Today I revived My Summer Bike!
This one’s a bit of a beast — a fixed gear touring gravel bike (?)
Cinelli Tutto frame, bought online in size M (I’m 5’8/172cm), and it needed a seat post with setback, a saddle with long rails scooted all the way back, and all the spacers to make it fit.
I guess I’m tall for Italian standards.
Mounted the widest tires it would take, the lightest rack I could find, and the bare minimum in accessories to make it kinda street legal.
It’s the silliest bike I ever built, and it makes me smile every single time I ride it.
I did John O’ Groats to Land’s End on a steel frame bike! There’s something reassuring about knowing you could plow into a wall at 20 miles an hour and the bike will not give a single shit. Here it is just before setting off:
That’s very similar to my last touring bike.
But those old school brake hoods are NOT comfortable on long tours, and with those brakes, you better schedule any steep descent for a day when it doesn’t rain.Aw man, totally. They were the sole reason I built a more modern bike: those brakes became the bane of my existence. The extremely hilly section at the end of the trip was arse-clenchingly terrifying. The noise they made was like a cat going down a waterslide.
Fun in an ordeal sort of way though!
like a cat going down a waterslide
I’m owned by 2 cats, and I can’t stop giggling at this.
What a beauty!
Fixed or single speed? Fixed can’t be good for your knees on an extended ride.
It’s only bad for your knees if your gear ratio is too big, you try to push up too steep hills, or if you ride brakeless.
On tour I ride with a 39/17 ratio and two brakes, and when it’s too steep, I walk.
I do bring a spare freewheel cog with 18 teeth to limp home when I’m absolutely done, but I haven’t needed it yet.Sound like coriander salad and pub trivia nights, not my idea of a good time but I’m happy for others to enjoy themselves.
I’m used to the fact that neither “normal” cyclists nor fixie riders agree with my idea of fun.
fixed gear TOURING?? You say it makes you smile “every mile”, but do you genuinely do touring distances on it? Doesn’t Italy have mountains??
I’m from Southern Germany.
And yes, I do tour with it. The longest was about 800km in a week through the Black Forest. It’s important to remember that every fixed gear bike has three gears: sitting, standing and walking.
But I also noticed then when I start to walk on a steep hill, my riding partner with 30 gears usually follows soon after.I admit I wasn’t smiling on some of those miles.
They may be too nice to say anything, but I am certain your riding partner hates your fixie. Riding with a fixie in the group kinda sucks.
Trust me, he isn’t too nice to say something.
But we had an agreement that worked: I get to set the pace, and he gets to sit in my slipstream all day long.
Biking sucks. I do it because I hate myself. But I’ve mostly switched to running because it sucks so much more, and rednecks and fascists don’t try to kill me.
What bags you got?
https://hilosports.de/products/fahrrad-hinterradtasche-wasserdicht-25l-doppel-set
Hilo Sports is a small and pretty new Austrian brand.
The bags are cheaper than Ortlieb, have similar features, less durability and less weight.
I went bike camping with some friends last fall. The campground had a bunch of MTB trails around it and we had to ride them to get groceries. 2 of the guys were riding Surly Steamroller fixed steel bikes. We rode black diamond trails with groceries. The dudes with eMTBs that they brought on the back of a truck must have been confused.
♨️🌡️💦
That said I’ll never get fixed gear drivetrains. I’d always go with a basic 1x derailleur setup. Shimano Cues is super abuse-resistant.
The only good reason to ride fixed gear is if you enjoy riding fixed gear.
It isn’t objectively better in any way.
But it gives me 10x more smiles per mile.How quiet they are is a nice bonus too! At least until I put the studded tires on for the winter.
Yeah, I guess the feel is very different from any sort of freewheeling drivetrain. ☺️
When you stop pushing down on the pedals, the bike starts to push your legs, like “Come on, I wanna keep going!”
It’s impossible to go slow on this thing, it wants to move.
I’ll never stop loving steel frames <3
That’s a beauty + points for single speed
I’m a bit obsessed with steel frames, horizontal top tubes and single speed.
Which limits the options for bikes somewhat.It’s easy if you’re fine riding 80s and 90s chromoly
Yeah, unless you want to mount wide tires.
Then you’d be limited to extremely rare (expensive) 80’s MTB frames and 26" wheels.Yeah, that part sucks. I think most frames from that era can fit 26x2.2 ish though, which is something
Oh btw, that Ukraine-EU flag is nice touch. Meaningful, and happens to fit the color scheme just perfectly
A fixie gravel-touring bike?! You’re the best kind of insane. I absolutely love everything about this two-wheeled beast.
You wouldn’t wanna see how smug I can look, when other riders arrive at the top of the highest hill around with their E-MTBs and notice my bike, while I’m sitting next to it drinking beer.
