Pop open that can of PBR. Orange County has been ranked as the No. 1 hipster place in America, surpassing San Francisco, Portland, New York and Austin.
(Go ahead and lift your jaw off the floor–we'll wait.)
Hipsterness, of course, isn't easy to quantify–ironic mustaches can disappear with the swoop of a razor. But price-guide startup Priceonomics took on the challenge with the National Fixie Index, which ranked 96 areas by the number of fixies for sale per capita.
]
Priceonomics explains:
Fixies (fixed gear bikes) are considered to be a strong indicator of hipsterness. For those unfamiliar, a fixed gear bike requires riding in a single gear and the only way to stop the bike is to pedal backwards to help skid the bike to a halt. You can't “coast” on a fixie; when you are biking downhill, your pedals will keep moving so you better keep pedaling too. Because of the minimalism of this fixed gear system, the bikes tend to be aesthetically pleasing but somewhat challenging to ride. This enigmatic combination may be what draws hipsters to the bikes, or not.
After mining its database of 1.3 million bicycle listings, the researchers were “shocked to learn that Southern California is the epicenter of the fixie community.” If this is the hipster metric we're going with, then it's true. OC is a thriving fixie playground with shops like City Grounds in Costa Mesa, Road Warrior Bicycles in Fullerton and Livery Design Gruppe in Huntington Beach.
So go forth and get your fixie fix. Just don't bring up the hipster thing, though. Hipsters hate that.
