Originally Posted by
dmcdam
I usually hang out in the roadie section but I'm thinking about getting a fg/ss and am looking for a bit of advice. I live in a pretty hilly area - mostly decent sized country rollers as opposed to prolonged inclines. My thought was to get a decent chromoly frame and put some nice light wheels and parts on it. It would be mostly a training bike as opposed to a commuter. How many of you tackle hills on your fg/ss bikes? Am I nuts to think this is a good idea?
If you don't already have a bike and you know that you will have to tackle these hills, then get an aluminum frame.
Pick a really small gear ratio (i.e. 48/19. I rode that in SF) for climbing the hills and then you'll have to learn to spin on the flats...which is the whole reason why roadies build fixed-gear winter training bikes in the first place. This will help your road riding game tremendously.
Get a front brake to help with descending.
It's not hard at all.