Fixed Gear Fixation

Aug. 3, 2005

For Dennis Bean-Larson a fixed gear bicycle isn’t just another way to get around town -- it’s a work of art.
And fixed-gear aficionadoes from around the world couldn’t agree more. This Aug. 12-14, up to 200 cyclists from all over the world will descend on Traverse City to attend the First International Fixed Gear Symposium at the Grand Traverse Commons.
That’s quite an honor considering that next year’s symposium will be held in London, and the following year in Milan, Italy. It puts Northern Michigan at the nexus of a world-wide cult of fascination over fixed gear bicycles.

SAY WHAT?
You say you don’t know what a fixed gear bike is? Bean-Larson explains:
“We all started out on a fixed gear bike,” he says. “Your tricycle was a fixed gear bike.”
The difference between a single speed bike and a fixed gear is that the latter has no freewheel, he adds.
“In other words, the pedals go around all of the time. It has a totally different feel than a regular bike. It’s simple; it’s not a complex drive-train. It’s quieter, different, cheaper -- more challenging... You feel your contact with the road better -- it’s hard to explain.”
Of note, the first modern bicycles were fixed gear contraptions built in the 1890s. The bikes were also used for track racing on velodromes early in the 20th century -- a sport which carries on today in the Olympics.
“Track racing was the biggest spectator sport in the United States prior to 1915,” Bean-Larson notes. “It was bigger than baseball at that time, and football was just a backyard sport.”
Fixed gear bikes are still popular today. In addition to hobbyists who create their own FW bikes from old beaters, the bikes are frequently ridden by bicycle messengers in big cities.
Why? “They’re simple bikes and no one will steal one,” Bean-Larson says. “Typically, you’ll find a stolen fixed gear bike a block away with a bloody skid mark because the thief didn’t know how to ride it.”
That “bloody skid mark” thing is due to the fact that many fixed gear bikes have no brakes other than the torque of your own legs straining to stop the pedals from spinning. Unlike a single-speed bike, there’s no coaster brake on a FW bike.

BICYCLE ODYSSEY
The fixed gear bike that Bean-Larson keeps at his office to ride around town has a single hand-brake to avoid bloody skids. He bought the 1977 Fuji frame on eBay for $16. “Most everything else was scavenged from used parts,” he notes.
A real estate broker who lives with his wife Katy in Kingsley, Bean-Larson, 60, began cycling seriously in 1990. Back then, he was riding 250 miles per week and competing in cycle races. He was second in the state in his age group for road racing when he was 55.
“I stopped riding for about two-and-a-half years to return to school, but now I’m out riding again. I was motivated to ride for the symposium, which will include a number of mass rides through the area.”
Bean-Larson owns eight bicycles, three of which are fixed-gears. He notes that only FG riders are invited to participate in the symposium rides.
He was turned on to fixed gear bikes by photographer and cycling enthusiast John Robert Williams. One of the founders of the TART Trail in Traverse City and the owner of a unique, four-person bicycle which he designed himself, Williams was one of a handful of local riders who was pedaling a fixed gear bike around town in the early ‘90s.
“I took my old bike and made it into a fixed gear to ride in the winter,” Bean-Larson recalls. “I didn’t have to worry about salt -- it wasn’t like it was a thousand-dollar bike that you have to worry about getting gunked up.”
OLD BEATERS
Many FGs are old beater bikes that have been rusting in the garage for years, waiting for a makeover, Bean-Larson says.
That’s where the work of art comes in. Bean-Larson launched a www.fixedgeargallery.com website in 2001 which now features more than 2,200 fixed gear bikes from all over the world.
“Ninety-nine percent of the bikes in the gallery are created,” he says. “They’re highly individual bikes. If you found some old frame from the 1970s hanging in someone’s garage, you could repaint it and turn it into a fixed gear bike.”
On his website you’ll find exotic FG treasures from every corner of the world. The day of our interview, for instance, someone posted a 1940s track bike from England. Dazzling paint jobs, classic forms, antiques and ultra-contemporary rides -- they’re all someone’s baby posted for admiration and discussion.
Bean-Larson started www.fixedgeargallery.com as a spinoff from his real estate website.
“I started with three in 2001 and remember thinking it would be really cool if we had 25 bikes posted,” he recalls. “We had 50 in the first year and now there are 150 new bikes each month.”
Today, the site hosts 5,000 visitors per day from up to 94 countries. It also hosts a discussion forum with over 1,100 registered users.

THE SYMPOSIUM
Bean-Larson’s website is a work of art in itself, and even if you couldn’t give a lick about fixed gear bikes, it’s worth a visit if only to appreciate how well information can be presented on the Net. In fact, the site was selected as one of the Top 10 Websites of the Year for 2004 by “Grafix,” a high-style graphic design magazine based in Great Britain.
The website has been such a smashing success that it emboldened Bean-Larson to invite the whole world of FG cyclists to Traverse City for the First International Fixed Gear Symposium.
The $50 entry fee will cover rides throughout the Grand Traverse area, a bicycle concours and riding skill events, an exposition for manufacturers, equipment displays, a Saturday evening banquet, concerts and more.
A special guest at the Symposium will be guitarist Eric Ambel, a fixed-gear rider from New York City who performs with Steve Earl and The Dukes. Ambel has also performed with hard-rocker Joan Jett. He’ll be kicking out the jams at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13, along with a Friday night performance by DJBEAN of Kalamazoo. The public is welcome to attend the concerts on the lawn at the Grand Traverse Commons -- even those of you who aren’t FG bikies.
Interested? There’s still time to whip an old wreck of a junkyard bike into a fixed-gear. You can have one converted at a local bike shop, or find do-it-yourself info in books and websites on the subject. Just remember to take it cool on your first few miles -- you don’t want to become one of those bloody skid marks...

For information on the 1st International Fixed Gear Symposium, check out www.fixedgeargallery.com.