Red Chains

Red chains.  They're another harbinger of the apocalypse. Possibly. I'm sure they're mentioned somewhere in Revelations.

Not with me? Then you probably don't live in an overpriced, would-be-hip London borough where the fixed-gear road bike has become the twatterati's vehicle of choice.

You may have been aware of the, harmless, fashion for colour-coding fixed bikes -- white tyres, white stem, white grips etc., etc.  But yesterday, I rolled up at the lights next to someone with a black-framed singlespeed with bright red rims and matching chain. Every link enameled like a postbox.  What's that about?  How do you keep it clean?

All questions I would have asked the owner but (a) she was having enough trouble riding the bike without speaking as well, (b) she really didn't look too friendly.

Despite my occasional Grumpy Old Man outbursts, I'm delighted that more and more people are taking up cycling.  

Riding fixed has been part of my cycling life for nearly 30 years.  My winter hack always had a 66-inch on it, so did everyone else's.  About 20 years ago, I noticed some London couriers riding fixed and realised how suited to commuting my winter hack would be.  Almost on the spot, I abandoned my commuting bike of the time (a Saracen Conquest) and dug out my Dawes Galaxy with the fixed rear-end. 

Since then, the majority of my miles have been fixed.   On a selection of home-builds of varying quality -- until last year when I managed to wangle a beautiful Condor through the bike-to-work scheme.

One of my rides -- a lovely but fragile 1960's Geoff Butler road/path -- was so well known among London's then relatively small fixed community that people would stop at traffic lights to chat about it.

In the past year or so, fixed-gear fever has gone epidemic.  

There's a sense of losing something special -- like when a favourite new band that no-one else knows about has a hit single; but mostly it's positive.

Except for one thing.  Security has never been an issue with my fixed bikes.  I've always been reassured by the fact that the average bike thief would be far more likely to nick a hybrid or a cheap, easily resold mountain bike than mine.  Who wants a ratty-looking old thing with drop handlebars and no gears.  And even if they did nick it, how far would they get?

All that's changed of course.  Fixed are now eminently resellable and  the scallies know that; and stripped down singlespeeds have replaced BMX's as the interim transport of the drug dealers on our local estate (before they graduate to Audi TT's).

Give them a year, and they'll have moved on to something else.  But make sure you keep an eye on your bike 'till then.