Mike- I think you have things backwards. Use of a chain, instead of directly connecting the cranks to the driven wheel, allowed a different ratio (then 1:1) to exist. That it was a fixed gear first just meant that no one thought of a method to coast/freewheel, yet. This was independent of the racing venues which were much more spectator driven. In fact the first people who used a fixed gear were probably closer to today's fixie crowd in that they were the upstarts of their day.
It can be hard to look at the history of a topic in the mind set that was current back at the period that these developments were being invented. The modern fixie crowd probably has a difficultly in understanding how exciting and new getting a new broadcast TV station was, what with the hundreds of cable and Internet stations today that they have grown up with.
> Listmembers;
> Was the fixed gear originally designed for racing on the wooden velodromes
> and when was it designed. I am pretty sure it was not designed for college
> kids to be riding around the inner city with no brakes. But at my early
> aging mind I have been wrong many times, just ask my wife.
>
> Mike Larsen
> St. Paul, MN
> USA
>
>
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> _______________________________________________
Andrew R Stewart
Rochester, NY