Hold on a second! If you are a small child or elderly adult the LAST bicycle you should look at is a "fixed gear" bike. While I enjoyed the rest of the article, the last paragraph is bad advice. Fixed-gear, or "fixie" bikes require more technical skill and strength to ride safely than any other bikes out there. When the rear wheel spins, the pedals spin meaning the momentum of the bike will be working against your efforts to "pedal backwards" and even the most skillful of bicyclists have the technical skill of 'unloading' the rear tire and locking a leg in place to try to force the back wheel into some kind of controlled skid. It is NOT for the young, elderly, or faint of heart. Most localities either outlaw fixies or require at least a hand brake installed. Here's a video describing how to stop a fixed-gear bike: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkNbrtuxZdo I'm guessing the article's author meant to describe a single-speed bike with a coaster-brake which allows an one-eighth backward pedal to engage a friction brake located in the hub of the rear tire, the kind of bike dominating the streets in through the 60's and 70's.