Fixie for Beginners: Equipment

Fixie for Beginners
Part II: Equipment
For beginners like you, getting to know your Fixie is also important. Here are some great tips for Fixie for beginners. 

Fixie for Beginners: Start with a Fixie whose frame fits you, beginners, well, not too large and not too small. 

It's best if it has rearward-facing horizontal dropouts--'track ends'. beginners find track ends on track bikes, singlespeed mountain bikes, and on 'street Fixie' bikes. Street Fixie have become common over the last couple of years. They are affordable Fixie bikes that look like track racers, but have a heavier and more relaxed frame and drillings for a front and perhaps a rear brake. As of this writing, street Fixie bikes are being made by Surly, Bianchi, KHS, Gunnar, Urban Cycles and Fuji, although not all of these are appropriate for offroad use.

To enable you, beginners, to back-pedal hard without loosening the cog, beginners'll need a proper Fixie hub with a steel lockring.

beginners'll probably change your setup once you, beginners, gain some basic skills. But the following suggestions should shorten your, beginners, ramp-up time.

Fixie for Beginners:Clips and straps, not clipless pedals

These allow beginners to use the backs of the pedals for balancing drills while you're learning.

Fixie for Beginners:Shoes with flat rubber soles and no cleats

While beginners're learning, it's good if beginners can quickly slide into the clips and back out without sticking. I have found soccer shoes and skateboarding shoes ideal for this purpose. Don't use running or basketball shoes, as the sole is too knobby for quick entry and exit. They may also be too bulky to fit smoothly into the toeclips.

Fixie for Beginners: Front brake on fixed gear

A Fixie back brake is optional, a Fixie front brake is mandatory--not just for safety, but also because it is required by law in most countries. If beginners live in an area where legislation allows beginners to ride brakeless Fixie, then the first step is a front-brake-only setup. beginners myself wanted to go brakeless, but beginners was cautious. beginners kept the front brake on my Fixie for an entire year while I learned. Then I took it off and never used it again.

Fixie for BeginnersLow gear 

Choose a gear that's low enough to get beginners up the hills, but not so low that beginners lose control on the way down. Gearing is a personal matter, of course, but something in the high 60s or low 70s is usually considered a good choice to learn with. Here are some likely chainring/cog combinations on a 700c bike, with the resulting gear expressed in inches. 26" wheelers should check the sidebar for further pointers. 

48x19 = 68.2"
48x18 = 72.0"
46x18 = 69.0"
46x17 = 73.1"
44x17 = 69.9"
44x16 = 74.3"

Fixie for Beginners


Credited: http://www.63xc.com/gregg/101_3.htm