fixed impressions

OK. So, when you ride free, you probably need a rear brake, right? And when you’re on trails, you really need the rear brake.

Now, you get fixed/free rear wheel set up. What do you do when you switch from free to fixed? Remove the rear brake? What to do with cables, housing and lever. Leave it on there? Then you risk the voodoo jinx and will fall and break your bike like me as soon as you use that rear brake….or a lock-out? Anyone tried such a kludge? I’m about to build up a fixed/free Vulture 26″ and I haven’t solved the issue. After selling my high-zoot-dentist-drill Chris King Single Speed rear wheel in an effort to find quiet and fixed in the woods, I’m left with a conundrum.

I’m open to suggestions. I’m thinking the “lock-out” is the way to go. But I’m looking for the uber-McGuyver-types to come up with a safe and practical solution.

There’s your challenge: a quick brake lockout.

What do y’all think?

G

Though not necessarily cast in the same light as messenger/commuter-dense communities such as Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, etc,…Burlington, VT gets really high scores for the amount of fixing going on. We have one shop that “unofficially” is our fixed-gear central.

I see more commuter fix-conversions than I can keep up with. In Bend, Oregon where I lived for the better part of a decade, you could keep track of the fixers you saw on your fingers. Now, I lost count here after the first 25. And that was in the first fall that I was living here.

Interestingly it is pretty lumpy here in Burlington. Bend, in contrast, is flat as pancake really, except for one big hill where the wealthy congregate and a few itinerant fixers slog their sorry butts up. At least when I lived there fixin’ hadn’t grabbed hold yet. Perhaps the continuous onslaught of “evil” out-of-towners will bring fixin’ to bear on Bend, 90210. That’s a little inside joke. For whatever reason, the fix is in here. Inspite of a fair bit of up and down theres a gaggle of 70plus-inchers cranking the VT power-molehills. It’s great. I get sweaty every time I go to work ’cause I got my 46/18T to slog up ‘em hillettes. There’s 2 of ‘em on my way to work, especially the last little grip of a climb before I gorilla my shredder into the gravel driveway at work.

Short and stout, the standard issue VT climb.

I’m going to focus on the rear brake conundrum for a post or two. Let me know your thoughts about the rear brake. What to do with your flip-flop hub bike…it’s got to have a rear brake, so….? What do you do/not do with the damn brake when you ride fixed, eh?

Over and Out

I just put up a new set. Mellow and dark, black for a bit, pensive.

It’s given to my state of mind this week. A bit of a haze from over-extension, many completions, and many happinesses (is that a word?)…..

Downtempo

The Vulture Sock is now available, check it out ::

These indescribably “vulture” socks will really come in handy as most of my cycling socks are too old and gross and worn-out. If you are keen to get your grimy handshake on some of these….check out Nat Pellman’s Blog or just drop him a line to natpellman@hotmail.com. They’re $10 per pair…I already put my order in.

G

The outline is laid and the crew is ready. Really though, I’ve had the content pretty much shot for a while now except for one or two interviews that I want to include. I just don’t seem to be able to make the interview scheduling work. Perhaps we’ll just have to produce it without the interviews. Did just I imply that real jobs get in the way of all good avocations?

There will be a couple fun “how-to’s” for the DIY types…maybe I’ll give away a trade secret or two? Mostly you can expect a low-budget style piece based on the house style. I’m captivated by the simplicity of the home video documentary. You just shoot one time and go. Only first takes.

Editing.

You get to slice up the already isolated little clips you’ve shot of “life” into a new reality. You orient, sequence, and transition those clips, the enliven them with sound. Though it requires a great deal of patience, intuition and skill, editing makes your movie. It really isn’t anything but a bunch of clips of your reality until you sew, knit, and weave it together into a sequence. Then you have begun to give life to a movie.

I used iMovie to make the trailer and was learning Final Cut Pro simultaneously. Realizing that movie would be far better with Final Cut Pro, I ponied up for the Studio Suite. I’ve been studying hard, and will start the primary editing process when the really cold winds start to blow over the lake. Likely mid-October.

Post-Production.

I will launch a “marketing” campaign for the Fixed Impressions feature. With my budget, that’ll be an email, a phone call or two and some hasty written links. That’s it. It’s a documentary. I’ll be producing my own score for the movie, much like the trailer. Not all the music in the trailer was mine. I used two tracks by AFX. I decided I’ll compose the whole score this time. I’m hoping to acquire a high-quality condenser microphone for the production. It would be really nice for creating voice-overs. Of course it would be really nice for the radio shows on FIX radio. The only hold-up is that real quality condenser mics can be more than a mortgage (payment.)

Extras

I could use some fixers with acting skills (or enthusiasm) for a couple of scenes that will be shot this fall during the N. VT foliage season. Previous movie involvement helpful but not required.

The ability to bunny hop on fixed is essential. And so is reverse. Just kidding.

Over and Out

G

Big ups to Alex from Solitude Cycles in the UK for giving me those words. He attributed the word play to Matt Chester. Credit proudly paid where credit due.

Now I’m usin’ ‘em.

Calm.

Down.

Forgive the pun, but “not-shifting” is one irresistible wordplay from the fixer vernacular.

Today was a revelation in ass-spanking at the hands of the trailbuilders in the Hinesburg, VT town forest. My hat’s off to ya girls and boys. Y’all handed my 40/21 x 44/700c ass to me on a platter. I did some great downhill and whoopie scorching. And at the same time I got some great hiking training in. After all I do have a 5 day backpacking trip coming. The climbs are graded perfectly for the granny gear on my old Kona hard tail….On the fix? No, off the fix, on my sorry feet! I hiked most of climbs … most of the way.

That’s what the climbs were today. I was having an off day anyway, being mostly commuter trained and having broken my single-speed in June, I just don’t have the monkey-monster grind power-up-over-and-over single-speed strength I have had in the past. Maybe I’m just feelin’ my age…it was fun as hell though no matter, and I took some video of me riding the Uni down some Vermont hard stuff!

We all know that fixed gear scorching is not necessarily the best training for backpacking. Of course, unless your hiking almost the whole way up each climb. Like I was today. It was brutal! The terrain is beautiful, pretty technical, with tons of hard up and down.

I’m starting to wonder about the rear brake for hard trail riding. Why not I say! I can do it with my legs. But why have to?

Many thanks to those who’ve put their two cents in about what they like and don’t like and what they want to see in the future. Interviews will definitely be happening. I know a few people, and maybe with some Phil grease on the squeaky wheel I can get some really good people.

I’ve got some interviews with fixers on video and will get some video interviews with some of the framebuilders who build the new skool fixes. Caveat: I will be using those clips in the Fixed Impressions video feature production this fall, so you won’t be seeing them just yet. But I’ll call a couple favors and see who can do it. And after Fixed Impressions is done, I’m hoping to have enough extra footage to make some out-take trailer stuff.

Over and Out

G

The torrent of fixed…

I’ve had just the best feedback from people about this site and my affiliates. I don’t know what it is about this year but the fix is in. And it’s not just in, but it’s in! OK, enough grandstanding. Sometimes I try to claim that I started singlespeeding in 1969 (true) on two wheels and on fixed in 1966 (true) on 3 wheels. But I really became a single speeder for real in the early 90’s……..

Time to take it up to the next level.

I’m interested in your ideas.

Leave comments with your thoughts for things you’d like to see and hear here (sorry about the semantic fun.) I really want to know what you want more of and I’ll try to make-it-happen.