Fixie Simulator
Thread started by
merrickx at 09.17.09 - 6:57 pm
So I was riding around town today and realized my bike has a built in Fixie Simulator!
I pedaled, pedaled, pedaled. Kept pedaling, didn't touch the brakes, and never shifted once! Man, I love my bike so much.
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"and never shifted once"
Read the post palucha. that will give you a clue.
oh and stay in school. you need some more learning.
Foldie responding to a
comment by palucha66
09.17.09 - 7:00 pm
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............he just realized that
merrickx09.17.09 - 7:08 pm
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This is a let-down, I thought someone had a stimulator on their fixie.
bentstrider09.17.09 - 10:02 pm
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I bet you would think something like that.
palucha66 responding to a
comment by bentstrider
09.17.09 - 10:08 pm
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i'll stimulate your fixie
66609.18.09 - 12:24 am
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stimulator?
http://www.uselessjunk.com/article_full.php?id=21465
LouisAve09.18.09 - 8:50 am
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you mean you were actually riding?
_iJunes09.18.09 - 9:28 am
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You'll be excited to know that I just found a stimulator on my bike as well. I just took off the saddle!
merrickx09.18.09 - 9:58 am
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I think this might be the best thread this place has ever seen. For real.
thedoad09.18.09 - 11:13 am
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I hate to throw a boulder in your spokes... BUT... that would not be a fixie simulator.
What you have is a something more like a cadence simulator... but in fact it is not simulating anything, because cadence belongs to your bike and legs too.
1. You geared drivetrain DOES NOT simluate the lack of chain slack, the increased chain tension, nor the efficiency of a Single speed drivetrain.
2. You are NOT simulating the force the drivetrain is adding to your pedal revolutions, given your rear wheels momentum. Your crankset is only propelled given the amount of force your legs exert on them, rather than the added feature of your bikes (rear wheel) momentum, which helps the revolutions occur.
3. You referred to your bicycle as a "bike", rather than saying, "So I was riding around town today and realized my FIXIE has a built in Fixie Simulator". So in fact you missed the entire purpose of riding a fixed gear for many/most people, which is to be able to say they ride one.
Go back to the drawing board.
md209.18.09 - 11:49 am
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I wanted to say what md2 said but he did a bang-up job on it.
That said, before I rode fixed I did exactly what you did for stretches, mostly just to practice stopping and going. I had no doubt I could pedal constantly, but the mount and dismount concerned me more because I am the world's shittiest bike handler.
cabhauler09.18.09 - 12:21 pm
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sure do... why do you ask?
read point 3 of my post.
md2 responding to a
comment by merrickx
09.18.09 - 2:46 pm
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constantly pedaling on a freewheeling bicycle is definitely NOT the same as riding a fixed gear. I know, I rode a single speed freewheel bicycle for a year before going fixed. I've been riding fixed for nearly two years now and I can say it's definitely harder than a freewheeling bicycle.
For one thing you can never stop moving your legs to rest, which is useful when say you need a drink of water and still need to go fast. You managed to not break your cadence and coast, good for you.
But riding a fixed gear is a lot harder than just the constant pedaling.
As someone above posted, the weight of the rear wheel is dragged along by the exerted force on the pedal, both on the downstroke and the upstroke. This is also true on a freewheeling bicycle, but as your cadence accelerates past a certain point, you either have to gear up or the rear wheel's momentum will pick up and the freewheeling mechanism in the cog will disengage the rest of the cog, and you start coasting.
On a fixed gear bicycle, this never happens. Because the cog has no freewheeling mechanism, the forces on the rear wheel apply full circle (pun intended). This means that all the weight being put on the rear wheel, along with the forces dragging it, can translate/apply this force to the front chain ring in both directions, which really just ends up being force applied to your legs.
This is partially why the differences in riding fixed and freewheel bicycles are often compared to like riding mustangs and horses. Fixed gear bicycles translate the weight of the the bicycle and the forces of gravity into the movement of your legs.
A lot of these forces, I suspect, are lost on a freewheeling bicycle as the rider's cadence approaches a certain rapidity and must gear up in order to maintain momentum, or coast, depending on the terrain.
infiniteawesome09.21.09 - 9:01 pm
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