Freestyle fixed gear
{{Short description|Cycle sport}}
{{Infobox sport
| name = Freestyle fixed gear
| image = Michael Chacon Fixed Gear.jpg
| imagesize = 220px
| caption = Michael Chacon
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| country/region = Worldwide
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| category = Cycling
| equipment = fixed gear bicycle
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|nicknames=FGFS, Trick Track, Tarck|world=}}
Freestyle fixed gear is stunt riding on a fixie. It is an extreme sport where the stunts share elements from BMX, artistic cycling, dirt jumping, and trials. The flat ground style of tricks, similar to artistic cycling, is called Trick-Track or Tarck. Street and park riding, that is more similar to BMX, is generally called FGFS (Fixed Gear Freestyle).{{Cite web |title=FGFS - Fixed Gear Freestyle (bicycles) {{!}} AcronymFinder |url=https://www.acronymfinder.com/Fixed-Gear-Freestyle-(bicycles)-(FGFS).html |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=www.acronymfinder.com}}{{Cite web |last=JBall |date=2020-03-23 |title=KNOW YOUR FIXIE LINGO (Part 1) |url=https://suckmycog.com/2020/03/23/know-your-fixie-lingo-part-1/ |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=Suck My Cog |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2023-03-24 |title=Fixie & Single Speed Cycling Glossary {{!}} Brooklyn Fixed Gear |url=https://fixedgearfocus.com/glossary/ |access-date=2024-10-31 |website=fixedgearfocus.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=JBall |date=2014-02-06 |title=FGFS {{!}} A brief history |url=https://suckmycog.com/2014/02/05/fgfs-a-brief-history/ |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=Suck My Cog |language=en}}
History
Freestyle fixed gear riders style can be generally described as doing "BMX-style tricks on their fixed-gear bikes".{{Cite web |last=Wilding |first=Natalee |title=SLC's fixie bike gang is more extreme than you |url=https://www.cityweekly.net/BuzzBlog/archives/2014/07/23/slcs-fixie-bike-gang-is-more-extreme-than-you |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=Salt Lake City Weekly |language=en}} The sport was "born from the fusion of freestyle BMX and track cycling".{{Cite web |date=2024-02-06 |title=Fixed-Gear Freestyle: What Is This Cycling Trend? (Ultimate Guide) |url=https://brooklynfixedgear.com/tricks-and-performance/fixed-gear-freestyle-explained/ |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=brooklynfixedgear.com |language=en-US}} As early as 2007 people "started to see how rad they could get on a track bike, it started with skids and progressed from there."{{Cite web |last=Regenold |first=Stephen |date=2012-05-18 |title=Seriously, What's Up with Fixed-Gear Freestyle? |url=https://gearjunkie.com/biking/fixed-gear-freestyle |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=GearJunkie |language=en-US}} Fixed gear tricks are very impressive because they require riders to always be pedaling.{{Cite web |last=Lingelbach-Pierce |first=Zander |date=2024-02-29 |title=There Will Never Be Another Fixed Rider Like Tom La Marche |url=https://www.bikemag.com/news/fixed-legend-tom-la-marche |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=BikeMag |language=en}} A 2015 poll of international fixed gear riders found that 11.9% report the use of fixie for tricks.{{Cite journal |last=SÁNDOR, BÉRES, BENCZENLEITNER OTTÓ, and BERKES TAMÁS. |date=2015 |title=FROM THE VELODROM TO THE STREETS--THE RECREATION SCENES OF FIXED GEAR BIKES. A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON HUNGARIAN AND FOREIGNER FIXED GEAR BIKERS |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290997566 |journal=Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, Educatio Artis Gymnasticae |volume=60 |issue=4 |pages=47 |via=ResearchGate}}
The earliest bicycle tricks were done on fixed-gear bicycles, with motion pictures evidence as early as 1899.{{Cite web |title=Bicycle trick riding, no. 2 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/96515569/ |access-date=2024-03-31 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}{{Cite web |date=2011-10-17 |title=Fixed gear trick riding not as new as you think |url=https://bikeportland.org/2011/10/17/fixed-gear-trick-riding-not-as-new-as-you-think-60660 |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=BikePortland |language=en-US}} However, most modern disciplines of freestyle cycling utilize a freewheel type mechanism; a notable exception is artistic cycling riders also still uses a fixed-gear bicycle. The fixed connection between rider and wheel enables stunts that are difficult or impossible with a freewheel.{{Cite patent|number=US11590797B2|title=Freewheel assembly switchable between fixed-gear and freewheel modes|gdate=2023-02-28|invent1=Engel|inventor1-first=Nicholas Redmond|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US11590797B2/en?q=(%22fixed+gear+bicycle%22)&oq=%22fixed+gear+bicycle%22&page=1}} The most basic trick called a trackstand is generally done only by riders on fixed-gear bikes.{{Cite news |last=McFarland |first=Matt |date=August 26, 2015 |title=How fixed-gear bikes can confuse Google's self-driving cars |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2015/08/26/how-fixed-gear-bikes-can-confuse-googles-self-driving-cars/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}}
Bicycle messenger culture in the late 20th century and early 21st century is a major influence to freestyle on fixed-gear bikes. Fixed gears date to the mid-19th century, and bike messengers in New York have long found them to be dependable and practical machines for tough city streets. But it is only in the past few years that riders, inspired mostly by skateboarding and BMX, began to push the limits of doing tricks on a fixed-gear bike.{{Cite news |last=McCrea Jones |first=Raymond |date=July 10, 2009 |title=A Meeting of Dervishes With Fixed Gears |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/nyregion/12bikes.html |work=The New York Times}} The sport has mostly stayed underground, however, the mainstream Hollywood movies Quicksilver (1986) and Premium Rush (2012) contain stunts done by bicycle messenger characters using a fixed-gear bicycle "showing off stunts and deviant riding".{{Cite journal |last=Maximilian |first=Hoor |date=2020 |title=The bicycle as a symbol of lifestyle, status and distinction. A cultural studies analysis of urban cycling (sub) cultures in Berlin |url=https://api-depositonce.tu-berlin.de/server/api/core/bitstreams/0e8863ac-4731-4374-acc7-d99dc98e89e3/content |journal=Applied Mobilities |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=249–266 |doi=10.1080/23800127.2020.1847396 |via=DepositOnce|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite web |last=Regenold |first=Stephen |date=2012-06-03 |title=Hollywood Milks Bike-Messenger Culture in new Feature Film |url=https://gearjunkie.com/biking/premium-rush-bike-messenger-movie |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=GearJunkie |language=en-US}}
Tricks done on a fixed-gear bicycle appear in the movies Rad and Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Red Bull held an annual fixed freestyle competition from 2011 to 2014.{{Cite web |date=2021-07-12 |title=Red Bull Ride + Style 2011 |url=https://fixedgeararchive.com/red-bull-ride-style-2011/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=FIXED GEAR ARCHIVE |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2021-07-14 |title=Red Bull Ride + Style 2012 |url=https://fixedgeararchive.com/red-bull-ride-style-2012/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=FIXED GEAR ARCHIVE |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2021-07-16 |title=Red Bull Ride + Style 2013 |url=https://fixedgeararchive.com/red-bull-ride-style-2013/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=FIXED GEAR ARCHIVE |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2021-07-16 |title=Red Bull Ride + Style 2014 |url=https://fixedgeararchive.com/red-bull-ride-style-2014/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=FIXED GEAR ARCHIVE |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Morrison |first=Neil |date=2025-05-09 |title=Pavement Poets: The Red Bull Ride + Style Jams of the 2010s |url=https://tracklocross.bike/2025/05/09/pavement-poets-the-red-bull-ride-style-jams-of-the-2010s/ |access-date=2025-05-10 |website=Fiefdom Tracklocross |language=en}} Specialized offered a fixed gear freestyle specific bike called the P.Fix.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-22 |title=Complete Bikes |url=https://fixedgeararchive.com/complete-bikes/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=FIXED GEAR ARCHIVE |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=P.Fix |url=https://www.specialized.com/us/en/pfix/p/37169?color=79841-37169 |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=www.specialized.com |language=en}} In the 2001 X Games Trevor Myer used a direct drive bmx to compete in flatland freestyle.{{Cite web |title=* 2001 X-GAMES @ 23MAG BMX |url=http://www.23mag.com/events/xg/xg01.htm |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=www.23mag.com}}
Equipment
= Bikes =
Freestyle fixed gear bikes typically have 26" or 700c wheels and are strengthened and optimized for tricks.{{Cite web |date=2011-10-01 |title=Thrasher {{!}} Volume Bikes – 700/26 |url=http://volumebikes.com/70026/bikes/thrasher/ |access-date=2024-10-26 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20111001085501/http://volumebikes.com/70026/bikes/thrasher/ |archive-date=2011-10-01 }}
File:Deacon Wong MBC CourtTek.jpg
File:FixedGear INFO.jpg and Normal Bike|thumb]]
Tricks
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ !Trick Name !Description !Examples |
| Track Stand
|The act of balancing motionless on a bicycle is called a "track stand".{{Cite web |title=Fixed Gear Bicycles for the Road |url=https://sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=sheldonbrown.com}} |
| Wheelie
|Front wheel comes off the ground. Since the pedals are always moving on a fixie, the manual isn't possible in freestyle fixed gear like it is in BMX. |
| Fakie
|aka "Riding backwards". The rider uses fixed gear drive train to ride bike backwards. | |
| Skid
|The rider locks the rear wheel by using pressure on the pedals or straps. | |
| Pogo
|Hop up and down on the back wheel. |
| Pole Dance
|Doing a wheelie, take a hand off to grab an obstacle to go in a circle around. |
| Keo Spin
|From rolling backward, taking off one arm to get momentum into a back wheel spin. Named after Keo Curry. |
| Fish and Chips
|aka Fishy Whip. Fakie slider while holding the saddle. Invented by Dylan "Fish n' Chips" Hurst. |
| Big Spin
|aka Prolly Spin, Blog Spin. Back wheel spin from rolling forward. | |
| Foot Plant Spin
|aka Toe Keo, Tokyo, Death Spin. From rolling forward wheelie, fast foot plant to get into a back wheel spin. |
| Surf
|Riding forward with no hands while rider stands on various parts of the bike. |