:14 PM, Catrike Ryder wrote:
>>> On Fri, 28 Feb 2025 15:36:28 -0600, AMuzi 
>>> <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2/28/2025 11:50 AM, Catrike Ryder wrote:
>>>>> On Fri, 28 Feb 2025 11:31:08 -0600, AMuzi 
>>>>> <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2/28/2025 11:24 AM, cyclintom wrote:
>>>>>>> On Fri Feb 28 11:14:11 2025 Frank Krygowski  wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Sorry to hear that. I was riding over lumpy wet ice 
>>>>>>>> in a gravel parking
>>>>>>>> lot yesterday. I was very conscious that falls can 
>>>>>>>> now have much worse
>>>>>>>> consequences than they once did.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> But I think it's still important to keep giving 
>>>>>>>> ourselves reasonable
>>>>>>>> challenges, to maintain skill and agility.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I expect that your old steel touring bike is more apt 
>>>>>>> for conditions like thqat than Andrew's higher 
>>>>>>> performqance bike.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Wheelbase, tire width, tread or rider position would 
>>>>>> make no
>>>>>> difference leaning into a turn over ice.
>>>>>
>>>>> I suspect that riding a Catrike on ice would be really 
>>>>> fun.
>>>>>
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> C'est bon
>>>>> Soloman
>>>>
>>>> +1
>>>>
>>>> Very different from a two-wheeler!
>>>
>>> Very diferent indeed. Tell me that you weren't out riding 
>>> your fixie
>>> on icy roads. Riding a fixie seems risky enough without 
>>> any ice.
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> C'est bon
>>> Soloman
>>
>> Fixed gear is not any more safe nor unsafe than coasters.
>>
>> Some (I for one) feel they offer better rider control.  
>> This may be perceptual.
>> Others note that pedaling through fast turns can be a 
>> problem. (then again I have never had a pedal strike on 
>> mine over decades)
>>
> 
> It's all a matter of Skills, Experience, and Testicular 
> Fortitude (SETF).
> 
> Safer.....I don't think so, especially if riding in areas 
> where panic stops may be necessary. You can stop a lot 
> faster and with more control with brakes than you can by 
> just back pedaling a fixed-gear.
> 
> More control imo is a matter of SETF and not related to the 
> machine being ridden to any great extent, panic braking 
> issues notwithstanding.
> 
> Fixed-gear machines have a few notable challenges that free- 
> wheel bikes don't:
>      Road hazards - A free-wheel is easy to bunny hop over 
> stuff, a fixed-gear, notsomuch, for the simple reason that 
> as long as the bike is moving your legs have to be moving 
> meaning you have to be able to lift the bike while your legs 
> are moving. Of course it can be done, but it's very 
> challenging and takes a great deal of coordination. I've 
> seen it done, I can't do. I've had the experience of 
> catching a frost heave on a downhill while spinning well 
> over 100 rpm. The first instinct when your bike leaves the 
> ground is to stop pedaling - Do that on a fixed gear and the 
> bike will land at whatever speed you were traveling with 
> your legs not moving. It never took me down, but I've seen 
> it happen.
> 
>      Downhills -
> "let me tell you brother
> it doesn't mean a thing
> if you don't have
> the ability to spin"*.
> Spinning your legs at cadences over 130 take a bit of 
> practice. If you don't have brakes installed you can leg 
> brake, but that too is a challenge at higher cadences. This 
> leads back to the stability and control issue. Inexperienced 
> riders will start bouncing in the saddle since they don't 
> have the smooth pedal stroke. Picture this: A fixed-gear on 
> a steep downhill, the rider pedaling so fast the rear wheel 
> isn't maintaining contact with the road, the road has a turn 
> which the rider has never even though about on his road 
> bike. No, it wasn't me.
> 
>      Corners - You _MUST_ pedal though corners. Lean too 
> much and you strike a pedal, the rear wheel leaves the 
> ground and you go down (not necessarily, but likely). Back 
> pedal to scrub off speed and you risk breaking traction, you 
> go down (no only likely, but necessarily).
> 
> I've ridden a fixed gear consistently for almost 40 years 
> now as my cycling mentors were old school guys who preached 
> it as an off season training tool. I've done 3- 4 hour 
> sessions on the road, commuted, done a smattering of track 
> racing, and I do the local club TT a couple of times a year 
> on it. A number of years ago a local shop was doing matched 
> spring roller races I competed in every week for a few 
> years(if you couldn't spin 170 you weren't shit).
> 
> I love the bike. I finally bought a used track bike rather 
> than use the rentals. My goal this year is to use the track 
> bike on the Major Taylor Hill Climb https:// 
> www.majortaylorassociation.org/events/georgestreet24.shtml.
> 
> *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZdoKxKgHZs


SETF?

https://www.acronymfinder.com/SETF.html

To be clear, I do have a front caliper and I strongly 
admonish other fixed gear riders to use one.

+1 on bunny hops at speed. Virtually impossible on fixed but 
common, even trivial, on a road bike.

er, or anything which coasts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI2gyx2sU90

And my hat's off to you regarding rpm.  I generally spin 
highish but 170 on these legs is not going to happen!



-- 
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971