PORN BIKE

Hi there you all!
Hope you're all doing at the best. I'd like to take advantage of this blog to somehow resume a fact which I really care about lately: my bike, or, should I say my bikes, since the family is slowly but surely growing. Some of you have asked me about my red single speed, having seen the pictures posted here, or me proudly riding it downtown in the last months. Some others have been quite surprised when they've seen me ride an all white track frame that looks as spoiled as can be and thus weights almost nothing.
So here's a little explanation, that hopefully will make things clearer for you who care but don't necessearly get the whole point, without annoying too much those who don'really care, and most of all, will stir you all to a good bike ride.

Single speed bikes: are called so bicycles without gear change, it sounds stupid, and it might be, but it's a basic aspect of the bicycle as we know it, except that since the 80s, wearing many gears on industrial and popular bikes like mountain bikes has surely become a commercial appeal: letting you think you'll never have to struggle against steepness or downhill high speed, and that you'll manage to find your way on all terrains, let's say that you somehow lost the habit, except for BMXs, to see bikes WITHOUT gears. Well, Singlespeeds are consequently a certain return to the simplicity of the biking geometry and mechanics system. They often come with just one brake, the front one in most of the case, for more reactivity, and can also be equiped with a coaster brake (retropedalage) by instance, that will slow or block the backwheel's cog when pedaling backwards. They are somehow being pushed as an alternative to the fixed gear bikes, offering a more reasonable way of transportation, at least a less hazardous one, for daily urban commuters. Their spoiled designs and studied aspect tend to make them look very nice. The retro touch comes as no surprise, since looking vintage is the best excuse for not wearing any of the technological stuff that's supposed to help you ride. Here are a few examples of this kind of settings:

Fixed gear bikes: a fixed gear is the total absence of gears, but also the lack of a coasting system that allows the rider to stop pedaling while driving, and that is usually found on any regular bicycle. This lead you to a diverse perception of the road, since you have to pay a lot of attention to what is actually happening in front and aside of you. These bikes were born on speed circuits, and their designs aim at more lightness, being reduced to the strict minimum.

The only way to stop is by blocking the back wheel. How? By forcing on the pedals to stop everything from running, pushing with the back leg, pulling with the front one, or vice versa, until you hear your wheel scream against the asphalt, and feel it slide behind you, as if it was attached to the bike and following it. Such craziness was majorly introduced on the streets of major cities such as New York, San Francisco and Portland, but also London, and Copenhagen in Europe, by bike messengers and this, except from the peculiar speed they can provide to someone who knows how to ride, for various reasons.

One probably is the fact that, in absence of a proper coasting system, you end up doing the pendulum at the street lights, playing the daring game of not taking any of your feet off from the pedals, and doing so you are able to relaunch yourself in the traffic as if you almost hadn't stopped. One can imagine the benefit of such a practice, for workers who spend 8-10 hours a day delivering packs, risking their life constantly at each street corner. Another one could be the aspect of the bike itself, spoiled as they are they might be a little less inviting for robbers, and those who might still be interested in stealing one could have a tremendous surprise after a couple of pedals kicks, and get quickly ejected from the rebelling tubes. But the main attraction i guess is the smoothness that you feel when riding one, fast when it's flat, slow if it goes up, the road becoming at that point what your legs' muscles can do about it, and not what mechanical systems can help you reach. I was reading this article in the excellent COG mag the other evening, where this ex-messenger was explaining how it felt when he first got attached to his fixed gear "rocket", having almost to slow it down, at the contrary of the usual riding which depends on how much you can force and endure to propel your tubes.

Nowadays, there's also a craze for the fixies coming from (old) skaters, and some of you might see me come to the point here, who are getting into this trend for the difficulty it represents in term of tricks and balance. Imagine hopping above a sidewalk, conscious that you can't at any moment stop your feet from going, even a fraction of second in order to find your body balance. Know what i mean my (ex) skaters friends? Needless to say that in such conditions, riding a fixed gear bike on a skatepark or in some pool surely deserves respect! But even without particular bumpy or curvy infrastructures, it is a fact that the geometry of the frames, the length and height of such bikes but also the mechanical simplicity they consist of are the main ingredients for turning these little bikes into flat freestyle instruments.

Apparently, fixies freestylers tend to train on monocycle, get it a little bit more now?

Here are a few examples to illustrate my words:

























So one could obviously ask: What 's the benefit then, if it only represents more danger for a very common transportation mean? Well, to repeat myself, and from the point of view of a newcomer to that game, i could only tell you that it's the smoothness of your moves that makes it a riding pleasure. It's also in the lightness of the bike that feels almost unreal for being so spoiled. It's about the lack of metal gears clicking, and cables bouncing. It's about repairing your own bike when it needs it, without spending hours with your hands in black grease and threatening teeth for your fingers. It's all about simplicity most of all. And seen our modern complex lifes, you can get really quickly addicted to it.