td.tony

A lot of people seem to use the argument that fixed gear/SS bikes are very low maintenance, compared to a road bike or any other bike with gears. Just how much more work is it to maintain a road bike??

I have a new cannondale caad9, and the only thing I've had to adjust is the cable tension barrel on my rear derailleur, probably took me about 30 seconds to turn the barrel a few quarter turns until it shifted smooth again..
So what other maintenance routines should I be looking forward to with my new road bike?

It really can't be that much more than a fixed gear/SS bike, I mean they have to clean and lube their chains too, right? I think thats the most tedius maintenance job there is for a bike.

AEO

no derailers to worry about, no worries of derailers going into spokes
teeth on the cogs will last longer because they aren't ramped.
etc...

bigvegan

THEORETICALLY fixed/single speed require less maintenance since the don't have derailers (and sometimes lack brakes), and fewer parts should mean fewer parts to maintain.

IN REALITY, it's been my experience that on a geared bike, you get on, make sure the brakes/derailers work, and ride it until it's been long enough to do a tune up or something stops working, which can be weeks/months depending on how much you ride, while on a fixie, you need to / should check the chain tightness, axle bolt tightness/wheel alignment, crankbolt tightness, etc., etc. every time you ride (or at least every few times you ride), so while the amont of stuff you have to do is less (and simpler), the frequency with which you have to do it is greater.

tatfiend 

Also true of an internally geared hub bike IMO. The only additional maintenance is occasional hub shifter cable adjustment and an annual oil change if it is a Rohloff.

dabac

It's very much down to which conditions you ride in. If you're riding in snow/slush and on sanded/salted roads, then a fixie/SS/IGH bike will require far less attention to keep running properly than a bike with exposed gears. But if you're mainly a fair weather rider anyhow, then it doesn't matter that much.

Wordbiker

The expensive part of maintaining a FG is all the replacement parts to get just the right balance of color-matching, ironic stickers and spoke cards.

awc380

Ha!

tellyho

Eventually, though, on your geared bike you're going to be replacing cables, housing, derailleurs and cassette. On a fixed gear, your chain dies, you buy a new one and keep going. That said, I own both and can't remember the last time I rode my fixie.

tFUnK

since getting into fg/ss, i know one thing: i like QRs much better than track nuts. also, changing flats in the rear is more messy on the fixie because there's no RD to keep the chain from flailing around. and then getting the rear wheel straight in the dropouts while maintaining proper tension can also be frustrating.

Deanster04

So much Smoke and Vogue... Any bike requires proper maintenance and setup to operate properly and last a long time. Fixed gear bikes should all be track bikes and not the cheaptie road bike conversions I see so many poseurs riding where ever I go today trying to emulate the NYC delivery boys...no helmets or gloves and wobbly track stands at traffic lights...too short flat handle bars...all seem to be vying for the latest in Darwin awards with their terrible bike handling skills.
If one is worrying about all the complexity of a standard road bike maintenance effort and failures while riding then one needs to take a good mechanic course and stop all the fretting. I set up my road bike in the winter after a preventive maintenance workup and never have to touch it again until next winter (4 to 6K each year). As far as track bikes go my experience is 10 years on the track back in the 60s and riding in the Santa Cruz mountains with no brakes and heavy cowhide patches on the gloves for brakes. What I see today among the fixtie riders is more style than substance with a few exceptional riders who have seen the track before.

awc380

But THIS (^) guy is the real deal.

Bikewer

That's why we have Winter...

I rode my last "new" roadster for two seasons without doing anything to it other than chain lube and patching a couple of flats.
Never needed to adjust the cables, everything just kept working. It was a Trek 2120 with 105 components.

I maintain an entire fleet of police bikes; about 20 of 'em. Rarely spend more than a couple hours per week.

roadfix

Bicycles are not complex machinery. If you work on your own bikes you know the geared bikes only require just a little more attention than FG/SS, but the difference IMO is pretty insignificant as far as maintenance go.

TallRider

As has been mentioned, the differences are not great. However, Fixed-gears require less upkeep in terms of drivetrain adjustment, and if you ride in dirty conditions the chain stays cleaner because it doesn't hang down so low since there's no derailer.
And carrying a 15mm wrench to remove track nuts in the event of a flat tire is a pain. I do it with my fixie, but not with my commuting bike (geared but with track nuts as theft deterrent) because I'm rarely very far from home on that thing and don't carry tools anyway.

As to why messengers use fixed-gear bikes - this may shed more light on your question.
- They're cool and hip and show that the rider is "serious" in a sort of hipster way
- they can be tossed around more, fall on their side without worrying about banging up the derailer, and they won't drop a chain.

shecky

I find derailers annoying because I'm the type of person that has to have them work perfectly. FG/SS eliminates this problem.

My bikes live outside, so cables and housings tend to corrode and fall apart. FG/SS reduces or eliminates this problem.

Cleaning/oiling the chain? Eh, minimal. I never take it off. I actually have been spritzing it with diesel fuel about once a week. Instant clean/lube. Works fine. I might actually clean the sprocket teeth when I replace the chain next year. Derailers are more finicky.

In short, less stuff to break or adjust=less maintenance.

tFUnK

i know i just mentioned how a fixed gear isn't exactly so worry free. well, on a group ride tonight a rider had his RD break/bend so we had to take it off and rig a singlespeed by taking out links and using their cassette. the exact same thing happened to another rider two weeks ago on a different group ride.