Question: Will adding a fix gear bike to my training regime help me develop good pedal techniques?
I was asked this question by a fellow cyclist the other day and after some thought i responded NO. Too which he was amazed
Let me explain…
Fixed gear bikes have very little in common with road bikes, yes they have 2 wheels, bars saddle etc, but when it comes to propelling them forward and developing pedal stroke the fixie is no help to the roadie.
1. You might think that as the pedals move around nice and fast in perfect circles this would translate into better circles when you get on the road bike. wrong, it actually makes your legs lazy. the fixie drags your feet around. On the road bike you are forced to pull up through the back of the stroke and pull over the top before you push down at the front. The fixie does all the hard work for you
2. The muscles you need to rip through the high cadence on the road bike are different ones that are used in the same cadence on the fixie. so you might feel like your building this amazing ability to ride in cadence brackets up around the 150 mark. but try that same technique on the road bike and you will find out why you have wasted valuable hours
the skills needed for a road bike and a fixie are different and very specific, especially when it comes to the high cadence work. Yes riders who are good on the track can bring those skills to road cycling and do well, we have seen many a rider do this in history, but for the average you and me looking to gain that little bit more, we shouldn’t waste our time
Unless your goal is to be better on the track or better at looking cool down at the expensive coffee shop with your crumpler bag, mac book pro, soy latte while wearing tight jeans and some t shirt with random words on it, don’t waste your valuable training hours on a fixie.
This post is tagged fixie posers!
I disagree.
Interspersed with my own training on my road and time trial bikes, I commute over 100K a week on a fixed gear running around 69 gear inches, a relatively “spinny” gear.
Before I started commuting fixed, I struggled to maintain a high cadence on my freewheel bikes. Now? I can quite happily maintain a high cadence without the slightest hint of bob on my saddle.
Whilst this may not be the empirical evidence needed to disprove your comments, riding fixed has added strength and technique to my cycling that I didn’t have before.
You could write this off to change in training, poor technique to begin with, cycling position or whatever. The point is, the most noticeable difference to my pedalling came after I started lugging my steel warrior to work everyday.
Not everybody that rides a fixie is a hipster and not every hipster rides a fixie. There are some of us that enjoy the simplicity of the bike, the way it feels, looks, its appeal as a pimpable item and the sheer bombproof nature of the beast as a commuting machine.
Yes I agree with Russell. The fixed gear bike will help with balance on a road bike. Butthsts about where the ‘help’ ends
i ride both fixed gear track bikes and road bikes. I find that when I have been riding the track bike for a few weeks then jump on tbd road bike the legs feel really heavy and lazy. Your legs seem to get used to the motion required to turn over the pedals on the track bike over. The laziness over the top and round the back translates into a messy stroke on the road bike
I have actually read a similar topic on velonews or the likes and they too said the benefit of track bikes for road training purposes are none
Thanks russell thanks John. Always good to see comments
first up yes sorry not all fixie riders are hipsters. That was more a tongue in cheek comment at the general stigma that surrounds fixed gear bikes and the riders thereof
semi agree on the balance idea and gains, but you can get the same gains by riding a high cadence on a road bike. Ultimately it comes down to technique. Better your technique betteryour riding. Technique in turning high revs on a road bike differ to those required to do the same rpm on a fixed gear bike
if you want true gains for road cycling but want the simplicity of a fixedgear bike then get a single speed with a freehub
I’d be interested to know your thoughts on training with a single speed (not fixed) on a reasonably small gear – under 80″.
I have heard from experienced riders in our club that they used to do a lot of training on single speed bikes to work on spinning, high cadence, out of the saddle climbing etc.
They too have the same view as you regarding the fixie “helping” the rider to complete the pedal stroke.
Saris developed a freewheeling version of their indoor training bike because it replicates road riding much more accurately than a traditional fixed gear spinning bike with a 43 pound flywheel. I think it’s true that the flywheel does a lot of the work, and I think that to a lesser extent, a fixed gear bike does the same- it requires you to pedal non-stop, even when you are not exerting any force. In theory, this equates to being able to do shorter training sessions for the same benefit as longer ones, but I beg to differ. My Powertap data indicates that the amount of freewheeling I do on a 4-5 hour endurance ride is small enough. I do own a fixie commuter (Redline 9.2.5) but the real reason I bought it is because it had fenders pre-installed and it was cheap.
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