Originally Posted by furiousbob
Well, they have a Mongoose Sabrosa SS for 500 that I absolutely love and adore but after thinking over my current 4mi commute a few times with the 2-3% grades, I decided on a multi-speed. I ride a straight stretch of road for my commute, I'm in the suburbs and the road's really quite and smooth so i figured a singlespeed might not be a good choice. But hey a few more weeks of saving and I might be able to get that Sabrosa I've longed for.
The thing is, I don't want to over work myself getting to work on the uphill and not being able to go full speed when i go home on the downhill as I often love to do on my 18 speed loaner.
Opinions?
In a month you will have figured out that 5% hills are rather flat. Single speed with a coaster gear (regular gear) might sound limited but your fitness level will increment as you learn to pedal smoothly.
4 years straight without gears and there are very few roadies and other geared fellows on the same roads that i ride that can keep up.
800 dollars can buy a lot of geared bike, for 560 I bought one without multiple gears. Can you get your multiple gear bike over 35 mph downhill?