My commute is pretty flat (along the bay) and 12mi each way. Bikely says it's only 130' of climb (not sure how accurate that is). SS is fine most of the time, but there are times when I'm carrying a ton of extra stuff around or it's really windy and I want a few gears. Which is why I run a 1x8 most of the time. There are also times when I'm on a recreational ride and I want more than one gear in the hills, too. And since I have only one bike... well... QED.
Actually, I built the bike as an SS, then switched it to 1x8 after 3000mi or so, then after another 6000mi, the cassette was losing teeth like the loser in a bar fight, so I rebuilt it as SS until I could get the parts. SS is fun and all, but I decided that I prefer some gears. And 1x8 with a friction shifter is pretty maintenance-free, too.
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--Ben
2006 Trek SU100, 2009 Motobecane Fantom CX, 2011 Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno, and a Bakfiets
Previously: 2000 Trek 4500 (2000-2003), 2003 Novara Randonee (2003-2006), 2003 Giant Rainier (2003-2008), 2005 Xootr Swift (2005-2007), 2007 Nashbar 1x9 (2007-2011), 2011 Windsor Shetland (2011-2014), 2008 Citizen Folder (2015)
Non-Bike hardware: MX Linux / BunsenLabs Linux / Raspbian / Mac OS 10.6 / Android 7
Last edited by bigbenaugust; 07-20-09 at 02:01 PM.