Below is an article that appeared in The Age on Sunday the 15th of August
It has stirred up alot of comments in many circles,
and there’s a few things I would like to say…
Million-dollar fines to put the brakes on bikes
Natalie Craig
August 15, 2010 – 3:00AM
AFTER thick-rimmed glasses, a ”fixie” bike is the hipster’s ultimate accessory. With sleek lines, retro colours, no gears and often no brakes, they are the vehicle of choice for inner Melbourne’s funky ”Fitzroyal” set.
But now the feds are trying to cramp their style. Australia’s consumer watchdog is threatening bike shops with fines of more than $1 million for selling brakeless fixed-wheel bikes.
Bikes must be sold with front and rear brakes, but the pedals on a fixed-wheel bike move when the wheels do, so skilled riders tend to ditch formal brakes and stop by resisting against the pedals, or turning into a skid.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has already taken action against a wholesaler for distributing the ”Surly Steamroller” without back brakes and is urging people to dob in others who do the same.
It warned ”pedestrians and other bike riders are … at risk of serious injury or death if someone riding a fixed-gear bike loses control and collides with them”.
Melbourne bikers are more bemused than worried. ”It’s like cracking down on people who pick their nose when driving,” said Andy White, of cycling blog fyxomatosis.com.
Nick Mahoney, of Saint Cloud on Brunswick Street, ”a concept store fusing together fashion and fixed-gear bicycle culture”, said most fixie riders were safer than normal cyclists. ”You know exactly how quickly you can stop and you become much more aware of your surrounds and your limitations,” he said.
Sasha Strickland, of Pony Bike in West Melbourne, described fixies as the purest communion between man, bike and road.
”You’re more connected with the bike, and with the road; because of the constant drive of it, you can’t stop pedalling.”
She said while she rode a fixie with front and rear brakes, she had built bikes for customers without brakes.
”I don’t want to come across as some young punk who’s going, ‘yeah ride fixies’ … Safety is an issue. I was hit by a truck six years ago and fractured my skull and lost my sense of smell.
”I strongly encourage all of my customers to have brakes. But ultimately, I’ve got to do what they want.”
ACCC’s Peter Kell said it was retailers and wholesalers who were the target of the crackdown. Custom bikes are exempt from the safety standards, as are track bikes, the thoroughbred racing cycles that started the fixie craze.
Bicycle Victoria’s Garry Brennan said several members had reported sales by bike shops of brakeless fixie bikes. He said would be difficult to stop people modifying their bikes. ”Just as hoons modify cars, similar personalities modify their bikes with unsafe changes and neither are desirable.”
Cyclists who broke the law by riding without safety equipment, including at least one brake, faced a fine of $149 and could be sued if they were in an accident.
Ms Strickland said the fixie craze was at least healthier than other youth trends. ”You take (fixies) away from them, they start doing graffiti, they start taking drugs … At least they’re doing something physical and healthy.”
Whilst what I did say to Natalie Craig was repeated in this document,
a few things were left out,
fortunately,
I have this outlet…
What I did say was that bike riding is a healthy activity, shouldn’t we be doing all that we can to get more people on bikes?
all the “cool” kids want to ride fixies,
so let them, and let them ride brakeless, and let them get fines if they get busted by the cops,
and let them get hit by a car if they can’t control the bike (lord knows I wouldn’t wish this on anyone!!)
instead of discouraging them and then they start hanging around train stations and doing graf and taking drugs and beating people up.
(note: I have absolutely NO problem with GOOD graf, I did a large amount of it when I was studying at art school in NSW)
Hell, after one or two fines at 150 bucks a pop you’d have to be an idiot not to put a brake on your bike and just simply not use it!
I’m more for putting it back to the consumer/individual to deal with.
I said that most people who ride fixed gear bikes are superior riders and do not need a brake on their bikes,
however the fixie ‘craze’ is more than mainstream now and you’re getting kids who can’t ride jumping on a fixie brakeless and this I think is not safe…
(note: I only have a front brake on my fixie. A fixie was not involved in my accident, the bicycle had front and rear brakes and I still got hit)
I do think this is a little excessive on behalf of the ACCC, when there are other issues they can be tackling, like K Mart selling bicycles to people in a box that is clearly labelled “must be assembled by a qualified mechanic” and know that they are just going to take it home and slap it together because Mum and Dad are too tight to pay that little bit more to get a bike from a bike shop that has been assembled by a qualified mechanic. To quote a friend who owns a bike shop “I’d like to see them focus more seriously on the… issue of the faulty stainless spokes. Bike retailers replace thousands of wheels every year on new bikes because the spokes are rusting out. Faulty spokes are causing wheels to collapse and theres huge risk of someone being seriously injured. Importers need to pull up their socks on this one too.”
(and just while we’re at it, can the ACCC do anything about pet shops selling puppies? Cause that really shits me!!)
and Bicycle Victoria chiming in by saying that fixie riders are like hoons that modify their cars because that’s the epitome of what all bike riders are ultimately against…
dudes in cars being dickheads…
Bicycle Victoria should make an effort to appeal to the entire cycling community,
not just the select few,
be inclusive and watch your membership numbers grow.
well we’re all talking about it…
and I dream of a day like this in Australia
look…
everyone’s getting along!
and oh my god
they’re not wearing helmets!
on a final note,
I do need someone to explain the correlation Andy White is trying to draw by saying
“it’s like cracking down on people for picking their nose whilst driving”
cause I just don’t get it Andy
a friend said that maybe if they were picking their nose with both hands,
He built it himself and is heaps proud!
Nitto risers
