I didn’t mean that line in the way you used it, I am genuinely interested in the thoughts of the people who do like them; I want to be informed, and to learn more about them; I want to be shown a different opinion, and then hopefully I can see what it is makes them popular. I’m honestly curious.

I don’t think it’s fair to say I’m wrong, I just have a different opinion from you, and I’m grateful you messaged me about it. 

What do you think it is that makes you ride it more than the other things you have?

Okay, if you’re a fixed wheel fan, I’m going to apologise right off the bat because this is going to all be about how I just don’t “get” them. Seriously, I would love to know what you like about them, or how the fixed wheel system is practical in the slightest.

I just don’t think it is (or can be), and that’s probably why they’re a hipster bike (they definitely are, so stop thinking they’re not). Hipsters seem to love impracticality. Last week in Leeds it was a million degrees and I saw this dude wearing a woollen hat!

What a tool. He’s wearing shorts too.

Anyway, he’s the type of guy that seems to like Fixie bikes, because he clearly doesn’t give a shit about physics. Which is where I’m going to start on my little rant about Fixie bikes: they’re LETHAL when riding down a big hill.

It’s like the guy who invented the bike was like “No! NO! I am not happy unless I arrive at my destination with bloody hacked at ankles. When the blood is dripping on the hot asphalt, then, and only then will I be able to face my day!”

Once those pedals start-a-turning they have a mind of their own. It’s terrifying when you think about. If you don’t wear the shoes with the weird clips, or you don’t have straps, you have to remove your feet from the pedals, which is cool when your twelve, but not when your 37 (I’m not 37, but I have seen people who are riding like that, and they look stupid, really stupid).

A friend of mine once told me that they have to be stopped differently to normal people bikes with free wheels, and actual breaking systems. As in, if you’re going quite fast you have to skid.

Okay, I get how that might feel cool in front of girls, I do, but do you also remember when wrestling with your friend in front of some girls, or playing football with your top of in front of girls, was cool? Yeah, exactly, when you were in school. Now it would just be embarrassing.

Regardless of how cool it may, or be not be, it also means you could die! Picture the scene, you’re at the top of a big hill, and the coffee shop (probably a Starbucks) that you want to go to is at the bottom. You could walk down the hill, but that really hot guy/girl with all the tattoos you like is outside and you want to talk to them as quickly as possible, so you decide to ride down. You push off, get going, and take your feet off the pedals, which is fine, you’re used to it by now. Now you’re gaining speed, but that’s cool, the skid in front of your crush will look AWESOME. You’re getting nearer to the bottom of the hill. There’s no traffic, which is weird, but who cares, it’s just a coincidence. Then you’re crush notices you and they wave. You way back, making eye contact and waving back. Right now, you look SUPER COOL. Today is starting to feel awesome. Then you spot a pothole. You’ve gained too much speed to skid to a stop, so you try pedalling backwords. BOOM! YOU HIT IT!

Before you know it, you’re lying on the ground with you’re face melted to the floor. Not so cool any more are ya buddy?

Then there’s the issue of going uphill. Even if you have a gear or two, this is going to be work. Even Fixie fans on the internet talk about how they find it easier to walk up hill. This is more of a personal thing for me, because I get sweaty very easily, and I’m also quite lazy. I don’t really want to cycle to my friend’s house and be a sweaty wreck when I get there. If you do wear the clippy shoe things, then you have to be very smooth not to topple over every time you stop, I suppose this is less of an inconvenience then the amount of cycling accidents caused by going downhill (even if you can make a claim, and win a boat load of money). Still if you live somewhere hilly, it makes more sense to me, to just walk the whole journey. 

What I will admit though, is that Fixed Wheel bikes are beautiful. They really are. Design wise they are incredible. I mean, look at the picture below and tell me that isn’t AMAZING looking. That part of the attraction I can completely get on board with.

I did apologise when I started this article that I just don’t “get” Fixed Wheel bikes, and I don’t, but I will put my hands up and say that all of my opinions are based on no facts whatsoever, and I have not all read up on Fixed Wheel bikes. In fact, my knowledge is pretty minimal on the whole thing. I’ve basically assumed everything I’ve written here.

Because I’ve done that, if you decide to message me about the stuff I’ve written with something along the lines of “HEY! DOUCHE YOU’RE WRONG!”, then please be more informative and tell me why I should like them, I would love to hear someone’s opinion if they love Fixed Wheel bikes. Help me change my mind.

I’m not making this up; scientists have actually claimed that dinosaur farts warmed the planet. The group of dinosaur in question: Sauropods (or Sauropoda). Sauropods are the group of dinosaurs that include Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus, which were the giant herbivores that first appeared in the Triassic era, but were most widespread during the late Jurassic era. The Sauropods are very iconic due to them having very long necks, allowing them to feed on plants over a wide area. Considering Sauropods are herbivores it makes sense that they pumped out a high amount of greenhouse gases (they were essentially giant cows).

Herbivores typically have a large amount of gut bacteria to help them digest their food. Cows for example have huge amounts of bacteria in their foreguts which produce methane. Cows will normally burp this methane out, contributing to global warming. Sauropods are believed to contain the same powerful bacteria, but instead of them being in their foregut, they were most likely found in the hindgut, meaning they farted a lot, instead of burping.

David Wilkinson and his team at Liverpool John Moores Univerity estimate that the Sauropods (at their peak) would have produced a staggering 520 million tonnes of methane a year, which is roughly what the current total in the atmosphere right now.

Wilkinson says that this estimate could be slightly incorrect, but if true, Sauropods could have been responsible for a 1°C rise in global temperature. David Beerling of Sheffield University agrees, as research has shown that the Jurassic era was much warmer than the planet is today. In fact, during these periods there were no polar ice caps, and Beerling believes that this is largely due to the methane produced in Sauropod farts.

Sauropods won’t have been the only producers of methane either, which means the total levels of methane in the atmosphere would have been ridiculously high. It just goes to show that all living things can, and do have a huge impact on the environment we live in, and how important it is for us to make the changes we can(for example solar energy), to make up for the things we can’t change (cow farts).