# Fixies Suck... injury thread



## bbrz4 (Jun 12, 2007)

I know what youre thinking, i rode a fixie and fell of due to not being used to it or something... but this is a different story, a stupid, idiotic and painful story at that...

It all started when i rode down to the LBS. (one of the 4 with in 5km from my house... i know, cool eh)

Well, they just got in all there 08 bikes, and im looking at possibly buying a 20" in the not so distant future.

Well, i have always been curious about fixies, and it turns out they just got the new Avanti Pista pro range in...

So as curious as i am, i wandered over and had a bit of a look, spinning the cranks backwards and forwards and whatnot....

Then, i wondered if this bike had, a front brake as many other fixies dont.... me still playing around w/ the cranks decided to take a look up at the handlebars....

I saw that the bike didnt have any front brake, and wondered why while still standing there looking at the bars.... WHILE the cranks/wheel were still slowly spinning and my right index finger was God know where....

Well

I hear a clunk...

i look around as i feel immense pain running from my finger and up my arm...

When i looked around the crank was stopping quickly and MY FINGER WAS BETWEEN THE CHAIN AND THe COG... ON A FIXIE.

Needless to say i nearly fainted from the pain as a cog tooth drove straight through the end of my finger...

The crank stopped as i grabbed it, as my finger was halfway through the rotation and i pulled it back, it felt like it took forever,
I finally got my finger out and looked at it after about a millisecond i yelled, HOLY SH!T.

The helpful shop owner and employees got me a clean rag and i elevated my finger for about 10 minutes of nothing but pain until my stepdad arrived to take me to the hospital....

Turns out i hit a nerve or something, and am off the bike for 4 weeks.... AND SCHOOL HOLIDAYS JUST STARTED

Well, 5 hours and 6 stitches later i am still in pain but painkillers are helping...










Sorry if this bored you, just need something to do so the pain doesnt get to me:yawn:


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## mrbray101 (Sep 6, 2006)

wow that sucks man. heal up fast.


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## PaintPeelinPbody (Feb 3, 2004)

Ya man those things are weapons.

One of those deals where once you get your chain tension setup on a fixie you don't touch the driveline unless you absolutely have to...

I rode one for a bit and it was called "set it and forget it" but defenantly don't play near it!


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## 501 (Jan 27, 2007)

fixie rule #1 keep extremities away from drive train


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## snaky69 (Mar 8, 2005)

Ouchie.


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## CripTiK (Oct 21, 2007)

Not to sound stupid but will be near impossible when I ask this question, what is a fixie?


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## snaky69 (Mar 8, 2005)

CripTiK said:


> Not to sound stupid but will be near impossible when I ask this question, what is a fixie?


A bike where the rear cog is fixed to the hub, meaning it has no cassette mechanism. If the wheel spins in either direction, the cranks spin as well, in either direction.


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## fastale (Jul 2, 2007)

ouch, that probably took about four hours to type out one handed.


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## sittingduck (Apr 26, 2005)

CripTiK said:


> Not to sound stupid but will be near impossible when I ask this question, what is a fixie?


Fixie is short for "fixed gear".


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## creyc (May 24, 2005)

still thinking about a fixie?


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## J-dogg (Aug 7, 2006)

501 said:


> fixie rule #1 keep extremities away from drive train


i dont ride naked for that reason 

Fixies are soooooooooooo muchf un once you get the hang of it but they are like women, tepid and short tempered and they bite if you dont know them....

go shred one again, and i guarantee you will like it


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## Evil4bc (Apr 13, 2004)

OMG ... I knew were this was going when I read " I was just spinning the chain "
After working in bike shops for 10+ years you can't even guess how many times i've seen this happenn.
The worst was when one of the managers I worked for told a sales guy to align the stoker cranks and chain on a tandem for a custom , 10min later i herd " AHHHHH Brad come help" YUP ended up taking him to the emergncy room"

Sorry that had to happen man , keep the wound clean !
Fixies aint all bad , and you dont need a brake!


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## TrailNut (Apr 6, 2004)

mrbray101 said:


> wow that sucks man. heal up fast.


OUCH, that sucks. hope you heal fast.

On my first panic stop on my fixie, '07 Bianchi Pista, I ran into a side of a US Postal Service truck making a right turn while I was distracted at the shapely female rider pedaling just in front (and right of me). I glanced off her left side, at good clip, while reaching down for the front brake, she blurted, "Jesus!" I yelled "Sorry!" then I was stopped in front of her by that moving truck. If i didn't install an after market front brake, I may have been injured. Sure, a fixie does not need a brake, but I want mine.

I still enjoy casual rides and commutes on my road fixie, but I'm no longer interested in riding a MTB fixie


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## TrailNut (Apr 6, 2004)

J-dogg said:


> i dont ride naked for that reason


ha hah that's so funny, but hurts to think about it


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## lubes17319 (Dec 19, 2005)

Bummer. Hurry up & heal.......









..so you can send me the painkillers.:smilewinkgrin:


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## Uncle Cliffy (Jul 7, 2006)

When I saw this thread in the Urban/Dj/Park forums, I started laughing because I pictured someone trying to hit the dirt jumps on a fixie.


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## creyc (May 24, 2005)

Uncle Cliffy said:


> When I saw this thread in the Urban/Dj/Park forums, I started laughing because I pictured someone trying to hit the dirt jumps on a fixie.


haha...that sounds nearly impossible, think about it...


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## Mikey_C (Mar 8, 2005)

fixie talk in the dj forums.. reminds me of 2 things..how much i miss riding my fixie(the wife has limited me to 4 bikes in the apt and found myself not riding as much once i moved from the city). Also reminds me of a similar incident involving fingers and chainrings. Using all my body weight on a torque wrench the crank bold i was trying to loosen when it stripped right out(damn al) sending my hand right into a 10 speed fsa ring(read as real sharp). The teeth where totally embedded on the inside of my hand and I had to actually yank my hand loose( i know i should have shifted the chain to the big ring first). Blood all over the carbon cranks and grease still lodged under my skin. needless to say it sucked real bad. ok enough about me


man that sucks. the whole momentum of the rear wheel as you turn the crank does take a bit to grasp and looks like u learned the hard way fell better


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## bbrz4 (Jun 12, 2007)

yeah, when it happened and i turned the chainring back, the tooth was still jammed in my finger and i had to pull it out, it actually didnt hurt until i got it out of there....

In the end all there was is a stupid regretful me, a fixie with a drivetrain covered in blood, and a shop manager with one extremely white face.


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## BostonStreetRider (Sep 21, 2007)

that sounds horrific, sorry about that man. The hand pic reminds me of when I punched through a pane of glass when I was like five years old. Get better and get back on the bike!


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## aeffertz91 (Aug 20, 2007)

dangg. heal up fast!


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## DJskeet (Oct 19, 2007)

I feal ya man, stiches suck major, especialy in the tender figger.


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## bbrz4 (Jun 12, 2007)

i was thinking about giving the guys at the bike shop a little something, they were totally cool and helped me loads, what do you guys reckon?


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## bbrz4 (Jun 12, 2007)

oh yeah, and fixies need a brake dont they... what if youre chain snaps???

Your Screwed


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## snaky69 (Mar 8, 2005)

bbrz4 said:


> i was thinking about giving the guys at the bike shop a little something, they were totally cool and helped me loads, what do you guys reckon?


6-pack of good beer always works.


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## Mikey_C (Mar 8, 2005)

bbrz4 said:


> oh yeah, and fixies need a brake dont they... what if youre chain snaps???
> 
> Your Screwed


thats when you apply your fred flintstone brakes and hope for the best


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## A Grove (Nov 12, 2006)

Thats why you run a real chain that you can trust... my moto is to never whimp on a chain. A snapped chain on any bike usually means eaten face.


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## -.---.- (Jun 15, 2007)

Well then take your feet off your pedals and hope for the best =)

Hope you heal up dude!


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## mack-a-nator (Apr 26, 2006)

ive slipped trying to take a pedal off and had a tooth from the chainring on my hutch enter my finger against my will, its a pretty scar


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## BWVDubya (Nov 19, 2007)

My brother did something similar except he lost from his fingernail back to the first joint. He was ridin around in front of our house and his chain fell off, well he decided to be brilliant and put the chain back on while he was coastin down a small hill in front of our house, well one of the teeth decided to grab his finger and before he knew it, his finger was caught between the chainring and the chain. He didnt yell or nothin, he stopped, got off his bike, looked at me and said "Dude I just lost part of my finger." We both started to look for the missing piece but couldnt find it, we think a Crow or somethin ran off with it, we looked forever too. Now he has a stubby pointer on his right hand and hasnt done that since.


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## bbrz4 (Jun 12, 2007)

this is what it looks like, not to gruesome.....


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its super weird because from the first joint of my finger to the end when i touch or pinch it i cant feel a thing :>

when i measured the base of the cog tooth its almost exactly the same width :madman:


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## UrbanPounder (Feb 19, 2007)

That looks like some awlfull thick stitch thread. I hit my thumb while chopping kindling 2 weeks ago and pulled the stitches myself last sunday. The thread was so thin I had to use a powerful gem magnifying glass and a needle sharpened to a knife edge to cut them. Yours looks like rope compared to what they used on me. Eventually you will get used to no feeling in the end of your finger, nerve damage takes years. Quick heal wishes to you.

Oh ya, I'd take another whack with an axe then to get my finger caught up like you did, you know, if I had a choice of where and when stupid happens.


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## vreihemnotor6 (Apr 2, 2007)

that really sux, I've sucked a finger into a chain building those adult trikes a few times, it it proably one of the most painfull things I've ever done


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