Touring Taiwan on a Fixed Gear

Bike path on a bridge over a river in Taiwan leading to a mountain range.

Back in May, my good friend Yak flew to Taiwan for an 18-day bike tour adventure with his sibling. The wildest part is that he chose to do this on a fixie—more specifically, for all you bike nerds, an EAI Bareknuckle sourced from a Hodala rider, complete with S&S couplers installed by Greg at Donkelope Bikes.

To use Yak’s own words, “It’s an oddball mix of parts-bin bike parts with some very nice stuff thrown in: King headset, eeCycleWorks brakes, and (pre-Cane Creek!) stem are free finds from Esperanza. The cranks I found for a pretty good deal, and the Velo Orange bar/rack/bottle cages are an addition for this trip to give myself some storage space on this non-traditional touring machine.”

Fixed gear bike with touring gear hangs vertically in the bicycle storage area on a train in Taiwan

If you’re wondering what compels someone to ride 17k feet through Taiwan’s rainy season with a 44×20 gear ratio, the answer is I don’t know but it looks sick as hell. And thankfully, Yak carried a camera around and took photos guaranteed to give you FOMO.

So, next time you’re planning a tour, I urge you to be like Yak and choose the most unconventional tool for the job. At the very least, it’ll make for a great story.

Total Distance: 405 mi (652 km)

Total Elevation: 17,106 ft (5,214 m)

Longest Day (Distance): 63 miles (101 km), Shoufeng to Yuli

Biggest Climbing Day: 4,826 ft (1,471 m), Taipei-Yangmingshan National Park Loop

View of a paved road running through a field in Taiwan. There are mountains in the background.
Person riding bike towards the camera on a road in Taiwan next to a tree.
View of a paved road running through a field in Taiwan with people riding four-wheeled bikes on it. There are mountains in the background.
Fixed gear bike sits on an empty underground train platform in Taiwan.
Person riding a bike through the rain in Taiwan.
Person riding touring bike ton a narrow bike path through the countryside in Taiwan. It is raining.
Landscape view of rural Taiwan. A village is in the foreground. Behind the village is a river, and behind that there are mountains.
Person wearing shorts walking down a paved path through a field in Taiwan.
Person holding a beer and holding up a phone in a crowded urban market area in Taiwan.
Person rides touring bike across a bridge in Taiwan
Yak and his sibling pose at in their bike gear at the border of the Phillipine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate

Comments

One response to “Touring Taiwan on a Fixed Gear”

  1. Alex Avatar
    Alex

    Loved reading this, I’m half Taiwanese and I hope I can also ride around Taiwan on a fixed gear, very inspiring. I’m actually planning a ride next April to do 250km in 24hr on my fixed gear, brakeless.

    Reply

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