[surfinbird]

I am wondering if you have a fixed gear bike, and you stop pedaling, do the pedals keep moving and hit your feet or can they spin freely?

[BackBayBrewing]

If you are on a fixed gear, and you (attempt) to stop pedaling, you are likely to get pitched over the handle bars if you are going fast enough. Yes, the pedals do keep moving. That is where the name comes from. The gear is fixed to the hub, as opposed to what you think of as a "normal" bike where there is a ratchet system (or freewheel) in the hub. On a so called normal bike, when you stop pedaling, the wheel continues to spin, but the chain, and your pedals can stay still because the hub is "ratcheting." On a fixed gear however, when you stop pedaling, the wheel continues to spin, and because the gear, is directly attached to the hub without any kind of ratchet, the chain continues to spin which in turn continues to drive the pedals until the wheel comes to a stop.

It happens to almost everybody when the first start riding fixed. You forget that you are riding a fixed gear at some point, and you simply try to stop pedaling. If you aren't ready for it, the pedals will push back on your feet and can actually propel you over your handlebars. It is very common right after ascending a hill. You get to the top and want to sit back on the seat and stop pedaling for a little breather. You get quite the surprise when you try it.

Coincidentally, even though you probably think of a bike with a freewheel or cassette as a "normal bike" the first chain driven bikes were all fixed gears, including the first ones used in the tour de france. The riders had what are called "flip-flop" hubs with a different gear mounted on each side. When it came time to ride up a mountain, they would sit down on the side of the road, take the wheel off and flop it around for the easier gear, and get back on with the ride.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by surfinbird

I am wondering if you have a fixed gear bike, and you stop pedaling, do the pedals keep moving and hit your feet or can they spin freely?

A common compromise is a flip flop hub. You can put it on one way, and it is fixed ( you must always pedal ), or put it on the other way, and you are single-speed. You can stop pedaling, but you still have the simplicity of a single speed bike; no gear changes, no nonsense.

Luck.

[tajcrews]

Just put your feet in the air like when you were a kid and you wont have any problems. Seriously though, as already said yes your feet move if the wheel is moving on a fixie.

[Grape Ape]

OK then what is the purpose of riding a fixed.

I understand the freewheel, and remember the old bikes I had with a "coaster brake" but why ride a bike like a fixed where you have to take you feet off the pedals to just coast along specially down a hill? Wouldn't it be better to ride a coaster brake style bike?

[Andrew]

There's no real purpose to riding a fixed. That is, no purpose that is different to riding any other bike.

As BackBayBrewing said, the first bikes built had a fixed gear. Some kids bikes still do. It really is as simple as some people just like riding fixed!

There are supposed benefits to riding fixed though. Your pedalling style will benefit by becoming smoother and more even, and discourages a leg bias. The French call it 'souplesse'. If you're a keen road cyclist this may be of interest to you. Many roadies train on fixed through the winter for precisely this reason.

[Burr]

I think the Velo track bikes are fixed and constant! I think!!

[Burr]

Check it out:

Track bike on velospace, the place for bikes

[BikingViking]

So I'm guessing you would definately want some brakes if you were riding a fixed gear bike so you dont go flying down a hill with your cranks spinning?

[Andrew]

Brakes (or a front brake anyway) are certainly useful! And a legal requirement in many countries. Many fixed have only a front brake and some/many have no brakes at all. I personally wouldn't ride without at least a front brake... well, depending on where & terrain that is.

You have a lot of braking in the rear with your legs (that's not leg breaking!!). Recently, a court in Germany accepted that leg braking meets the legal requirement for a brake on a bicycle.