Out at the bike racks, crowded with spring-quarter commuters, the most recent breed of trendy bicycles looks just like other road bikes.
Skinny tires. Thin tubes. Curly handlebars.
But a closer look at the growing number of fixed-gear bikes on campus reveals they seem to be missing some parts.
They have no cassette of gears for shifting and likewise no shifting levers. They have no cables. And gasp! No brakes.
Fixed-gear riders do not need to squeeze a hand brake to slow down, as with mountain and road bikes. Nor do they lunge backward on the pedals to apply a coaster brake, as with kiddy and cruiser bikes.
Sophomore Kelly Lone came to Ohio State from Minneapolis to study architecture. She has been riding fixed-gears for about as many years as inches of her mohawk – six. She said the nature of a fixed-gear bike’s direct drive train makes braking a little different.
“Instead of having a freewheel, which allows you to coast, it has a lock ring which means that you must keep pedaling,” Lone said. “In order to slow down, what you have to do is backpedal.”
To backpedal, a rider uses leg strength to resist the forward motion of the pedals. Wheels on a fixed-gear bike cannot move without the pedals moving, so the bike slows down as the rider’s legs slow down.
For quick stopping, riders without brakes lock their legs to stop pedaling, abruptly stopping the rear wheel and sending them into a skid.
Despite lacking brakes, these single-speed, non-coasting bikes have become a common fixture at bike racks all over campus. Lone said the number of fixed-gears has grown quite a bit since she moved here two years ago.
People with a keen eye for fixed-gear bikes, usually the riders themselves, will notice the bikes locked to the racks near Knowlton Hall, the Journalism Building, the Wexner Center for the Arts and just about any other place.
Lone said the attraction to fixed-gears almost always needs to be explained. People usually think she is a little crazy for riding brakeless, she said, especially considering the shaky relationship she and her bike have had with traffic.
The last time she wrecked, she came away with two cracked ribs, four bruised ribs, a grade-one joint separation in her shoulder and a mild concussion.
She was back on her bicycle two weeks later.
But she said riding a fixed-gear is not any more dangerous than riding other bikes, as long as the rider is cautious.
For many riders, the advantages outweigh the dangers.
“I feel like I have a constant connection with the road on a fixed-gear,” Lone said.
Fixed-gears appeal to students for other more practical reasons, she said.
“It’s also extremely easy to maintain,” she said. “If something is wrong, it will be very clear what’s wrong, whereas with a bike with gears you might have problems with some of the little parts that operate the shifting system.”
Jade Tran, a junior in art history, has been riding her fixed-gear for about nine months.
“You are in total control of everything that’s going on. You don’t have to worry about other gears, you don’t have to worry about shifting,” Tran said. “Plus, it’s super light, which is awesome.”
Conversion fixed-gears are former road bikes with all the shifting and braking gears stripped off and fitted with a fixed cog. These bikes represent an inexpensive way for college students to get a sleek, light-weight bicycle requiring little maintenance. A lot of fixed-gear riders start off with a conversion before buying more expensive track bikes, which are specifically designed for racing on indoor tracks like in the Olympics.
Aaron Pratt, a recent OSU graduate in philosophy and English, made the transition from his conversion to a track bike last year. He recently assembled his third track bike, a vintage Bridgestone frame with brightly colored wheels and flashy accessories.
He said safely navigating through traffic without breaking on his fixed-gear requires sensitivity to the traffic environment.
“I just got so used to paying attention to where I was and surroundings and the positions of cars and the speed of objects. I feel like I’m aware enough of what’s going on that I never need a break,” Pratt said. “I used to have it for emergency situations, but I just found that they never arose.”
Bikers seen weaving in and out of traffic, running red lights and standing still in track stands – standing in place on a bike without taking their feet off the pedals – are probably on fixed-gear bikes.
Lone said the stereotypical fixed-gear riders “cute little caps with small brims,” tight- fitting rolled up jeans and oversized messenger bags are dead giveaways. Fashion has been largely responsible for the sudden boom in fixed-gear bikes around campus, she said.
