Fixies

The FIXIE:  what a lovely thing.

Brunswick is awash with FIXED GEAR BICYCLES, or FIXIES.

I love them, and I want one.

I love their compactness, their clean lines and their multitude of colours (my favourite being eau de nil or perhaps the shiny black).  

There are several bikes at my house.  My partner and I have a pair of mountain bikes (ridiculous, heavy things not at all suited to riding in the inner city...what were we thinking!?), and a multitude of trikes and bikes for children (mostly found in hard rubbish, and waiting for the day that the children will be big enough and coordinated enough to ride them).  But, my best bike is actually my CARGOBIKE!  A three wheeled people mover which totes the kids, and their friends (up to four of them!), around Brunswick.  A friend of mine even borrowed it for her wedding recently.  Her husband pedalled her from the wedding to the reception in Cargobike style.  We decorated the bike for the big event.

Don't get me wrong, I love my cargo bike.

 It is very popular and trendy to own such a thing among the 'kinder-mum' set.  

 But it is not a fixie.

 Although I lust after a beautiful little fixie to get around the 'hood on, I am sadly brought back to earth by these revelations:

1.  Owning a fixie does not magically mean my children will disappear and that I will get to ride with free abandon to local cafes and parks without them.

2.  Owning a fixie will not give me more time to do the aforementioned cafe hopping.

 3.  Owning a fixie will not turn me into a very tall, very skinny, very Gen Y, HIPSTER.

Owning a fixie will have to wait until my children can ride their own bikes to kinder and school, until I have a free moment to get down to the cafes and read the paper over a leisurely breakfast and cup of tea.  I may not be free to ride a fixie for the next ten years or so, and even then I may be way too old...but, I am still free to dream.