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An isolated place for training

Tadashi

Warming-Up
Jun 18, 2007
30
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Hello,

I have a track bicycle. It has a flip-flop hub for both freewheel and fixed gear options. I tried switching to a fixed gear today. That was damn too scary. I rode it for only 20 minutes or so and I thought that I was gonna die. The bicycle just doesn't stop. The fixed gear is an evil thing, it pushes you out of a saddle if you refuse to pedal it, and it's hard to stop it, even with brakes. I had a close call with a car and hit a pedestrian in those 20 minutes. Damn.

But I still want to learn to ride it. Is there some place in Tokyo or around with no pedestrians and cars at all? I don't have a bike case or whatever, so I plan to reach the training place on the freewheel, then switch to the fixed gear and train.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
 
Hello,

I have a track bicycle. It has a flip-flop hub for both freewheel and fixed gear options. I tried switching to a fixed gear today. That was damn too scary. I rode it for only 20 minutes or so and I thought that I was gonna die. The bicycle just doesn't stop. The fixed gear is an evil thing, it pushes you out of a saddle if you refuse to pedal it, and it's hard to stop it, even with brakes. I had a close call with a car and hit a pedestrian in those 20 minutes. Damn.

But I still want to learn to ride it. Is there some place in Tokyo or around with no pedestrians and cars at all? I don't have a bike case or whatever, so I plan to reach the training place on the freewheel, then switch to the fixed gear and train.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
welcome to the single gear world. all you need to do is to look further ahead and brake earlier. use the front brake to stop you and the rear brake to stop you going over the bars or skidding out. practice braking in a car park or some other wide space. if you brakes aren't stopping you get them looked at. I ride in rush hour fixed and have no problems casued by fixed riding, watch pedal strike on the corners. you will have to retrain your legs and brain about coasting but this will develop over time. now when i am on my roadie an i coast i always mentally check which bike i am on. what are you training for?
try the tops of river banks but even then there are other people and dogs and things so best advice is stay alert and practice sudden stops. ride safe and good luck.
 
welcome to the single gear world. all you need to do is to look further ahead and brake earlier. use the front brake to stop you and the rear brake to stop you going over the bars or skidding out. practice braking in a car park or some other wide space. if you brakes aren't stopping you get them looked at. I ride in rush hour fixed and have no problems casued by fixed riding, watch pedal strike on the corners. you will have to retrain your legs and brain about coasting but this will develop over time. now when i am on my roadie an i coast i always mentally check which bike i am on. what are you training for?
try the tops of river banks but even then there are other people and dogs and things so best advice is stay alert and practice sudden stops. ride safe and good luck.
Thanks for your advice!

I'm training to become a bike messenger. And aside from that ss/fixed gear is a perfect way of developing strength.

I rode this bike with a freewheel for around a week, no problems at all, it brakes just fine, goes at really high speed even in rush hour and all. So I decided to switch to a fixed gear.

I think a good place for training could be just any road at night. Like at 2-3 am.

Well, it's hard for me to brake 'cause the pedals are still moving, I can't stop them at once. Also, If I do stop pedaling at once I'm just get pushed out of the saddle. It may be the fact that I rode it just for 30 minutes, but damn it was scary.

My gear ratio is 48/18 btw.
 
Wow, I've just trained. It was actually very easy. And so enjoyable. The pedal stroke is ideal. God, I love fixed gear. No more freewheel for me. When you want to brake you just slower your pace, just letting your legs move almost in vain, it's like the same energy as you're coasting, so it's easy to stop bicycle using the brakes. Just like any road bicycle. It stops, no danger.

I still can't stop it using my feet though. Seems so tough and not doable. Gonna train more. I wanna learn to track stand too, since I ride in toe clips and all. Tips about these tricks would be greatly appreciated.

So excited, just love fixed gear. Hope you all try it too. The pedaling is ideal, not so cheap and mostly wrong as on a freewheel bike. You just unite with a bicycle in a one vehicle, like a cyborg, the bike is now your friend, not a slave. And it's an excellent work out too.

Cheers! :bike:
 
Practice going hard up a long slope and then reverse muscle training, trying to go slow down it. The legs will get a good work out and you'll find it hard to be riding at a dangerous speed. There are a few roads like that that have lots of keirin riders on them in Nagareyama...(Chiba Pref near the Edo river cycling path).
 
Quick stops on a fixed gear bike!

I've only seen it - Never done it!
One time, when Thomas & I were riding through Shibuya at night, we came across two guys on "Keirin" bikes. These two guys were real idiots - Young (around 17-18y.o), riding at high-speed through traffic without helmets OR lights!

However, as far as stopping in a hurry, the technique they used to stop quickly was: to do a rear-end (half-bunny-hop), and while the rear wheel was off the ground they had the opportunity to lock their legs. Also at the same time as lifting the rear wheel, they would throw they back-end out slightly sideways, so that when they'd locked the rear wheel with theirs legs, the back wheel would slide sideways from left-right (not good for your \5,000 tyres) when it hit the ground.
At the speeds they were going, sometimes they had to do this several times approaching red lights to come to a complete stop.

And Tadashi, to become a bike-messenger, more than the type of bike you ride, the most important thing for you to do would be to study a map of the roads inside, and just outside of the Yamano-te line!
When you go for your interview with "T-serv" or whoever, they won't care if you have a fixed-gear or a mountain-bike - They WILL however worry about whether you know the quickest route from Roppongi to Akasaka-Mitsuke, then up to Kanda and across to Shinjuku, and back down to Hiro-o.
You will need to know all those place names, and the quickest roads to them from wherever you are at the time.

Anyway, good luck, and "rubber-down"!
Travis
 
Practice going hard up a long slope and then reverse muscle training, trying to go slow down it. The legs will get a good work out and you'll find it hard to be riding at a dangerous speed. ..
just watch you dont blow up your knees by trying to use your legs as brakes. reverse resistance training won't help you ride faster but will add good definition to your muscles, ride smart and use the brakes. track stands are easier learnt on a slight uphill and remember to turn the front wheep about 60 degrees to the side. practice with sneakers on for a start. you can see fixie skidding on you tube easily enough.
 
Thanks for your replies!

I trained more and got the basics of it. You just resist pedals by backpedaling. This way you can slowdown to a full stop. I am now able to do this easily at low and medium speed, but at high speed I'd better use brake(s). Gonna train more, I guess. It's all about muscles.

But skidding (stopping by lifting up a rear wheel and locking pedals) is very bad for tires and knees. And the position of a rider while doing that is dangerous too.

I still want to uninstall a rear brake. It's useless now. But the front brake is very handy.

Resisting pedals while going downhill is a great fun too. Good work out for your muscles.

BTW, I wanna these drop bars SO much:
TRK-BAR-NITTO02-2.jpg

It's Nitto B123 CrMo. Can I find them in Tokyo (any track bike shops)? Or do I have to order online?

I heard about Punch Cycle at Asakusa, do you know that shop?
 
>>I heard about Punch Cycle at Asakusa, do you know that shop?

yes they might. it locates really close to kaminari mon if you know
it opens 6pm-11pm.

but seriously.... i thought u tried to be a keirin racer or messenger and dont even know how to track stand etc...
now dont even know how to stop ur bike, and its obviously not that hard.

i sound like a dick or im a dickface but you are lame as hell.
 
a friend of a friend actually designed the bike you're riding. Schwinn Madison right?

:bike: I'll let her know someone is really enjoying it!
 
Track Racer Parts

Hi there. I have been training for the track race for a while. You can buy parts at the web shops as follows.

http://www.uemura-cycle.com/pisto.html
http://www.takizawa-web.com/shop-track06/track1-top.html

There must be some introduction day for beginners at some Keirin Tracks around Tokyo. Usually, if you belong to a team, you can train track races 2-3 times a month. It is a lot of fun, though the training can be somewhat painful. Piste races are short distance as opposed to road bike races being long distance with some sprints. They both are fun. It is a good guide line to see if you would enjoy the track race or not. Try 1000m TT. Just find a flat straight course without traffic signal and see how long it takes. If you can do it less than 1 min 10 seconds, you will be a candidate for the professional Keirin school. It you are 10 min 18 seconds or less, you can still enjoy amature track races. If you are, without training, 1 min 25 seconds or less, you still have a hope. By the way, my best time is 1 min 15 sec. Being old, I am doing OK. The technique will help you reduce the time by 3-4 seconds.





Used parts including frames can be purchased through some shops and team members as well.



Thanks for your replies!

I trained more and got the basics of it. You just resist pedals by backpedaling. This way you can slowdown to a full stop. I am now able to do this easily at low and medium speed, but at high speed I'd better use brake(s). Gonna train more, I guess. It's all about muscles.

But skidding (stopping by lifting up a rear wheel and locking pedals) is very bad for tires and knees. And the position of a rider while doing that is dangerous too.

I still want to uninstall a rear brake. It's useless now. But the front brake is very handy.

Resisting pedals while going downhill is a great fun too. Good work out for your muscles.

BTW, I wanna these drop bars SO much:
TRK-BAR-NITTO02-2.jpg

It's Nitto B123 CrMo. Can I find them in Tokyo (any track bike shops)? Or do I have to order online?

I heard about Punch Cycle at Asakusa, do you know that shop?
 
>>I heard about Punch Cycle at Asakusa, do you know that shop?

yes they might. it locates really close to kaminari mon if you know
it opens 6pm-11pm.

but seriously.... i thought u tried to be a keirin racer or messenger and dont even know how to track stand etc...
now dont even know how to stop ur bike, and its obviously not that hard.

i sound like a dick or im a dickface but you are lame as hell.
Look at the dates of the these posts. I got over all this stuff in a next few days. Sure it was scary the first day, but I was just too excited, I guess. In next 2 days I was riding full speed without any worries. And I thought you were Japanese, then um...be polite and mature. OK?

And well, if you're guys are interested, I'm continuing my training. I want to become a keirin racer, that's why I train everyday. Also, I'll be attending teaching seminars for novices (so called aikoukais at Tachikawa velodrome). This is my goal.

And yes, I know about exams to keirin school and all. I visited Seibuen velodrome, talked to keirin racers, they told me lots about training, gave me lots of advice and told me about aikoukais. I bought a genuine keirin bicycle, with all NJS parts. I'm going to train on it on the road as well, I already purchased clincher wheels set for this purpose.

Wish me luck. I just hope my knees won't explode with all this training. :) j/k
 
You missed the Omiya Keirin amateur races last weekend.
I intened to go but it was on a week late this year and we already had the Nagano trip planned.

http://www.jcrc-net.jp/kekka07/07bnk2/html-1/index.htm

http://www.jcrc-net.jp/kekka07/07bnk2/html-2/index.htm

http://www.jcrc-net.jp/race2007/2007bnk2.html

We had a few guys there, I did it last year and will do it again next year.
My time for the 1km TT last year on a road bike was 1:24.
A guy I beat last year ran a 1:15 this year...:cool:

Being the first time on the track it was a little scary.... Would love to do more track racing and being near the matsudo course it may be possible. They are pretty strict about 'how' the tracks are used....
 
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