Well, I guess I deserve the thumping I got from the “put on a light” crowd. You’ll find this hard to believe, but it hadn’t even occurred to me. I cycle for recreation, so taking the bike out after dark was never really part of the equation. You’ve at least got me thinking about it now. You’ll have to keep watching this space to see if my thinking evolves.

At Texas State University, where I work, the police have announced they’re cracking down on fixies. They didn’t word it that way, of course. What they said is that they’ll ticket any bicycle without a brake that will make the bike skid on dry pavement. Fixie riders on campus and in the area who use their leg power to stop are up in arms over this one.
My bike club found itself scrambling this week, when the restaurant where our monthly meetings are held suddenly shut down. The meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, and when the reservation for the meeting room was made, there was no indication that anything was amiss. The club was able to get the meeting room at a nearby golf course’s clubhouse, and the meeting was delayed for only one day. Can’t report what happened there, though, because Mrs. Noob and I were at a k.d. lang concert downtown instead. That fabulous voice is still as clear as a bell.
I really enjoy riding at night, last night I saw a shooting star. I’ve picked up a couple bar lights, a helmet light and a couple blinkies. Along with a florescent yellow jersey and wind breaker.
I think the police are a little ignorant when it comes to bikes. You can skid the rear wheel on a fixed gear pretty easily…you can do that on any bike pretty easily. I wonder if they’ll ticket people with coaster brakes too 🙂 As I read it fixed gears are perfectly legal…your legs are the brake and you can skid the rear wheel on dry pavement…sounds like it satisfies the law to me!
People riding with no brakes on the street are not very clever.
They need to just specify a dedicated braking mechanism, because while a fixie can be coaxed to skid, it can’t stop nearly as well as any real brake.