Riding 70, undulating miles on a fixed wheel bike could be a sign of manliness. Or masochism. So to boast of a 70-mile 'jaunt' on a fixie would surely be a sign that I'm a) extremely butch, b) kinky or c) both. Well, I rode 70-miles on a fixie...oh alright I rode 70-miles on a Fixie. And that capital letter is very important.
You see the German firm Fixie Inc. has gone against its name and starting producing bikes that freewheel. Now, if they were single-speed that might be kinda logical. But no, Fixie Inc. has gone the whole hog and started using gears and everything, and the bike I took out for a decent schlep earlier this week was, probably, as far removed from a courier hack as can be. Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Fixie Inc Chip Race 953.
Pretty isn't it? (Well, the pics on Fixie Inc's own site are, mine are kind of muddy. And blurry.) But it's not just pretty. The 953 refers to the top-end Reynolds steel tubing used for the frame. It's super light – carbon-light to be honest – but with all the properties that steel-loving riders reckon make metal better than plastic. Like many, most of my recent road riding has been on carbon machines, and before that aluminium. You can read our first ride of the Chip Race in issue 221 of Cycling Plus, but let's just say I like it...
The frame alone is currently priced at over 2000 Euros – great with the current exchange rates eh? – and the bike we're testing is kitted out with SRAM Red, DT Swiss Mon Chasseral wheels and is dripping with Ritchey WCS and FSA finishing kit (the UK distributor is yet to fix(ie?) prices) so it's no credit crunch buster. But maybe investing in precious metal isn't such a silly idea in these testing times...
Oh and by the way the answer is c.
