...Taken from
HERE ... This Soapbox opine does not reflect the thoughts of AXLEHOES!
..."I love my gears on a bicycle. Despite wearing the chain out faster and requiring a bit more maintenance, the ability to switch gears based on how I want to ride and the terrain I’m riding on far outweighs the weight saving gained by going fixed gear.
Despite my objections though I can’t deny the recent rise of the single speed bicycle. You can make one out of any old frame, they weigh nothing, maintenance costs are low and if you live in an area that’s relatively flat they do make a certain degree of sense.
Well, that is until you apply the ridiculously outdated Australian pedal bicycle standards to them.
For those of you that have no idea what a fixed gear bike is (also referred to as a single speed) they’re those road bicycles you see around with no gears.
Usually the type of guy riding a single speed has 3/4 cargo pants or skinny jeans on and a bright tshirt with a messenger bag strapped around his shoulders and some dunlop volleys on. He also probably isn’t wearing a helmet because it ruins his hair.
Needless to say couriers and fashion whores love to ride them.
In some parts of Melbourne fixed gear bicycles have become so prevalent it’s actually illegal to sell their geared counterparts. Brunswick, Fitzroy, Prahran and St. Kilda I’m looking directly at you.
Last week the ACCC came to a resolution with Dirt Works (a distributor) over Surly Steamrollers (my Long Haul Truckers’ evil tre euro cool cousin) that were sold to retailers back in 2007.
The ACCC weren’t happy that the Steamrollers supplied by Dirt Works “did not have a back brake and also, in some instances, did not have reflectors and a bell”.
Now a rear brake I can sort of understand, I’ve never ridden a single speed but I imagine braking is made easier with two brakes. Mind you having said that it’s not like having two brakes is going to make stopping at 30-40km/h any easier, you’re still going to crash into whatever it is you were trying to avoid.
What I do find hilarious though is the suggestion that these (or any) bikes need reflectors and a bell. If you’ve seen the kind of guys that buy fixed speeds this is made all the more hilarious given we’re talking about fixed speed bikes.
Reflectors have long since been useless on a bicycle and a bell? Seriously…? You’re cruising a long and some car is about to slam into you and what, a bicycle bell is going to pierce the latest gangsta rap blaring from their stereo?
By the time you’ve dinged your bell you’re already sitting in the gutter, or dead.
As for pedestrians, bells are also well known pedestrian magnets. Ding your bell as you approach a pedestrian from behind and you can be guaranteed a pedestrian will walk into you.
Personally when dealing with pedestrians on a track I’ll call out passing as a voice seems to be a lot more directional then a bell, and for the road I won’t be caught dead without my 115db AirZound air horn.
Within a few weeks this investment paid for and continues to pay for itself.
Couple that with the whole idea of a fixed speed is to be minimalistic and I can tell you now nobody is walking out of a bicycle shop with a Surly Steamroller fitted with reflectors and a bell.
Forget about single speeds for a second though, walk into ANY bike store in the country and see just how many bicycles have a bell or reflectors on them. Mine certainly never have.
I have no idea why the ACCC decided to single out (no pun intended) Dirt Works supplying Surly Steamrollers but clearly this particular part of the Trade Practices Act is wildly outdated and needs to be looked at.
It’s not practical, doesn’t save lives and most people remove these ’safety’ devices the second they get home – if they were even supplied to begin with.
Some other examples that are widely ignored from the Australian pedal bicycle standards (scroll down about halfway) are;
•The requirement that the upper part of the front chainwheel be guarded (one of those dorky heavy covers).
•A protective guard having been fitted to the rear deralliur (the clear plastic disc)
“Suppliers need to be aware that where fixed-gear bicycles are not designed, promoted and supplied primarily for use in competition, as was the case with the Surly Steamroller bicycles supplied by Dirt Works, they must comply with the mandatory standard for bicycles.”
Whilst I appreciate the ACCC are simply just upholding the Trade Practices Act, how about instead of just the token crackdown we actually either properly enforce the Act or just abandon the cycle specific parts altogether?
The Australian Consumer Safety Standard for pedal bicycles was last looked at back in August 1999."
...Taken from HERE ... This Soapbox opine does not reflect the thoughts of AXLEHOES!
Velocity B43 Wheelset
