Knife in the Back...

 Well, it's finally happened.  The fixed gear bicycle has eclipsed any sort of insider status or whatever you call the coolness-radar of the world.  What was once the road-racer's wintertime training tool, to work on smoothing out their pedal stroke, somehow became the fashion accesory of the last few years.  I understand what's cool about a stripped down bike that is painted bright colors, but it continues to amaze me how much younger people ("hipsters" I believe they're called) really get it.

Not sure the chainguard reinforces that stripped down motif, but that's just THE MAN keeping the Schwinn single down.  The second sadness here (and I love Target, so don't think I'm taking aim at them) is that Schwinn- once a noble bicycle brand, maybe the most noble- is now a Target brand, right there next to Huffy and Magna.  Remember the "official Schwinn dealer"?  That was a real thing.  I worked at a Schwinn shop for a few years as a teen, and my first road bike was a Schwinn Traveller.  My first "good" bike, at about age 14, was a Schwinn, too- A Free-Form EX.

Those were serious bikes.  Not the hippest thing going- never the coolest brand.  But they had better tubing for the same price, and often came with better parts.  I was certainly not sneered at.

I don't have much to say in this bike's defense- and of course it isn't an actual fixed gear- imagine the lawsuits!  It has two sets of brakes and a freewheel.  But check out this last photo.  There is in fact actual threading and a lockring for a fixed cog.  Kind of impressive. 

It's not much, but for the knife stabbed into the back of a once noble old gentleman of bicycle companies, it is at least a little smiley face etched into the handle.  Or should I say, at least they sharpened the knife?

ps.  TECHNICAL DETAILS- STOP READING NOW.
A fixed gear bike is "fixed" because unlike a derailer bike (the gear changer), with variable gears, this has only one gear.  And the rear hub, instead of being connected by a ratchet mechanism (just like a socket wrench), to the cranks and pedals, is directly connected to the back wheel.  If the pedals turn, the wheel turns, and vice-versa.  If you're moving, the pedals are moving.  You slow down by slowing down your legs.  Thus it is considered poor form to use brakes on one of these bikes... since the whole goal is the stripped-down nature of the bike.  Kind of the espresso of bicycles.

pps.  It was, of course, assembled so poorly as to be unrideable.  Wish I'd had an allen wrench.

PPPS.

I was at Target the other day and found these- the old Schwinn logo that signified their dealer network- now torn to shreds by Target selling Schwinns-- and they even cash in on the retro logo by selling shirts of it.  Again, I love Target, but this is like kicking someone when they're unconscious...