In Montreal, you see a lot of shiny-fancy bikes and rust-buckets squeaking their way through the metropolitan city. Indeed, more people use their bikes in the summer than their car. To celebrate summer and enjoy a friendly ride in the city, Montreal’s fixie (fixed-gear bicycle) riders are invited to the first edition of the Wings Ride on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 at 6 p.m. at Square Victoria. Bike enthusiasts will gather at Square Victoria before riding through the city on their fixies, bicycles with no free wheel, which means they don’t coast, because the pedals are always in motion when the bicycles are moving.
In North America, fixed-gear bicycles have gained popularity with the rise of discernible regional aesthetic preferences for finish and design details. Fixies—bikes associated with the origins of the bicycle—are bikes that don’t coast because the sprocket is screwed directly onto the hub of the rear wheel. There is no freewheeling on a fixie. This means that when the wheel moves forward–or backward–the chain also moves, so that the pedals are always in motion when the bike is moving. If you suddenly stop pedaling, the bike stops with you.
Join us for Wings Ride, a friendly ride downtown Montreal, to celebrate summer with friends, bike enthusiasts, and fixie lovers.
WHAT: Wings Ride
WHO: Fixed-gear bicycle riders and bike enthusiasts
WHEN: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: Square Victoria (Viger Avenue West and McGill Street)
About the Starley Rover Society
Founded in Montreal, the Starley Rover Society is a collective of bike enthusiasts who love to ride and aim to get fellow riders together for rides around the city. The club was inspired by John Kemp Starley (1854 - 1901), an English inventor and industrialist widely considered the inventor of the modern bicycle. In 1885, Starley made history when he produced the Rover Safety Bicycle - a rear-wheel-drive, chain-driven cycle with two similar-sized wheels, making it more stable than the previous high wheeler designs. Historians usually describe Starley’s Rover as the first recognizably modern bicycle. This new "safety bicycle" was an immediate success and was exported across the world.
Wings Ride Montreal