Old Men Love Fixed Gear Bikes

Joey ‘Grime’ Krillz posted this photo up on his Smashenger blog a couple of weeks ago, it’s a scene that practically every fixed gear rider will recognise…

old man looking at fixie © mkanbergs

One of the greatest things about riding fixed is the chance to talk to old men on the street, they absolutely love to see us young guys and gals riding fixed gear bikes. When I first started riding Evs kept asking me whether any old men had stopped to chat to me yet and they didn’t for ages and I felt like I was missing out on something but then one day it happened. “Fixed wheel is it?” is the usual introductory line from the old chaps and it often leads on to pretty lengthy conversations about all the adventures that they got up to back in the 50’s or so, this is one of my favourites…

I came out of TK Maxx to find a guy taking a picture of my bike on his mobile phone, he said it was to send to his son to show him that he had seen a bike like the ones he used to ride when he was younger. He went on to tell me about how he had seen a beautiful dark green track bike in the window of a bicycle shop in Morriston when he was a teenager but his parents couldn’t afford to buy it for him. He took on a paper round and started saving as much money as he could, eventually he was able to buy it. One common topic during these chats is about the huge distances these guys used to do on a daily basis like it was nothing. This chap would regularly leave home in the morning and cycle from Swansea to Cardiff, a journey of about 45 miles, he would then race all day long at Maindy Velodrome before cycling back home to Swansea! This wasn’t a “one time I rode all the way to Cardiff, raced, then rode home” story, this was something that he did on a regular basis. Riding 45 miles is no big deal, but riding 90 miles on a mid 80’s GI with hours of track racing in between is bonkers.

My most recent interaction of this kind was about two weeks ago when I was riding home and I spotted an old guy of about 80 or so across the road stop in his tracks and slowly and unsurely make a thumbs up with his hand, he watched me as I went passed then lifted up his thumb and shouted “FIXED WHEEL!”, I looked around, shouted “YEAAAAAAH!” and gave him a thumbs up back. I wish I had stopped for a chat with him, he was so happy and clearly excited by the sight of a young guy like myself riding a fixed gear. I think it’s a real privilege to be involved in something that enables us to talk on the same level with old people because I’m only 29 and I despair when I look at teenagers these days, for pensioners looking at a group of emo kids must be like looking directly into the bowels of hell. I like to think that we give them a little faith in the youth and send them off with a smile on their faces.

I’m sure you all have similar stories to these, pretty please share them in the comments below because I would absolutely love to hear them!

Posted in Fixed, Miscellaneous on 16/08/2010
Tags: Grime

http://planetperki.co.uk Perki

There’s a dude on my street that stumbles past mine more or less every day walking his dog when i’m going to work. As i’m outside my flat getting ready to set off (putting headphones in etc..) he always takes the time to tell me the same story about how him and his mates used to own fixed wheel bikes, how they all rode into Preston from Southport for work in the mornings and how all this new carbon fibre type stuff is too futuristic for him.

He then proceeds to ask me all these questions about the gearing i’m running and asking me if it’s harder or easier (because he can’t remember). It’s awesome how he obviously wishes that he still had the strength to ride a bike. He then leans on my front wall and watches me ride off.

It’s the same on trains… Whenever i take my bike on a train, i will no doubt get asked questions about it from the older generation and as soon as i tell them it’s a fixed gear, their face’s instantly light up as they start explaining their past and what bikes they used to have!

I love that the bike i ride will start conversations with people who would probably never have talked to me before, and then knowing that they’ll probably walk away and start reminiscing about their old bike/rides…

http://planetperki.co.uk Perki

http://www.jackdixdavies.com Jack

I got chatting to an old guy on his touring bike who said that he conisdered it ‘the best and only way to travel’, my father used to regularly ride from cambridge to oxford on his fixed gear, and my grandfather used to cycle down from liverpool to neath on a friday night to see my grandmother then go back home on sunday, not a route i would be very keen on doing my self no idea how his knees didn’t explode

http://www.jackdixdavies.com Jack

Will

Ha… this is so true. On a ride the other weekend an old man shouted “Ah… fixed gear boy…” as I rode past, he seemed too excited to think of anything better to say.

Will

Ha… this is so true. On a ride the other weekend an old man shouted “Ah… fixed gear boy…” as I rode past, he seemed too excited to think of anything better to say.