Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
I half envy you guys on the fixies. My commuter was previously set up 1x with one brake and I liked it that way. Very light and simple. My commute changed to include some hills and I changed it to 1x and two brakes... have never changed it back though I could probably use it that way in this year's situation
My fixie is my beater bike. I designed it to be unserious. No fenders, no nothin. We have some small hills here, and I don't usually enjoy climbing them with only one gear, so I ride the bike only occasionally. My future commute will be over the Brooklyn Bridge or the Manhattan Bridge which are longish hills. Maybe riding that route on a fixie will be OK because it's only four miles each way.
One interesting thing is that my commute is only 2 miles each way this summer so riding every day is easy. There's no reason to take the subway or bus. Getting a short ride in isn't a huge amount of exercise but it feels really good. I've had commutes of 13 miles each way, and I didn't enjoy doing it every day so I only did it one to three days a week, and I took the subway on other days. A short commute seems to be better for my health than a long one since I can do a short one more frequently.