I just got a 2009 Giant Bowery and it is SWEET! I just took it for its first ride and it ride so smooth. For those who don’t know what in the world I’m talking about. A Bowery is a Giant b**e and it is a single-speed free-wheel. One of the finest bikes I have ever riden (don’t know how to spell that). Over all I’m just realy exited (don’t know how to spell that ether) and want to tell somone.
Pigs
ridden
excited
Is that like a lamp lighter bicycle? Very tall? Do you have a picture?
Enjoy it!
[Edit]: No never mind. Not one of those.
Cool bike, I think I’d break it though(It’s hard for me to resist jumping bikes). This is more my style.
Is it a flip-flop hub? If so go fixed! You won’t regret it since you already ride one wheel fixed.
Nice ride!
I’ve been looking at this bike as a possible purchase. I like it because it takes nice fat cyclocross tires, which would make commuting on it more comfy. But if I get one, it’s going to stay on the flop side of the hub (fixie all the way!).
No, it isn’t a flip-flop hub, but it does come with a fixed-gear that you can put on. I think I’m going to stay with free-wheel (much better on your knees).
Pigs
yeah if you like the novelty of fixies stick to unicycling, I’ve ridden fixed and unless you want to do tricks on it I don’t see the point, the guys say they’re smoother and better to control, but I don’t see them beating me in the alley cat races on them despite the fact I’m unfit.
Well, it’s definitely true that the top speed of a fixie is no match for a coasting bike. For me it wasn’t so much that it was smoother, but it felt as if you are more connected with the road, somehow more in control.
I have always found it hard to explain. I guess it is just a tactility that you get with no other form of cycling.
Unfortunately it has become a big hipster thing, and a lot of the fixed riders are less than curteous on the road, giving the rest a bad name.
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/jul/29/fixed-gear-bike-craze-and-its-santa-barbara-acolyt/
Quite a few time trials records have been set on fixies, but that may be because the sort of people who are obsessed enough to set records are obsessed enough to ride fixies.
I have a fixie that I seldom ride. Where I live is hilly, and the gear is never right.
Single speed (freewheel) is certainly more practical, especially off road.
Have fun on it.
Yeah, that’s not to say there isn’t something attractive about the simplicity of only one gear.
That is a flip-flop hub. One side of the hub has a freewheel gear and the other side has a fixed gear. You take the wheel off the bike and flip the wheel around to change from one to the other.
Riding a fixie doesn’t have to be hard on your knees at all. It depends on how you ride it. If you use your legs to slow the bike down or to skid you put more stress on your knees. But you don’t have to ride the bike like that. It is perfectly OK to use the front and rear brakes in which case the fixie is no harder on your knees than a freewheel bike.
Riding a fixie takes some getting used to along with a possible change in your riding philosophy. It is a change of physical habits as well as mental. It’s the mental change that gets people hooked on fixie riding. You have to approach your riding differently. In my case the riding is more about having fun as I ride rather than maximizing the average speed or top end speed.
When I first got my fixie I rode it in freewheel mode as I got the bike dialed in and got used to the bike. Then I switched to fixed mode and have not switched back.
My riding was different while in freewheel mode. I’d pedal up to speed and then end up coasting, then pedal back up to speed, then coast. Since I was on a single speed I couldn’t shift up a gear as I got up to speed so I’d wind it up till I didn’t feel like pedaling any faster and then let it coast. Or if I was riding slower I’d just let the bike coast for half a revolution then get back to pedaling.
When I switched to fixed I could no longer coast so I had to keep going with the bike. It becomes you and the bike similar to the connection with unicycling. There is a change in focus and it’s that change that can make fixie riding fun.
I ride my fixie like a road bike. I use both brakes. I don’t skid it. Typical rides are 10 to 40 miles in length. Longest ride has been about 70 miles. I regularly ride from home to the north end of Seattle which is a 40 mile round trip and mostly flat along a dedicated bike path. It’s a fun ride and perfectly suited for a fixie or singlespeed.