I’ve Turned to the Dark Side

It’s the biggest rage out on the street, all the hipsters are out in force, getting on their fixies … some are crazy enough to climb Tunitas Creek and Old La Honda with them. This is the dark side … and young Luke has been tempted by the dark side, Lord Vader has extended his reach, and lured me in. Yikes, I now ride a fixie!

How, how, how did this happen? Well, in the back of my mind, I’ve always wanted one, just to see what all the rage was about. I guess this is one attempt to join all the hip folks, and have people call you “cool”.

Well, Henry, aka BlastRadius, has too many bikes, and not enough room in his garage. I don’t know how many he has, but I bet he can open up a bike shop just from the gear in his garage. Anyhow, he needed to make room, so he infers that he may sell his IRO … well he did, to me.

One thing I noticed, right away, the top tube length is longer than my torso, so if I reach for the hood, I am a little more stretched out than I like. However, if I just stay on the horizontal section, I’m okay. I am contemplating putting bullhorns on them, so I won’t be as stretched out.

Since my commute is so flat, with no hills around me at all, taking the fixie to work is perfect. It will probably take me a while to get used to not coasting (I didn’t realize how subconsciously I did that). I will also have to get used to slowing down, instead of just stopping really quickly.

What I love is rolling the bike, and not hearing the freewheel buzz along. The other thing is how smooth it sounds, and the roar of the rubber of the tires, rolling on the concrete … it’s almost like music to my ears.

Lastly, it does give me a little workout while on my commute. It gives me a chance to concentrate on pedaling mechanics.

This doesn’t have a freewheel (lot of riders can switch the wheel around, and have it one speed freewheel, but Henry didn’t build this one with it).