January 20, 2010

Fakie

Spotted this video on The Come Up today and it reminded me of A22's arguments against fixed gear freestyle. Namely that he feels that pedaling between or during tricks is ugly, and of his comment when Mike did the handrail that it's hard, but does that make it cool? After watching this guy ride fakie I better understand (not necessarily agree with) his position. Let's face it, if this guy was riding a freecoaster it would probably look both smoother and cleaner, however you do have to give him props for being so damn good at riding fakie with a traditional setup. It's definitely hard, but does that make it cool?

Any thoughts on the subject?



P.S. I think fixed gear tricks look awesome.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's no doubt the tricks are way hard, and props to him for being so awesome at riding fakie... The fact that seats are so low on BMX bikes makes sitting down and pedaling (forward or backwards) look incredibly goofy to me.

Jeff said...

yeah the seat is way low and looks shitty, that guy should probably just get a fixed gear and get it over with.

jonny kay said...

but let's be honest, fixed gear freestyle will never come close to bmx. sure, the degree if difficulty in tricks is greater due to the fixed cog but that's the very thing that cripples the sport. without being able to coast you'll never be able to go as big or be as smooth as bmx. i agree that fakie on a bmx looks a little goofy but you couldn't do 90% of those tricks on a fixed gear so where's the contest?
fixed gear = go fast
bmx = do tricks

Jeff said...

the just get a fixed thing, was in jest.

I agree that there are limitations with fixed gear, but I'd say that's kind of the point and what for me makes the two kinds of bike able to coexist in my mind.

Fixed gears will inherently, due to wheel size and drivetrain, never be able to do many of the things that a BMX bike can do. However the upside is that you have a greatly increased range.

BMX bikes are optimal for trick riding. There can be no debate on that, the issue is that they have a very limited usefullness do to how specialized of a trick machine they are.

Are BMX bikes awesome and better at tricks?
Yes.

So why ride a fixie for tricks?

Well, I'm going to ride a fixie anyway since that's the bike I love to cruise town on. I might as well ride one that I can play on while I do it and once I get somewhere.

jonny kay said...

well said. as long as you're on a bike who gives a fuck?