Originally Posted by
Santaria
At 38, I'm not, obviously, old. I've ridden mid-quality road bikes, cheap-ass road bikes, meh-quality Specialized and my Karate Monkey.
I'll avoid the long version, but in the commuting forums I posted a question about what I was mulling over, as far as my next bike.
I've settled on one of two bikes, 2012 Raleigh Furley or replacing my lamented Karate Monkey with a 2011/2012 model.
It'll be nice, either way, to have a place to read about others, get ideas and ponder the significance of the fixed gear idea.
Frankly, I intend to rebuild the rear wheel of either of the bikes I get, due to the fact that they are well within my allotted budget, and build up a Paul WORD wheelset. Now the only real question is, do I go flip/flop hub style - or just breath deep and go straight FG.
I mean, a flip/flop(cog/lockring on one side, freewheel on the other) hub is nice in that you can put a fixed cog on one side and a freewheel on the other side for when/if you feel like coasting(hilly rides, getting home from super long sides, etc). The best part about a fixed/fixed hub is that either side can still take a freewheel OR a cog/lockring. Fixed/fixed is probably more versatile, but if you plan on riding the freewheel side more, it'd probably be best to just go with a flip/flop. I don't think most fixed gear riders put a cog/lockring on both sides of their hubs anyways.