Has anyone done a IM distance race on a fixed gear bike before? Any thoughts as to why this would not be a good idea? (assuming a failry flat course)
On a dead flat course it could be doable but from my experience, 1-hour riding fixed “feels” more like 2 hours. Its surprising how much we rest and coast when cycling. It would be cool to hammer a dead flat course with a 55/11T chainring.
Dave in VA
Yes. That would be cool. In the same way that putting your hand on a table and smashing it a couple of times with a hammer would be cool.
I have a triathlete friend who has done IMCanada on a fixie at least once & maybe even twice. He did it so he could be with his wife who was doing her 1st IM and not as strong. I can give you his e-mail if you are interested or e-mail him & place his response on slowtwitch.
Barb
Yeah…why not? PM me with his email if he won’t mind.
Dude, although this is pretty funny. I don’t see the big deal. On a flat course, your in the big chainring anyway and probley not doing a whole lot of gear switching. I have seen a few fixies (here on ST) that were configured to TT bikes. What am I missing here?
Come on dude…55/11? 55/11? For real? 112 miles fixed with a 55/11 gear? If you can push a 55/11 fixed for 112 miles than YOU…ARE…THE…MAN!
Come on dude…55/11? 55/11? For real? 112 miles fixed with a 55/11 gear? If you can push a 55/11 fixed for 112 miles than YOU…ARE…THE…MAN!
Never mind pushing 55x11, I couldn’t even start it! Besides a fixed 11 tooth is not so good from a chain point of view, the curve is too tight.
A 51 ring with a 13 would be plenty big enough And even that would be too big for me…
I did the Oliver 1/2 IM on a fixie a couple of years ago - see mt RR here. I’m still not convinced that it’s a bad idea if the course was right. I’ve heard stories of a guy doing IMC on a fixie before, and there have been a few who’ve done it SS. Personally, I don’t cherish the idea of bombing down the back side of those passes fixed - but hey, maybe the dude was an ex-Keirin racer and is used to holding 220RPM? 
You were the guy who posted a pic a couple of weeks ago right? What gear was that out of interest?
I don’t know about an Ironman, but there was a rider who did the 2006 Mountains of Misery ride (102 miles, 10K of climbing) in Roanoake VA on a fixie. I don’t know if he finished, but I saw the fixie while browsing ride photos.
Yes that was me, riding 50x15 as it happens. 38kph at 90rpm
There was both a Woman and a Man solo finisher(s) of the Furnace Creek 508 on Fixies! Tons of climbing on that bad boy too.
6 miles into a hilly century (200 vertical feet of climbing) a friends bike broke, he was stuck on 53-14 or thereabouts. he rode the whole way like that. he almost came to a complete stop on some hills towards the end.
i suppose it would have been a rough run afterwards, but i am sure it could be done with practise.
Is there such a thing as a fixie that you could ‘trigger’ to switch into freewheel, and then switch back? I’d be happy to do the distance, but I’d need a couple of stretches along the way, which I’d have to stop for without the option to stand on the pedals
well,
I guess i need to quantify. First off I would not be pushing a 55 or even a 53 front chainring. (I am not the man) I have a fixie that you reverse the rear wheel and it becomes a fixed gear but is a freewheeling singlespeed. Switch ir back and its a track bike of sorts. Has a gear on both sides in the rear. I would imagine running a 50 front tooth and a 14 or 13 rear would be the way to go and again, it would have to be on a flat course.
Was just curious as to peoples opinions.
can’t do a 11t fixed cog
.
I did the Oliver 1/2 IM on a fixie a couple of years ago - see mt RR here. I’m still not convinced that it’s a bad idea if the course was right.
This would be a good point to remind people of your signature line:
<If you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
julian,
Thats classic. remind them of the signature line. My whole office is cracking up.
Quote: " I would imagine running a 50 front tooth and a 14 or 13 rear would be the way to go and again, it would have to be on a flat course."
Have you tried running off your fixie yet?
As I said earlier, I run 50x15, which is approx 38kph at 90rpm. I have used this only up to 40k and done 1.03 and 1.06 on it. This is a flat 40k course, and with the exception of the roundabout, it was fine. I have used it for a rolling 10 mile course, and it was fine on the flat and climbing, but the 140rpm I was doing down the last descent got kinda painful.
If there is a flat enough IM course it should be perfectly possible, but running off a fixed gear bike could be interesting, and you’d have to get used to riding that kind of distance on a fixie. Also, with that kind of distance, the weather conditions may have more of an effect as 10 miles of fixie headwind is acceptable, I really would have concerns about doing 50 odd miles into a headwind. And of course you’ll only have minimal gearing adjustments with a flip-flop hub as the rear dropouts are unlikely to be long enough to allow you to have a 14 and an 18 for example.
Give it a try and tell us how it went, and get a comfy saddle on the bike before you do.