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Pushbike with a fixed wheel

  • Thread starter Thread starter O.C.
  • Start date Start date
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O.C.

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Does anyone remember the pushbike with a fixed wheel ? The pedals went round as soon as it moved backwards or forwards.If you was going down hill you had to take you feet off the pedals as they went to fast. Very Dangerous.
Another bike I had, had a French brake so if you pedalled backwards it stopped the back wheel and you skidded to a halt. I never bought either bike, they was given to me by the Scrap Merchant two doors away.
 
I had a fixed wheel bike. I remember once you got go going you could put both feet on the same pedle and go up and down in motion with the pedles, some times with painful results.
 
Do you remember on Sports days there was always a slow bicycle race ( I think it was put on for kids who were no good at sports) but fixed wheel bikes were banned cuz you could pedall them backwards. >:D
 
You are right Postie as you could  virtually stop, go backwards then forwards so you never moved more that a few feet,I bet a few wags did that.
We used to ride about one with  person standing on each pedal so two were riding the bike which was quite hard to do,both going up and down but only one could steer. Good job there was not much traffic on the road 
 
We still have a small fixed wheel bike which my young grandson rides, it also has solid rubber tyres.
So these bikes are still made some were in the world.
 
Hi....Well the brake that you pedal backwards to stop the bike I think was called an' Eady Coaster ' very popular with German cyclists I can recall when I went on a Cycling Tour of Germany back in 1959...thank you Cadburys for paying for that tour.....and fixed wheel bikes were something you really had to get used to....I used to do cycle racing and one winter trained on a bike with a fixed wheel......but was glad to get back to my Road Race bike with gears...however....all the Track Men used to ride on 'Fixed' all the time.
 
I used to ride fixed wheel all the time after riding track at Salford Park. As Mikeflan said, you had to have a fixed wheel bike to ride at the track and I prefered it to free wheel. My bike was a 'Sun Manxman' and modified with a 12 tooth fixed cog (the smallest). It was hard work going up steep hills, but by jingo, you could go down them fast >:D. I remember being stopped by the Police for speeding down Kingstanding Hill. I was SOOO proud :D.
 
I too used to use bikes with fixed gear
like Frantic, I did track racing at Salford park
and so did the Pro's such as Reg Harris,Arrie van Vleet
and in the sprint races it was a cat and mouse game
watching who was going to make the first move,
so you could virtuallaly stand still o n the pedals
as long as you could keep your balance
I had two bikes both with fixed gear,and Sylvia
my girlfriend at the time,(now my wife) used to ride one of them,
and she came a cropper down the bottom
of Kingstanding Hill some lucky firstaider had the luck to bandage
her thigh for her
 
My brother had a great bike and bought his first speedometer and wanted to know how fast he could go. So he started in Hobmoor road and down Hobmoor hill he went at full speed looking at his speed, then bang he hit a parked car and knocked all his teeth out. He had false teeth at 16
 
I remember the first bike i built up,
and I used what was called A "Major Taylor" stem
to which the dropped handle bars were fitted to,
Having tightened all the nuts as I thought,
away I went doing a fast run,when lo and behold
the handle bars slipped off,Wow, did I come a cropper
and i won't mention where i got hurt the most,
it was agony,but it taught me a lesson the hard way :2funny:
 
Robert,
for many day's I did,can still feel the pain when I think of it
also damamaged my elbow as well as my pride,
 
I've never heard it called a pride before Dennis ;D ......no wonder it's a sin :2funny:
 
Another craze that we went through at school was speedway at the Harriers so we used to modify our pushbikes with 'cowhorn' handlebars and fixed wheels and do skid turns on the cinders at the Serpentine.
 
Hi Frantic remember the ASTON ACES CYCLE SPEEWAY CLUB based at the side of salford park were the multi flats are now. I can recall Graham Warren of the then BIRMINGHAM BRUMIS SPEEDWAY TEAM (Based Perry Barr Speedway track, now the dog track) Presenting the club cups at the end of season meet. I think we all had cowhorn handlelbars and fixed wheels just to be like the speedway kings of the time ,Tiger heart,Graham and the like.Mom & Dad were Speedway MAD every Sarurday night. The Good Old Days as they say?
 
I do indeed remember Aston, now that you have posted, but HOW do you, and lots of others on this forum manage to remember SO much detail? ......amazing. :)
 
Here's a quote about my cycling experiences, taken from "Handsworth & Beyond" on the main Handsworth site https://tinyurl.com/nfjmq ...

"My transport was rapid death on two wheels. It cost me a pound off Norm - bloody robber! He only sold it too me `cos he was too scared to ride it himself. My aspirations of being a Reg Harris were thwarted when I hit a cow head on, close to Hill Top farmhouse.

I was howling down the lane and despite the wonky steering, managed to make the blind bend. There I was confronted by a line of cows crossing my path on the way to be milked. Brakes…Brakes… Brakes full on but with no blocks they weren't exactly effective. Swerve… Swerve… No good!… The handlebars twisted but the wheels kept straight on. Crash! “Moooooo!!”… Sod it! I'm a gonna… Aaaah!

I wound up in a heap, semi conscious, with the bike wrapped around my neck and the miserable old farmer standing over me reading the riot act. Well he didn't get away with it. To get my own back I took my wrecked, rusty steed, planted it in his hedge and walked home. So he was left with the trouble of disposing of it. Ha, ha, that taught him to mess with me!"

I'm pretty sure that "rapid death on two wheels" had a fixed wheel.
 
Frantic, it becouse I never throw away any thing not even MEMORIES. YOU SHOULD SEE MY LOFT.I have all my EAGLE ANNUALS,ALL MY OLD SCOOL TEXT BOOKS plus all the programs from My TEAM A.V.F.C. & ICE HOCKEY programs from the early fifties when I followed THE NOTTINGHAM PANTHERS.That is before I got involved with Hockey in Birmingham & Solihull through the 1960s. they were the best days of my life.
I must shut up or I will rant on & on.
what is life if you do not have HAPPY MEMORIES!
ASTON
 
My first bike had a fixed wheel; it had no breaks at first and cowhorn handlebars (remember those). My dad bought it for 10/- from Frankie Trotter next door.
Anyone remember the racer Tiger Harris (or was he a motorcycle racer); I think he had a bike shop near Lozells Street (If it wasn't Tiger Harris's shop anyone remember whose it was
 
Michael, do you mean TIGER HART, Birmingham speedway.He had an insurance agents in New Town Row or there abouts. May be it was REG HARRIS, cycle champion. Reg belonged to the same cycle club as my Aunt & Uncle, Jim & Hilda MATTHEWS.
 
All this talk about bikes has reminded me of the hours that I used to spend Drooling at the fabulous bikes in 'Jardine's Cycles' on the corner of Witton Rd & Jardine Rd. I never did get to buy a 'NEW' bike, they were always second hand (second bum for a bike) or 'hand-me-downs'. I actually bought my first 'Brand New' bike here in Oz. I still ride now, but only for pleasure, and not often enough.
 
Fixed wheel

In the distant past I also rode a bike with f.w. but not by choice.Myself and some of my brothers and friends used to cycle down to Gosport every year to stay a few days at the ? Memorial Hall (can't remember the name at the moment).It was arranged by Canon Norman Power at St. John's Church in Ladywood.Everybody else used to go on a coach but we were made of sterner stuff.Anyway,one year someone nicked my bike,a Raleigh Tourer,just as we were getting ready to go.So,no bike!Then a friend of one of my friends said I could borrow his but it had a fixed wheel.I had not ridden one before and didn't realise what it was like, so I borrowed it and duly cycled to Gosport.Never again!The hardest 11 hours in all my life AND I had to get back again.Good old days!
 
fixed wheel

I have just remembered the name of the hall. It was the Broderick Memorial Hall.It only took me two months to think of it!!???.
 
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