Fixed: Global Fixed-Gear Bike Culture

This book on the worldwide phenomenon of fixed-gear riding isn’t just a fanfare for ‘fixie’ hipsters in the major cities of the western world. Certainly, the book details the growth of the now ubiquitous track bike and prevailing fashion. But Fixed also delves into the roots of the fixed-wheel, tracing its heritage from the 19th century high-wheelers and safeties used in the early velodromes to the bike couriers of New York in the 1970s.

“…the fixed gear is the bicycle stripped to its basics, at its most elemental, the purest expression of the diamond-framed form.”

© Leonard McCombe / Getty Images

Featuring interviews and commentary from professional and amateur riders, framebuilders, couriers and bike lovers around the globe, the book brings various aspects of bicycle sport, design, and culture together. The book also features some great pictures.

© Offside / L'Equipe

At a time when cycling is burgeoning as a lifestyle choice as well as a sport (even as an art form) Fixed celebrates the undeniable part the fixed-wheel has played in helping perpetuate this modern bicycle renaissance. Indeed, as the book suggests, the fixed gear culture has acted as a ‘gateway’ into the various channels of cycle sport and design.

Fixed: Global Fixed-Gear Bike Culture by Andrew Edwards and Max Leonard. (Published by Laurence King publishing Ltd. 2009)