Originally Posted by
I-Like-To-Bike
No doubt that riding a bike with extreme limitations will be interesting; I imagine someday, somewhere there might be hype for Penny Farthing type bicycles and commuting to work on one of them would also be interesting.
Have you found any serious advantage of a fixed gear bike for commuting over a regular Single speed or 3 speed IGH equipped bike equipped with a coaster brake?
Well, I haven't switched to FG yet ... I'm still running it SS. I think it's a better workout than with my 27-spd MTB. Then there's the novelty factor as most people here think I'm insane including the local bike shop owner, who already thinks IGHs are insane and won't sell a single bike with one o_O
I think it's too short of a time to know (only 500km or so). I think the maintenance will be spectacularly low ... as in a set of cheap tires and a chain per year and no adjustments (£30).
However, it should be stated that I'm not a heavy user. I assume that I'll work roughly 150 days/year so I'll only log roughly 3000km per year. So, one chain and a cheap set of tires every 3000km seems about right.
I'm interested to see how long the freewheel lasts as it showing signs of rust. The fixed cog looks brand new though
so I can swap the wheel around when the freewheel wears out.