Everyone is familiar with the regular set up on most bicycles, fixie or not. The chain runs around the sprocket set on the back wheel and pushes you forward. This is usually the case, even when you have a fixed bicycle. Its only you must pedal harder. For this reason a flip flop hubmay be such a revelation in the appropriate hands. Just what exactly is it and why is it so useful?
Well generally the singular sprocket drive set on a fixie rear rim is virtually all you have. Pedal harder or more quickly to move up a steep slope and to manage your descent. That is perfect for the majority of fixed gear owners. But sometimes you may actually want a rest or even some assistance going up the larger sized inclines. It will take time to master a fixie and to build up your stamina. So a flip flop hubis the answer.
How it works is that on the opposite side of the regular sprocket, you put either an additional sprocket or a freewheel unit. This way you can flip the rim around to change the gearing or to enable coasting as well. You may have several combinations either higher or lower to fit where you are going and the way you want to do it.
So a flip flop hubis really an added bit of flexibility to your fixed gear bike, without making compromises on principles. Sure you are able to effectively ‘change’ gear but all that you are doing switching from one fixed gear to a new fixed gear. You eliminate none of the purity of fixed gear bike riding or the connection to the street that is certainly so extraordinary. But it could open up all kinds of new opportunities and challenges that you never considered possible without it. Hail to the hub is what I say.