Originally Posted by
mihlbach
Sounds pointless to me. You don't really coast when on flats or climbing, so it doesn't even matter if you are fixed or free during those times. If you want to coast down a hill, just use a freewheel. The rest of the time it doesn't really make much of a difference. If you are going to embrace all that complexity you might as well just ride a geared bike.
I like to ride fixed all the time, even down shorter hills where I'll just spin out, however, ocassionally there are long or very steep downhills where I need to ride the front brake and this might be a nice feature. Since I run a low gear, currently 40 x 16, it doesn't take much to get me to spin out. Anyway, it's just an interesting idea to contemplate, not something I'd spend hundreds of dollars for.