SYDNEY cyclists sometimes resort to zen-speak when describing how fixed-wheel bicycles provide a closer communion between man, machine and road.
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The stripped-down bikes have no freewheel and just one gear, they say, so the pedals turn whenever the bike is in motion, meaning the rider can't coast.
But some in the cycling community have warned that tribes of posing ''fixie'' riders risk an even closer communion with busy city streets by eschewing conventional brakes. Instead they slow or skid to a stop by using their legs to push back against the pedals.
Harold Scruby, chairman of the Pedestrian Council of Australia, has declared them a ''menace to other road users. If they're not using brakes it's illegal and they should be fined, but cyclists seem to get away with just about anything these days.''
Like most youth movements, the fixie craze arrived in Australia from the US, where it was popularised by messengers who favoured simple, light bikes that required minimal maintenance.
In NSW, where the fixed-wheel bicycle became a fashion accessory among inner-Sydney residents three years ago, the law states that a bicycle must have ''at least one working brake''. The penalty for an infringement is $57.
Figures from the Office of State Revenue show more than 13,000 cyclists were fined in 2005-06, compared with 8866 last financial year. In the same period, the number fined for riding without a working brake increased from 136 to 160.
Julien Tual, a French shop-assistant at the Potential of Hydrogen bike shop in Sydney, said that because the law did not define ''brake'' as a conventional caliper device, fixed-wheel cyclists were not doing anything wrong. ''There's no strict definition and many cyclists would argue - and have argued successfully in other countries where this issue has come up - that your legs and the chain operate as a brake on a fixie.''
Mr Tual estimated that 5 per cent of customers at his shop bought bicycles without caliper brakes attached. ''To be honest, I used to ride brakeless much more in Europe because it's safer there. I don't do it so much in Sydney because it's one of the worst places in the world for cyclists. Ninety per cent of motorists here are assholes. Piss them off and they try to kill you.''
Cyclists who rode fixed-wheel bicycles without brakes were usually the safest people on the roads, he added, because they had to be more conscious of their surroundings.
In June last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced a crackdown on businesses supplying fixed-wheel bicycles in breach of the Australian Standard, which requires that bikes have at least two brakes fitted - ''one on the front wheel and the other on the back''. Exceptions are made for track bikes intended for use in velodromes, custom-built and second-hand bikes.
Since then, however, the ACCC has prosecuted only one wholesaler, Dirt Works Australia, for distributing 115 ''Surly Steamroller'' bicycles without back brakes.
Bicycle NSW, the peak advocacy body for cycling in NSW, counsels riders to attach at least one brake to their bikes but opposes the use of legislation to mandate it.
The chief executive officer, Omar Khalifa, said some riders ''overestimated their skill level and could find themselves in trouble if they relied on their legs alone to slow or skid to a stop in front of someone suddenly opening a car door.