I'm visiting Portland, Oregon. The home of the Fixie. I've seen a few old UK frames, most notable was a battle scarred Bob Jackson.

I've got a stash of parts I could build one up with when I get home but I'd need a frame. Anyone got something 531ish 54cm with 700c wheels and mudguard clearance?

…Portland, Oregon. The home of the Fixie…

How did that come about?

It's about the last place I'd think off.

Nae idea, but there are hundreds of them. Its a hilly city too, and I see lots of them riding with no brakes.

I rode a Fixed in Edinburgh as a student back in the early 80's and loved it. But, I'd think twice about riding without at least a front brake in traffic.

Have you never been to That London's famous London, then?

They actually ride them in Portland!

I thought that all got started in New York — guys riding their bikes from the velodrome…

Portland is the US's most bike friendly city so it has more than its fair share of cyclists of all types. It's also popular with the hipsters so you get the fixie effect.

Can't find anything to categorically state exactly where the 'craze' started, but I do know that some stupid idiots cyclists have been riding fixies in That London for as long as I can remember. Manhattan would lend itself well to a single-geared bike, as it's flat. The current craze for them in the UK definitely stems from London though. C'est possible that even that may have been inspired by the NY messenger scene. But fixies in London is definitely not a new thing. The Fixie Craze is several years old now though, but it takes time for fashions to permeate throughout the land…

Skinny jeans.?

My dad rode a fixie in the 50s as he was too skint to fix his freewheel. That said, I don't think 1950s Boston (Lincs not USA) was the start of the craze.

I've got a stash of parts I could build one up with when I get home but I'd need a frame

Buy one in the states? vintage track frames + bikes are going for silly money here now- maybe over there you can find a nice bargain? I'll have a 50cm frame if you can carry 2 home 8)

Vintage frames go for even more in the US. The fact the ones they want are European means there were few to start with. I had a look in a shop in Seattle when I was over last and they wanted crazy money for everything old and the owner looked at me like I was going to shoplift his 80s scaffold tube frames.

atlaz, the hipstertw@monkeys are all after retro geared Euro road bikes these days. Anything mid-70s to late 80-s, European, steel and useless will be snapped up for a king's ransom before being "built"* by some arsehat in his sister's jeans.

* You didn't build it you moronic fcuktard, you merely paid way over the odds for the frame because it had the word "retro" in the thiefbay title and then assembled it using equally trashy old parts that you scoured around the net for. You did not BUILD IT! FFS, with most of them the only person who could realistically claim to have built it is a 19th century plumber looking at some of the pipes used to make these pathetic excuses for a bike!

And breathe…..

Calm Flashy, calm. I know it's traumatic. Have a nice little Duvel and a lie down.

See you've upset him now. Was that nice? No.

Make Fixies History.

ElfFred, you're a top chap. Thanks….! I needed that….

Back in the day every roadie rode fixed in the winter for training. Nothing new. Just because a bunch of Nathan Barleys take it up doesn't mean it is anything new at all. Broke my wrist (permanently) coming off one 33 years ago.

Fixie or BMX for trick riding – BMX WIN!

The craze started in Enfield – my grandad was riding a fixie in the '30s.

My dad rode fixed gear since the early sixties, and put me onto them

since the age of 13 I rode one, so that would have been 1988ish or round then… this summer my 10yo niece alice had a go on mine on holiday (sat on the top tube turning the pedals round but she did it) on a bike that was built out of uncle dennis' racing frame from the late 60s… ah anyway…

scour the old bike shops, dodgy old ones in the villages and suburbs are the ones. find a frame with horizontal dropouts – or have a look at the ones that brick lane bikes do, not that expensive if you want a new one, on-one do an old school red one.. or hunt on ebay..

if it's a 27in wheel frame don't worry about it, 1in steerer 700c forks are common and fixed needs no back brake so good times (if it's an old frame it will probably be a 126mm rear spacing so you'll be able to get a 120mm hub in no worries)