One racer, Hannah Ruebbelke-Smith, 28, was arrested and charged with assault. She is facing up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine, if convicted.
Despite what happened during the incident, fixed-gear scenesters say alleycats will continue to thrive.
Jamie Peachey
Jamie Peachey
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After the Kill Mill race, riders gathered at old Domenic's, and prizes were handed out to the top finishers. Nate Holt, a 23-year-old pedi-cab driver (his ilk being the closest thing to bike messengers in the Phoenix area), took home $100 from the pot, a T-shirt, stickers, and a DVD of MASH SF (a 2007 documentary about fixed-gear culture in San Francisco).
Oh, and the Jim Beam? It wound up going to Chris Cunneely, 24, of Tucson, where fixies also are exploding in popularity.
Fixed-gear bikes have a badass image — which may be the main reason they're popular with racers.
Much different from mountain bikes or 21-speed road cycles, the contraptions take a unique skill to operate. Because there's no ratchet-like freewheel mechanism, coasting isn't possible. That is, the pedals are constantly in motion, owning to a direct connection of the chain to a cog bolted on the back wheel (hence the name fixed-gear).
The way the pedals push back on the feet when riding makes the bike feel alive. It'll also work a rider's legs, not only from the nonstop pedaling but because there's just one speed. Some models come with hand brakes, but most don't.
To slow down or stop, a rider must lift his or her backside off the seat while pushing back on the pedals, locking the rear wheel. If skilled enough at stopping the bike, a rider can even bust out with some tricks. There's a learning curve to it all, which is why novices sometimes use hand brakes.
Serious cyclists have long-favored fixed-gears for velodrome racing, and they're a mainstay in the bike-messenger culture. British cyclist Victoria Pendleton will be riding a track bike (virtually identical to a fixie) when she goes for an Olympic medal next month in Beijing. Hardcore bike nerds go even further back with their claim that fixies were born out of old-timey safety bikes of the 1880s and were the bikes used in the early years of the Tour de France.
One such gearhead is Ben Ko, a hairdresser at Scottsdale's Vidal Sassoon, who's been riding fixies since before he moved to the Valley from Washington, D.C. Ko sums up the bike's attractions like this:
"Simplicity, low maintenance. They're very sleek, fast-looking."
Ko, who also DJs weekends at the Mondrian Scottsdale, adds, "It's like a road bike but without all the brake cables, guides, bottle cages, gears, and chain rings."
Sammy Black, 26, an artist and walking tattoo canvas, offers this analogy of how fixies differ from other bikes:
"You see these guys on these huge mountain bikes with super-huge suspensions. It's like a barbarian sword. "Then you have these fixed-gears, like totally stripped down. It's like a samurai sword."
Over the past couple of years, local bike shops have reported an increase in fixie-related business. Ryan Cowling, owner of Kore Bike Industries in Scottsdale, estimates that 10 percent of his recent sales have concerned fixed-gears.
The bikes can be seen among other two-wheel rides parked outside joints like The Lost Leaf and LUX Coffee Bar in Phoenix, Green restaurant in Scottsdale, and Casey Moore's in Tempe.
The fixie scene in the PHX isn't just about tattooed-and-pierced types. It's also populated by white-collar workers, bike geeks, competitive pro-style criterium road racers, and college kids — who also gather at First Fridays in downtown Phoenix to hang out or hold impromptu rides around the Valley.
You can't buy fixed-gear bikes at chain stores like Costco, but certain bike shops offer models like the Bianchi Pista (suggested as a good starter fixie) for as little as $600. But most fixie fanatics are into building their own bikes. Gearheads on azfixed.com trade tips on where to get track cycle frames, how to convert old road bikes, and where to get parts.
Some fanatics often joke about spending more money doting on their rides than on rent or food.
Shawn Brick is the first to tell you that riding fixed-gears isn't for the faint of heart, that it takes a good deal of practice to be safe in traffic.
"You need to concentrate at all times [when operating fixies]," Brick says. "If you have a momentary lapse where you stop pedaling, [the bike] can buck you off [and] you could cause an accident."
Peter DiAntoni, editor of fixed-gear publication COG, says fixie culture has spread from cities that utilize legions of bike messengers, like New York.
Case in point: Dan Piatkowski is credited with bringing alleycat racing to the Valley.
Piatkowski, 29, was living in NYC in 2003 when he first learned about underground alleycat events there. Piatkowski, raised in the Valley, bought a fixie off Craigslist and got a job as a bike courier ("I kinda made up a story about how I used to be a messenger in Arizona, even though there aren't any here"). From his co-workers, he heard tales about how crazy the alleycats could get, though he never saw or participated in the races while living back east.
