Racers, rebels shift to fixed-gear bikes.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

Remember the sensation of riding a tricycle? It's like that.

Round and round your feet go. Where they stop, only they know - because they (not your hands squeezing the brakes) are in control.

Fixed-gear bicycles are hard to stop once they get started because they typically have no brakes. You stop by bracing against the momentum of the pedals. It's called slowing down. And, no, they're not the safest contraptions on the street - as many a bike thief has discovered - but many who go the route of fixed-gear bikes never go back because the bikes are just too much fun, riders say.

They are, like Girl Scout cookies, habit forming.

"You really get used to it," says Tom Barrett, a mechanic at Paul's Bicycle Way of Life in Eugene. "And it really is addicting."

Fixed-gear bikes were some of the first bicycles invented more than 100 years ago and, until recent years, mostly the fancy of big-city bicycle messengers. They are experiencing a surge in popularity.

They're cool. They're hip. They're retro. They're practical and simplistic.

"They're a cult thing," says the 51-year-old Barrett, who calls them "Fixies."

They have a direct-drive system between the pedals and the rear wheel. If the pedals move, the rear wheel moves, and vice versa. Fixed-gear bikes do not coast. Not even downhill. That crankshaft is always moving, so you're always pedaling.

"You can even pedal backward if you know what you're doing," Barrett says, as he demonstrates on his fixed-gear bike in the parking lot of Paul's Alder Street store.

Most bike stores do not sell fixed-gear bicycles, but many of them will custom-build one. And a lot of bike mechanics these days, like Barrett, are making them for themselves. In fact, all five mechanics at the store where Barrett works have them, he says.

"I think they've become more popular as bikes have become more complicated," Barrett says.

In an age when the 10-speed is a relic and consumers can now buy 30-speed bicycles, fixed-gear riders are definitely a rebellious lot.

"There's maybe a reactionary thing going on," says Dwan Shepard, co-owner of Eugene bike manufacturing company Co-Motion Cycles, which makes a fixed-gear bike called "The Streaker" that's not a big seller because it goes for $2,400 and is built for racing.

Fixed-gear riders say they love the bikes because they are simple, clean and easy to care for. "There's just nothing to it," says Nathan Guy, a mechanic at Hutch's Bicycle Store.

Like most stores in Eugene, Hutch's has only one fixed-gear bicycle for sale on its showroom floor. And that's a $1,399.95 Cannondale track bike, not something most would use for transportation or for just riding around town. In fact, all track bikes are fixed-gear bicycles. That's why you don't see racers coasting when they fly around a velodrome track.

If you want a fixed-gear bike, the best thing to do, bike mechanics say, is find a good, old 10-speed frame you like and build it yourself. Or have one of the local shops do it for you.

Building the back wheel is the main thing - and the most expensive fix - because you'll need a small hub with only one cog. And forget about derailleurs, cables and tubing. You won't be shifting.

Barrett says his bike would have cost about $800 to build if all the parts were retail. But since he works at a bike shop, well, he got his straight from the dealer. He took an old Miyata frame that had been sitting around the shop and went from there. Of course, he added some pretty fancy parts, such as a lighting system for night riding and hand warmers for those cold, winter rides.

Barrett, who rides 12 miles one way to work from his Springfield home, says fixed-gear bikes definitely give you a great workout. After all, with all that pedaling, that's a lot of exercise on the leg muscles. Barrett figures he pedals about 2,200 revolutions during his 40-minute ride to work.

"And I can actually beat the bus," he says.

CAPTION(S):

Tom Barrett, a mechanic at Paul's Bicycle Way of Life in Eugene, holds up a fixed-gear bicycle that he says is "addicting." which he sayrides to workfrom Thurston to "You really get used to it," says Tom Barrett, a mechanic at Paul's Bicycle Way of Life in Eugene. "And it really is addicting." They're a cult thing," says the 51-year-old Barrett, who calls them "Fixies."