Saturday, February 06, 2010

Fixed Gear

The bicycle culture in the Bay Area has been heating up. Or more likely: where was I? Last fall, I came across the San Jose Bike Party. It started as a couple of hundred cyclists getting together on a Friday night in San Jose and going for a 20 mile ride. Last time I joined (when the weather was still warm), there must have been several thousand riders. It was a crazy experience.

Another sign of the times are Fixies: Fixed gear cycles are very much in fashion (http://sjfixed.org/). You see them everywhere and often with very narrow handle bars, making it even more dangerous to ride them. I haven't understood the attraction of a fixed gear cycle. They are cool looking but why would you not want breaks on your bike on public roads, or why only one gear. I guess I'll have to try one.

Today I came across a great video of a bunch of friends on fixed gear bikes traveling to Japan to ride from Tokyo to Osaka. Looks fantastic.

Tokyo to Osaka Teaser from John Murillo on Vimeo.

Picture and video from http://www.tokyo2osaka.com.

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