I am sure you've heard it, fixed gear riding will kill your knees. Its always being said and I am sure there is some truth to it. lots of kids, see it all the time here in Austin, are riding track bikes on the street with track gearing and no front break. huge gearing that causes them to have to mash on the peddles and stopping that rear wheel with all that angular momentum must put some crazy stress on the knees.
i even had a saleswoman in Berkeley refuse to talk to me about a 1x1. "your going to destroy your knees" "did a singlespeed destroy your face?" well, i guess i won't be buying a bike from your shop then.
only problems or pain i've had with my knees is when they hit the dirt from crashing. in fact, it seems as though i've had less lower back pain than i used to, too. my guess is i used to love trying to push a big gear.
well, my man Sheldon Brown has an article by a guy who says fixed gear riding actually cured his cycling induced knee pain, gonna have to paste it but check it:
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-knees.html
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7 comments:
granted, i have brakes on my fixies but i guess i never totally understood the whole knee thing either. my knees have never bothered me- or anymore then they usually do- wheter on a fixed gear or not. does that make sense?
wha
i've got an invite to go out there and ride with the georgie boy. no fixed gear though cause he said those are typically ridden by anachists and those who believe in a free and open democratic society.
im moving to austin in a month and bringing my arsenal of brakeless track rides but i'll be sure to leave my skinny jeans and ray bans in philadelphia. good god
Im moving to austin in a month and 1/2. I too will be taking atleast one fixed and mabey a spare wheelset. Who knows when you'll run into a hot frame from circa 70's? When i ride fixed, my knees feel great do to the consistent motion. If my cadance gets all uneven and whacky-like then i feel as though i might possibly be putting a bit of stress on my knees. Mabey im tripping, but knee pain/problems and fixed gears dont belong in the same sentence. whoops.
Moving to Austin in about 4-6 weeks at least for a year. Will have to buy something there. I had beautiful RIH frame and after trying to ride with brakes for about a week or two I took it off as it is a whole another thinking pprocess and riding style to ride without brakes. I did feel some tention in the knees after about 50km up and down ride on different types of road but in general it newer was the issue. Looking forward to riding in Austin and maybe meeting some of you guys for a beer. Cheers.
How do you train these days? Always on a fixed gear? I started using a training product I saw at rockbarcycling.com to help increase my strength when riding fixed gear or geared bikes. Have you heard of it?
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