4,000 Mile Fixie

A black single speed bike against a concrete wall

Ok, “single speed”.

It’s December 2020. We’re in the heat of the pandemic and I’ve been racking up hundreds of miles on my Giant Revel 29er mountain bike. What else is there to do other than be outside on your bike, alone, vibing to music, soaking in the sunshine, and staying away from people. Problem is I’ve had this bike for several years and never had it professionally tuned up. All maintenance has been my own, and this thing desperately needed to be looked at by someone who knew what they were doing.

I dropped off the Giant at a local bike shop and ran into a big problem: what do I do for the next week while the busy shop is servicing my bike as well as half of Scottsdale’s bikes? For those who have never been to Phoenix during December - this is prime biking weather. Temperatures are in the 70’s during the day, minimal rain, and nights are tolerable in the 40’s.

I didn’t want to miss a single day of this perfect weather.

My immediate thought was to look around at the local bike shops and rent a bike, but the only ones available were e-bikes and some old Huffy’s with questionable quality. REI was my other option for a decent bike rental, but at $600+ for a week I decided on a totally different direction.

I hopped on State Bicycle Co.’s website and ordered my first fixie. In fact, this was my first non-mountain bike I’d ever owned. At $300 it was a helluva-lot cheaper than renting, and I could use it whenever the Giant was back in the shop. What I didn’t expect was to fall in love with this little bike. So much so that I later ended up giving the Giant to a friend and switching gears to road/city bikes for a few years.

Within the first year of owning my State Core Line I learned two things:

I will shamelessly ride on the freewheel.

Fixies/single speeds are some of the best bikes to own.

After about 2 weeks on the actual fixed gear, ripping my calves apart, nearly flying into traffic, and unable to dodge people properly on the mix-use paths - I decided that it was time to flip the back tire and ride on the freewheel. Fortunately both are options on this type of bike, and I firmly believe State did a good job making this Core model a great entry into fixed gear bikes. It’s affordable, has front & back brakes, and can be ridden as a true fixie or a simple single speed.

I definitely understand why people like riding a fixed gear bike. There’s something about being directly attached to the back tire that makes riding so thrilling. I will admit, I’m way too casual of a rider to always be on that true fixed level.

Fast forward a year. I racked up nearly 2,000 miles on this bike, abandoning my Giant and turning the mountain bike into a mountain mule with racks and bags to haul groceries. Eventually the freewheel started to go on the fixie and the front tire exploded like a gunshot after a ride in 109° heat one evening.

I took the fixie to the same shop the Giant was serviced at - shoutout to Rage Bicycles in Scottsdale (@ragecycles) - to have the freewheel replaced and new tires put on. A set of gravel-like Continental Ride Tour 28mm tires were installed. After that, it was only brake pads and grip tape that had to be replaced over the following years.

The fixie was my companion through all the early group rides I joined. It was the bike that carried me through the pandemic. The bike that helped explore the Valley in ways I had never done before. I loved that bike.

The worry-free, easy maintenance paired with the low price made it a great throw-around bicycle. The steel frame was solid and comfortable, and the wheels held up to anything the desert threw at it. I was actually surprised that after 2,000 more miles the tires never got a flat, never popped, never gave me any issues.

After 4,000 miles though, it was time to say goodbye. Not sure if anyone else has had this problem - but I definitely became emotionally attached to that bike. I held on to it longer than I should have, mostly just letting it sit in storage for a few months in the end. Fortunately I found out about Bike Saviours in Tempe, Arizona (@bikesaviours), a volunteer-run non-profit bicycle education center that takes in used bikes to sell back to the community.

I took the fixie to Bike Saviours one day after work and handed it over to the capable hands of the volunteers. They gladly took it in, and by the sounds of it, would do some standard maintenance then sell it. I’m hoping the bike was sold to someone who will enjoy a few thousand more miles of riding.

I’ve been biking for over 30 years, but this was the first time in my life I actually had a hard time getting rid of a bike. Carrying me through so many miles and years of fun adventures both solo and with the cycling community. I raise a glass to you little friend, cheers to introducing me to a world of skinny tires and no gears.


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