Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Tempted to switch to SS

Someone convince me to do so or stick with running fixed. If I had a freewheel handy, I would just throw it on. If I had another brake lever + caliper, I'd do it up...but I need to buy these things..and I don't know whether a second brake lever would fit on my bars..

But I am kind of getting tired of fixed?

You're asking the wrong forum.

You'll be able to take corners faster.

you'll be able to coast down hills!

all the cool kids are doing it.


coasting is the new skidding.

this isn't like switching religions here. try it out and keep it if you like it.

theres no reason why you cant belong to multiple disciplines.

theres no reason why you cant belong to multiple disciplines.

yeah, get a flip-flop hub and your done, brakes are cheap, I only run a front brake on my SS, does me right.

Coasting is fun sometimes. I never noticed this until I started riding fixed. You should try a single speed if you want to.

I switched my old conversion to SS when I built a track bike. I have ridden it maybe twice in the twelve months since then. I hate how it feels to ride with a freewheel at low speeds.

Yea, do it if you want to. I am in the process of looking for a geared mountain bike. Bikes are bikes and all of them are fun.

I've been riding SS for the last two days and still heven't gotten used to it, and somehow it has shaved five minutes off my commute

You all make good points. I'll get my LBS order a freewheel for me.

I just recently switched myself. I was having right knee soreness the last couple of years from fixed (skipping and backpedaling). So I set it up SS and I like it a lot. I still love the feel of fixed, but there is a certain freedom with just SS. And as the poster above says, I feel like I ride faster because of the ability to brake hard, and to coast over bad road sections, and to fly downhills... it all adds up on a one hour commute.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t75/glf12/IMG_2513.jpg

Singlespeed is a "gateway cog." It eventually leads to more serious problems. Next, you'll want an internal hub. Then you'll get a derailleur. First a rear, then a front. Soon you'll start riding with people. At one of these "group rides" as they're called, someone will introduce you to carbon fiber. After that you'll be hooked. You'll spend all of your waking hours pedaling your Disco Trek on your trainer or up and down rural mountainsides.

Happened to a friend of mine. Last I saw him, he was pedaling down the road, babbling incoherantly about grams, watts, and cadence. I think he had to move to La Jolla to support his habit.

Singlespeed is a "gateway cog." It eventually leads to more serious problems. Next, you'll want an internal hub. Then you'll get a derailleur. First a rear, then a front. Soon you'll start riding with people. At one of these "group rides" as they're called, someone will introduce you to carbon fiber. After that you'll be hooked. You'll spend all of your waking hours pedaling your Disco Trek on your trainer or up and down rural mountainsides.

Happened to a friend of mine. Last I saw him, he was pedaling down the road, babbling incoherantly about grams, watts, and cadence. I think he had to move to La Jolla to support his habit.

Too bad that's too long to quote. That was good.

do whatever keeps it fun.

I ride SS a lot. It's just as fun as fixed, really. It's honestly more practical for road use. If you're feeling tired of fixed then you're tired of fixed. Just make the switch, you can switch abck at any time.