Fixed wheel on a club run?

This winter ive had one problem after another with my winter road bike which has got me wanting to simplify things. In the not so distant past a fixed wheel bike was a pretty common winter bike but that seems to have died away around here certainly since i started road cycling. If there were a few others on fixed then its a different matter but have any of you riden in a group with others who have gears when you are the only one without – Is it an issue?

it depends who you ride with, whether it’s a casual or serious club run, how fit you are in comparison and again, who you ride with

Have done it in the past when I was riding a lot, biggest issue was loooong downhills where you were looking forward to the climbs for a ‘rest’ and the last flat few miles back to cafe with a tailwind when the speeds got above 25mph. I just couldn’t keep up the high rpm for that long (this is with 72gi)
If the terrain is amicable then it’s not so bad.

There’s a guy in our club who regularly comes out on his fixed gear bike, even in the summer. He’s not the fastest on the hills though (which aren’t that big- our club run is in Essex). I’d say give it a try, the lack of weight might make a nice change! 🙂

I regularly ride fixed wheel on our club runs through and off as well as bit and bit (team time trial). It’s not common, and you had better have exemplary group handling skills that are known and recognised by your group. Then you’ll need an appropriate gear. I ride 42×14 or 74 inches, and this will see me spin out at about 26 mph over sustained periods. That means no riding in the fast group, but Medium-fast will be fine.

Expect to get dropped on the downhill sections. Expect to be faster uphill.

One last point, you will have to watch coasting in the group, because this can subconsciously throw your rhythm.

If you were a new rider of unknown quantity, it would be a no in my led rides. But normally if you are smooth and have good group riding skills, the other riders should not even notice the absence of junk around the back wheel. My riders don’t. Unless I tell them not to coast!

I think JoB’s right – it does depend on who you’re riding with, and TiRed also makes good points – group riding can be difficult at first; in particular I struggled when others were freewheeling – my brain would suddenly start telling my legs that it wanted to freewheel too – watch out for that!

I tend to find that I can keep up with the moderately paced group along the flats, I am faster uphill than most in that group, more often than not because people with gears on their bike will reach the bottom of the hill and start changing gears and in so doing, slow down. This is not what I want to be doing so I tend to go round them and keep the cadence up for as long as possible.

TiRed is again right and my experience is similar – expect to get dropped on the downhill sections. Some of the people in my club laugh at me as they come past. It’s all good fun. That said, I did the Bryan Chapman last year, and followed somebody who was riding fixed down Snowdon. His legs were a blur and the bike was hopping all over the place. I was doing 40 / 45 MPH and at times he managed to pull away from me! He reckoned that he was doing >170rpm. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s what started me thinking that I’d like to have a go at riding fixed.

I’ve done a couple of 100km rides on mine, and commute 55km into and out of London a few times a week on it. I’m a real convert. I still can’t spin for toffee though, that’ll come, I’m sure.

Give it a go!

My only experience of this is riding with my gf. We live in N Wales and have a pretty tough holl up to the house. If i can ride up to the house, then im spinning out at about 19mph. This means on long downhills im spinning like a demented food mixer and carrying lots of front brake. Its not too much fun.

I ride my Langster when my proper bike’s off the road, or when I get that rush of blood to the head. I spin out and get dropped by the fast group when they get properly going, but I’m on the pace with the intermediate guys (and girls). Just do it and enjoy the adulation.

I’ve ridden fixed in our club runs a number of times when I’ve been really fit. It was hard but I did it cause It was hard and I got a really good work out. The run is relatively flat but wind direction was critical, a big tail wind and I was struggling to keep up, and big head wind and I was grinding away. However, when the wind wasn’t too extreme it was ace. No coasting, you must look ahead and predict pace of the group, and you must be careful when hitting any hills as you’ll likely go off the front and smash the through and off. I hung at the back on the downhills and the frantic spinning was off putting to other riders. No issues with other riders, and great in the sprint for the thirty signs at the end

Sounds like it is worth a go then 🙂

Do you currently ride with a club? In either case check out if they have any rules/etiquette around fixies. You are welcome to ride in our club on one but only if it has brakes. Otherwise you are asked to come back another time.

Consider singlespeed? I commute singlespeed and it occasionally go out on club runs. I’ the strongest climber in the club (and have my name engraved on the trophy) so uphill is never a problem. Faster bits are where I struggle. Bike is a Pompetamine with Schwalbe marathon tyres and cheap bits so it an absolute pig. Makes the 50 mile winter cafe run quite a workout. Singlespeed means you can coast on the downs and in the bunch which makes things easier while still being a very simple bike.

GvD is absolutely right about workout. My TSS values when I ride the Saturday 100k on the fixed are MUCH higher than when ridden with gears. The full-on, no coasting, means that you might be in one heart rate zone higher for a lot of the ride. This is for medium (18-19 mph average) pace. It is still great though.

My fixed is a nine kilo, carbon forked steel frame with hand built wheels and Schwalbe Ones, braking is R650s and Cane Creek levers. It’s a proper road bike that happens to have no gears or freewheel. So in my mind it is just another road bike, rather than a “fixie”. Most older riders are of the same mentality.

You will still get the characteristic tug in the legs at least once when the rider in front coasts though 😉

Do it.

I’ve done it on road and MTBing, OK on man made stuff, but I wouldn’t want to try it off piste….