These bikes are weather-resistant, long-lasting, and charming in their lack of levers and mechanical addenda. Acceleration and deceleration are both handled via pedal pressure. One hundred and thirty-six years later, the appeal of the fixed-gear bicycle is simplicity, not safety. At the time, this was fairly radical-besides the “penny-farthing” big-front-wheel bikes that dominated the period, significant numbers of treadle-driven efforts used no chain whatsoever, not to mention the front-wheel-drive bikes! The Rover of 1885 used cranks and a chain to send power to a fixed-gear rear wheel. Still, the original goal of the design was safety. Fixed-gear bikes, or “fixies,” are so hip now that they are almost exclusively associated in the casual cyclist’s mind with “hipster” riders in major cities.
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