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One day, I was at work and watching videos about bicycles.
And I thought that this type of bicycle is cool but I did not know what it was.
Then I figured out it is called fixed gear.
I searched it on Facebook and saw Fixed Gear Saigon page.
So I visited the shop to check it out.
I found out Fixed Gear bicycle at the time when I need a sport to be healthy.
I chose fixed gear bicycle because it has everything I was looking for.
First was to improve my health.
Secondly, I thought it could be a challenge for people who ride it.
Thirdly, it looked fashionable.
and it is suitable for teenagers and also people at their middle age like me.
Finally, the most important reason is that I wanted to protect the environment.
I’ve been researching about many types of bicycle before
But the look of a fixie is very attracted to me
Basically its simplicity was the reason why I chose fixed gear bicycle.
I’ve been into fixed gear for like 3 months.
But I’ve been biking since age 15
I’ve loving fixed gear because of the thrill in the excitement
and the traffic and all those stuffs in Saigon.
Compare to other bicycles, I think fixed gear is a low maintenance bike
You don’t have to think about anything else
You just have to inflate the tires, you just have to make sure the gears are clean, brakes are working
Everything is great!
I mean it’s cheap, it’s low maintenance and you don’t have to think about anything.
It’s a great kind of bike.
Of course the quality of infrastructure in Vietnam is not the best
but you still can find the best route to ride
so it is okay and we could still ride it.
Riding a fixed gear bicycle doesn’t really affect much upon my life
because I’ve been cycling for the past year already
so anything relating to bicycle in general I am already used to.
It affects my life by letting me spending more time on riding it and at the same time exercising.
After 3 months of riding, it has been affected my life quite a lot
In another word, my life now is all about bicycle
No more motorbike
Whenever I hang out with friend or go somewhere I only use my bike.
It affects. I mean when you bike
You feel free, then it relaxes you
It takes out the stress of the day
So it’s a nice kind of thing to do Especially here in Saigon
The only challenge I have is after purchasing the bike when I found out that
There is no BRAKE
That’s why I have to practice for a while before being able to take control of it.
The biggest challenge was my family's opposition
They did not want me to ride it because they thought it could be dangerous since there is no brake on fixed gear bicycle
However, after riding it, I found out that although it does not have brake
But there is a way to hold and stop the bike
So it’s not that dangerous like other people think.
Basically there are a lot of challenges for fixed bicycle especially here in Saigon
Aside from a bike, not having a hand brake, the traffic, the aggressive motorbikes, a lot of traffic lights
and basically just the culture of having motorbikes and cars and buses all that the same road
I think that’s the overall challenge of it.
There is no challenge, I like it so I choose it.
There is no challenge or struggle of any kind I am really into it.
In similarity with the developing countries, the people choose fixed gear bikes
or other kinds of bike, as one of their main transportations
And I hope the amount of people in Vietnam who use fixed gear and other bikes will strongly increase in the next 5 years.
The image of fixed gear here in Saigon is actually very bright.
I think the fixed gear bicycle is quite hard to handle therefore not so many people are going to be riding
but whichever time you are in, there will always be a small community
that is very passionate about fixed gear bicycle.
The way I see it is that in the near future, fixed gear bicycle will be popular in Vietnam.
Since my first time knowing fixed gear
I have met many young people who are really into fixie
Although the risk it there, but lots of young kids are getting into it, and that’s what important
I hope that in the near future there are still people love riding their fixed gear bicycles
Also more people will join this community.
And for those who cannot handle a fixed gear bicycle then
They could switch to another types
But overall I hope that more people will ride bicycle.
People of the new generation will bring it to the next generation. So, I think the future is bright for fixed gear.