I don't either. I like my gears for accelerating in traffic, for adjusting to terrain and headwinds, etc. I don't need 20 speeds with lots of 100+ gear-inch ratios I never use, but 12 speeds (10 or 11 usable) evenly covering the mid-40s (e.g. 42/26 or 38/23) to mid-90s (e.g. 50/14, 47/13, or 45/13) serve me VERY well. With good old-fashioned Campagnolo or SunTour friction controls, I have no reliability concerns whatsoever.

I built mine as a SS mostly because I wanted to build my bike and SS was cheaper, and easier for a beginner. Now that it's done, it's my favorite bike. I'm always in the right gear, my chainline is always perfect, and my overall cycling technique has improved dramatically because I have learned how to climb on this bike, and not just "spin" up the hills. I have also learned how to manage wind better, because there is no option of shifting to an easier gear. Sure I can't go as fast on the downhills, but that's a tradeoff I am willing to make. One more thing. I find that changing a flat rear tire is easier with my SS than my geared road bike even without the quick release.

My commute is 15 mile each way. I admit that The part of Austin I live in isn'r the "hilly" part of town. My commute into downtown is mostly downhill, but on the flip side my route home generally uphill the whole way with a couple of reasonably steep climbs.

Ahem.

Debug a single speed? What is there to "debug"? 25 minutes? What takes so long? I though you said it was simple. Outside of replacing tires and tubes, 25 minutes a decade should be more than enough time for maintaining and fixing a single speed.

48x16 SS on a Raleigh Rush Hour.



I love the SS, but I am looking to buy or build a Fixie to ride once or twice a week, and to use for nearby errands. After almost buying the Ebay Mercier, etc specials I think I am leaning toward the IRO Mark V as a good balance between quality and cost (although it is funny that it costs more than the Rush Hour and has fewer components).

I went SS because I got fed up with the chain and cassette wear. No more mr chain skip.

^^^^ Vermont winter treat cassetes like Godilla treats Tokyo
I cant see how people can winter commute on a bike with gears.
I know they do....but I cant. Just like an airplane......as much maintanance
time as ride time in the winter.

Add one more - a single speed bike looks cool. Nice, simple, clean look.

Then - you get a better workout - up out the saddle mashing up the hills, spinning like crazy on the way down (at least on a fix), although if a workout is not what you want, then of course there's no appeal. I think it's a bit like asking what people like about sailing, when there are motorboats. It's just a different feel, and for some people, it's pleasing.

Very sweet ride.

That's the first time I have heard anyone call the 42t ring a granny gear.

Doncha' mean deraillered gears?
Cyclists who ride internal hub geared bikes in the winter are not . No maintenance at all commuting all last winter on my Sachs/SRAM 7speed. Nor this Spring.

Ooh Ooh, I wanna play. I love these threads when I get to show off my SS. 1985 Trek 460. $160 all in:

Help me, I find myself agreeing with a statement by the chronic curmudgeon.

As mentioned by several others, I like the simplicity of a SS. I first entertained the idea on a ride where my front derailleur broke and left me in the big ring all day. I began to notice that when I would get near other riders there was a lot of shifting going on. Clunking, banging, and noisy shifting. The SS is quiet, efficient, and with a 48/17 works good for almost everything. Some hills are a little tough, but I haven't run across anything here that I have had to walk up. Oh, and it's one less thing to worry about.

Shows that there is still hope for you; your brains haven't turned into mush yet. Try taking the cure and ride a simple Torpedo or S-A 3 speed.

Doesn't the rush hour come with a fixed/free flip flop? If not, why not just buy a new fixed/free wheel if you're only going to ride fixed occasionally?

It was a momentary delusion. Everything is back in focus again, that was scary. Why would I do that? I would just ride it as a singlespeed and I'd be carrying the extra weight of the internal hub.

My fixed is super light (less crap on the bike), quiet (no chain slap, derailler rattling, etc. when curb hopping), and fun. I ride fixed to improve my stroke, cadence and endurance for mountain biking. There's so little on the bike that it has a minimalist elegance that the designer in me appreciates. Since the chain is so straight and attached so directly, it's more efficient than a geared bike in the exact same ratios, so it's fast.

What a handsome machine.... I love those older Trek lugged steel frames. I have a 660 that's a little small for me but it's still a wonderful ride. A couple of months ago a fixified Trek similar to yours went for over $500 on eBay.

Very nice.

Why do that? For the same reason that you probably would consider shifting gears on a high powered sports/muscle car. Sure you could drive off in high gear, go up and down hills; never shift gears; the power is there. IMO seems pretty silly or obsessive to make a deliberate decision to make your cycling more difficult unless a workout is the desired goal. In that case a one speed balloon tired bike with a rusty chain found at any garage sale for under $10 should work; duct taping a few cinder blocks somewhere on the frame (or maybe in a backpack) would be a simple and cheap way to intensify the workout factor during commuting and be very reliable as well.

Hey I-Like-To-Bike, I was just wondering: were you attacked by a pack of fixed gears and single speeds as a child? You seem to have an aversion to them. I don't care for derailed bikes all that much, not to say I won't own another one, but you don't see me out hatemongering the multi speed bikes. It seems to me like you have this thing where "Fixed gear and single speed is stupid" and "the whole world should ride ancient 3 speeds to prove how awesome I am". Maybe I take you wrong, but you seem to pop up in *every* thread about single speeds or fixed gears and proceed to tell everyone how backwards they are for not embracing your philosophy of 3 speed freedom. I have nothing against geared hubs, but don't bash peoples love for them just because I like fixed gears better.

This is not a personal attack. It just doesn't make sense to me. If you are so bent on staying away from single speed/fixed gear bikes, why do you pop up in *every* thread about them? Are you trying to "save" us from our errors?

Again this is not a personal attack. If I had money to burn, I'd have a coaster braked 3 speed at home just waiting for jaunts around the block and cruising rides and commutes. And I'd also have a rohloff 14 speed tourer and a single speed road bike, and the list goes on. I LOVE bikes. But just because I don't like a certain type of bike (derailed bikes) it doesn't keep me from coexisting peacefully with people who do like them. Why can you not coexist peacefully with those of the single speed/fixed gear persuasion?

Are you singuluphobic?

You do misread and extrapolate your own imagination into what I have written.

BTW I like single speeds bikes, especially balloon tire bikes. Rode my 1950's Schwinn knee action single speed from Philadelphia to Easton (80 miles) on the Delaware Canal Tow Path in the 70's. I was the only one of the group who stayed on the path because everybody else had narrow tire bikes with butt hatchet seats. Also took that bike from Philadelphia to Atlantic City on some kind of charity ride back then. Also would use it on occasions for commuting to work in Phila. when I had more time and was riding for comfort, not speed. I know the advantage of single speeds in their environment. I have yet to hear of the advantage of spurning the capability of coasting that didn't sound like a smoked up conceit or fetishism. Unless such macho (or is it masochistic) setups really do attract the ladies to the rider, which I suspect is another fantasy.

So nice you wanted to ask it thrice?

Yeah, I triple posted it to get my point across. LOL. Stupid bikeforums.net today, its acting really funky from my network. Don't know if its the server of the network. Should run a few traceroutes.

Anyway, I see where you're coming from, and on many of your points I (*gasp*) agree with you. I just thing your anti-fixed gear evangalism is a bit overpowering and it doesn't quite make sense to me. Then again, fixed gear doesn't make sense to you, so I guess we're even lol.

Take care,

The server's been doing weird things lately. I've seen lots of double and triple posts recently.