It's a fixed gear. They come with a fixed cog, but a flip-flop hub which means you can install a freewheel cog on the other side for single-speed use.

Re: don't buy cheap bikes as your first bike. That makes sense if you're really planning to ride it a lot and want to have nice parts such as nice wheels, phil hubs, sugino cranks, etc etc. BUT. If you are just trying to get into shape, maybe short rides here and there? There's nothing wrong with the Hour. But you will need to put a brake on it, as well as get a freewheel cog. So you may as well go for something like the Dawes which has front and rear brakes already and has a flip-flop hub. Not sure if it comes with a freewheel cog or not, but those are inexpensive anyway.

Hope that helps. Have fun riding!