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Just in: Giant Chixie - the world's first women specific fixed bike?

Eye-catching machine for the stylish woman about town

Now here's an interesting bike*, the Giant Chixie - we're guessing the first women's specific fixed gear bike… although you can ride it as a singlespeed too. Ever since we saw it at Eurobike, Leonie has been asking when we are going to get one in and now… her wish has come true.

Whether you should be careful about what you wish for we'll find out in due course - Leonie has already whisked it away. In the meantime let's give it a quick once over. As you'd expect from Giant, it's good value - £500 and it's not heavy either; ours weighing in at 8.92Kg (19.6lb) and those looks certainly turn heads too - you wouldn't think that brushed aluminium with blue finishing kit and detailing could be combined to such eye-catching effect.

The frame is the female specific equivalent of the Giant Bowery 72, their dropped bar fixed, although in style it owes more to the Bowery FMX - Giant's brakeless fixie/BMX machine. Oddly Giant don't include information on geometry on the Chixie web page although they do for the Bowery (an ommission they are going to, er fix) but as we suspected the big difference between it and the Bowery is that the top tube is shorter. Only the largest sized Chixie - it comes in XS - 42cm, S - 45cm, and M-50cm sizes - matches up to the Bowery, anyway.

What we can say is that the componentry has been specced with women in mind - so the stem is shorter, and the cafe-style riser bars are narrower than they would be on an equivalent men's bike. Cranks lengths though are the same, which when you think about it makes sense - most women having longer legs and shorter torsos than the same height man.

Drivetrain is a 46T Sugino Messenger crankset matched up to an 18T flip flop hub giving you the choice of riding fixed or free – Leonie will be riding it both ways - and we'll be expecting a full report on its skidability. The more adventurous might also be tempted to whip those brake off and trying some fixie freestyling - certainly the bars on ours look spinable and the beefy welds at the head and down tube and around the fork legs drop a broad hint that this is a machine with a substantial amount of inner strength.

Most of the rest of the finishing kit is either own brand or unbranded - although we'd be very surprised if those brakes weren't by Tektro. The wheelset is a combination of semi deep rims matched up to Vittoria Rubino tyres – the sort of rubber you might fit on your road bike as a winter training tyre. We've been seeing Rubinos lately as original equipment on much more expensive bikes - on a £500 machine they're not bad and it's good to see Giant not trying to save money by cost cutting on the tyres.

Do women need or want a women's specific fixed? Well, Leonie certainly did as soon as she found out Giant made one… whether this is the bike they've been waiting for we'll find out soon.

* yes, they're all interesting.

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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9 comments

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jollygoodvelo | 10 years ago
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Presumably if a lady owning one of these had a transgendered friend who was into country music they would be known as 'Chixie with Dixie'.

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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good point, don't know what I was thinking of there, especially as I took the pics too. I've removed that bit, sorry for getting your hopes up… although there's always p-clips I suppose.

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DaveP | 13 years ago
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"the Chixie is a practical girl too - with eyelets for mudguards front and rear." Oh no it hasn't.. rear has trackends only.  20

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geekster | 13 years ago
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Okay looking frame on that but the handlebar is ugly (why couldn't it be a simple straight handle bar?) and the saddle isn't much to look at either.

I've been looking for a good fixed gear bike for myself that has the body fit for women's sizes, but unfortunately this doesn't look like it.

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John_the_Monkey | 13 years ago
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My favourite one was from @bazzargh;

RT @bazzargh: @John_the_Monkey the Brixie, for people who like the Fall. Like Denis Menchov. < Ah, that's brillskills.

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nick_rearden | 13 years ago
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For the benefit of the non-twitter-following brethren it might be worth mentioning here the contribution of @john_the_monkey and friends on twitter yesterday who in a flurry of activity (quiet day John?) added a host of permutations on the theme of naming bikes after their intended owners. It all started with:

John_the_Monkey RT @roadcc: Just in: Giant Chixie, is this the world's first wsd fixed/singlespeed? http://bit.ly/a4D1De < puntastic name too

And then spiralled rapidly downhill:

John_the_Monkey @roadcc See also, the "Dixie", Giant's first Road Racing frame designed for Ricardo Ricco

John_the_Monkey @roadcc the Pixie, Giant's frame for people of shorter stature, the Trixie, a bike for freestyling, The Lixie, an Ice Cream sellers tricycle

John_the_Monkey @roadcc The Mixie, a bike that conversts into a soundsystem for pedal powered DJs...

John_the_Monkey @roadcc The Hixie, a bike for people who live in the country

John_the_Monkey @roadcc The Prixie, another bike for Ricardo Ricco

mattmbr @John_the_Monkey @roadcc The Prixie?

John_the_Monkey @roadcc The Kixie, a bike for people who do Karate

spittingcat @John_the_Monkey @roadcc Pixie -a bike for little folk.

ainsleyturbitt @John_the_Monkey @roadcc The Brixie - a bike for builders

John_the_Monkey @roadcc The Sixie, a bike for people who get travel sick.

owenp @roadcc @bazzargh @John_the_Monkey the Nixie, with integrated anti-theft features?

John_the_Monkey @roadcc the Stixie, for drummers and unambitious tree surgeons.

glasgowunitedcc @John_the_Monkey @owenp @bazzargh @roadcc Stixie - made from bamboo possibly? I quite fancy that idea actually... take that as copyrighted.

that's enough "alternative" bike names - ed

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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… or maybe she'll just put some SPDs on it

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G-bitch | 13 years ago
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That looks pretty awesome!

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jezzzer | 13 years ago
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that's purdy and i know someone who'd like one!

nb brake levers are on at different angles, and leonie needs some pedal straps before she goes fixed....

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