Originally Posted by
Yanto
Hi all
Please excuse the following really basic/silly questions re fixed gear bikes as I have zero knowledge about them.
We emigrated in November 2021 from Uk to Thailand. I’m now 63 and retired.
In the last 6 months Ive got back into cycling. To try to regain some fitness. So far I’m down from 98kg to 81kg.
I do short rides (30kms) around a nearby lake, on almost flat, tarmac roads. There’s hardly ever any traffic when I go, 5.30am.
I currently have a Giant Escape RX hybrid but I was wondering if a fixed gear bike would suit these rides?
I have been offered a very cheap model (new) that has disc brakes front and rear, so presumably this makes it much easier/safer to stop? Would these actually work and do I still pedal whilst braking?
I have also seen various other models for sale here without any brakes. How do you stop on one of these and presumably a model with brakes might suit someone like myself better?
Thanks in advance for any help/advice
Yanto, welcome! One of my (favorite) bikes is single-speed. I am also mostly on flat, so it works well. It has brakes of course, back and front. One of the interesting issues when running single-speed is the
gear ratio (ratio of # of teeth on the front vs back cog). This ratio influences the quality/ease of your ride. Deciding on it is done before you purchase or, if you purchase a bike and you do not like how easy/difficult it run, it is easy to change the back cog with another one. Looking forward to hear more about your experiences.