Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
I've had two friends "ejected from the saddle" and sustaining serious injuries. They both said, "You spend your whole like perfecting your reactions on a freewheel bike. On a fixie, those reactions are dangerous." OTOH, I like riding SS with a freewheel. You can still pedal downhill, you don't have the problem of the pedals driving your legs around, which leads to knee problems for the inexperienced, and you don't get injured. OTOH, there's no training effect which translates to improved performance on a geared bike.
Sad to hear about your friends' injuries. When I was researching prior to building my first FG last year, many of the issues you mention here concerned me. After reading articles on Sheldon Brown's site
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-testimonial.html and others, I knew I was going to build one and it was going to have a front brake.
It's important to be safe but interested riders should give FG a try. Having access to a paved bike path was helpful. This somewhat featureless ride was a good place to become accustomed to FG and building up body memory to prevent mistakes.
The logical pros and cons about FG bikes become less tangible when you are riding one. I never think about cadence or pedal stroke or any of the performance factors an avid cyclist might ponder. I'm just a 62 year old kid out playing on my bike, again.
Also, the lack of technology on a FG leaves room for personal cool looking builds.