Originally Posted by surfimp

Maybe this is covered elsewhere ad naseum, but I find the lack of freewheel helps keep my heartrate up on my fixie. Since you have to pedal all the time, even when you aren't putting the wattage into the cranks you have to keep your legs moving. To me, this feels like more exercise than on my freewheel bike.

And then there are the tarck stands at stop signs... skid and skip stops... and the barspinnzz and wheeliez... lolzerz

Steve

Originally Posted by Shedon Brown

Fixed for Fitness and Form

iding a fixed gear on the road is excellent exercise. When you need to climb, you don't need to think about when to change gears, because you don't have that option. Instead, you know that you must just stand up and pedal, even though the gear is too high for maximum climbing efficiency. This makes you stronger.

If you have the option of gearing down and taking a hill at a slow pace, it is easy to yield to the temptation. When you ride a fixed gear, the need to push hard to get up the hills forces you to ride at a higher intensity than you otherwise might. Really steep hills may make you get off and walk, but the hills you are able to climb, you will climb substantially faster than you would on a geared bicycle.

When you descend, you can't coast, but the gear is too low. This forces you to pedal at a faster cadence than you would choose on a multi-speed bicycle. High-cadence pedaling improves the suppleness of you legs. High rpm's force you to learn to pedal in a smooth manner--if you don't, you will bounce up and down in the saddle.

Most cyclists coast far too much. Riding a fixed-gear bike will break this pernicious habit. Coasting breaks up your rhythm and allows your legs to stiffen up. Keeping your legs in motion keeps the muscles supple, and promotes good circulation.