(Foreword: This is a sort of serious thread and probably doesn’t belong here, but where else am I going to post it…fucking brianforums?)
I’ve been kind of avoiding forums in general for the last few months, as I waste too much time on them, and since returning I’ve had some catching up to do both here and on the couple other forums I post on. Generally it looks like I’ve missed out on mostly the same old trollin’, which is still as hilarious as ever, but there’s something else going on that’s kind of bugging me. As much as I love seeing those “Red Your Dead” clowns and their contemporaries getting mercilessly shit on, it seems almost like that’s what track bikes have become, almost to the exclusion of any discussion involving track bikes that isn’t derogatory or mocking.
Maybe I’m just reading too much into this. I know tarckbike has always been somewhat about calling things as one sees them, often at the hilarious expense of others, and I don’t expect everyone here to get super serious any time soon (I’d like this forum less if you did.) It just seems strange to me that we can’t still have a demographic of people who aren’t tricktrackers or hipster trash or clueless fashionistas or what have you, but are still just…normal dudes who like riding fixed gear bicycles. Is there still room in “bike culture” (if such a thing even really exists) for dudes who just like riding track bikes, for all the same reasons we liked riding track bikes when we started?
is this overthinking for you? because i’m pretty sure taking note of the wretched state of the fixie scene is a good chunk of what goes on here.
did you just not notice?
besides no normal dude still feels the need to make a big stink about riding around on a fixed gear on the internet or otherwise
and lets face it none of us would ride a fixed gear for all the same reasons as when we started. that shit dont make you the coolest kid on the block quite like it used to
@braden: Thanks man, I’m getting there. Should be back on a non-stationary bike in a couple weeks. It’s been like six weeks now.
@curiousincident: To be honest, yeah, I did just notice this. Like I said, I’ve been kinda avoiding the internet for awhile, and last summer it was bad, but not this bad. It doesn’t feel like anyone on the internet or otherwise is making any effort to make it any less wretched, though. Are we waiting it out until it stops being super trendy? Is that the plan?
no. in small town midwestlandia fixies have yet to jump the shark. in fact everyone is still riding conversions for the most part, and few rearward facing track ends are seen.
what? no there is no plan. i ride to work and i ride around on a road bike when i can’t ride trails on a mountain bike… i am trying to race here and there…
sometimes the bike has a fixed gear drivetrain, other times it’s singlespeed and yet many others it is geared
what? no there is no plan. i ride to work and i ride around on a road bike when i can’t ride trails on a mountain bike… i am trying to race here and there…
sometimes the bike has a fixed gear drivetrain, other times it’s singlespeed and yet many others it is geared
do you get what i’m trying to say here?[/quote]
Yeah, I get the sentiment that you and most others are expressing ITT: It’s best to just not give a shit and ride whatever you want. Am I the only one who’s bothered by how shitty the “scene” or whatever has gotten, though? When I started riding track bikes, they were already kind of trendy and there was all the tacky matchy-match shit going on. But there was still the other track bike riders, who just rode normal looking bikes that happened to be fixed gear, and rode them fast, because it was fun. I don’t see much of that these days, I just see more matchy-match TAF shit and kids doing backwards circles in mall parking lots.
the “average dudes on track bikes” segment of the bike riding populace have moved on to road/cross bikes, or have gotten older and don’t really ride bikes any more, at least in my area.
well, there are some people who discovered track bikes later, and are just into the njs stuff right now (which peaked 5-6 years ago)
tc: also meant i wore sidi road shoes for a 2.5mi commute
and now that i kind of think about it, almost all my friends that got me into the fixed gear thing mostly graduated/moved away when the bubble popped or the shark was jumped or whatever and i’ve been riding by myself 95% of the time since so probably my conception of what the local cycling sphere is like is just a projection of what i read on tarck.
the other day walrus was tellin me there is a new group of kids on sweet fixies doing weekly rides and i realized in my head i’d written the idea off even though those dudes could be rad for all i know. he says they ride way faster than we used to which kinda piqued my interest and got me wondering.
lol now i guess i’m over-thinking the fixie scene now, THANKS MAN
also, i will echo the heal up soon sentiment. sometimes i scroll past that post with your x-ray in it and i see the carnage of the bike first and i’m like ‘oh shit scroll faster scroll faster’
this is true for here.
still see the same sweet conversion i saw 3 years ago. plus new conversions every so often. less jackass shit i feel more like meh conversions
i mean, i’m down to go ride my fixed gear whenever, and i usually do for errands. but i dislike the whole “fixie scene” or whatever. i would go out for a “fast” ride with them and drop them all in less than 5mi. and that’s going a casual 20mph or so.