Should I ditch my gears?
 

Hello,

Ive recently moved to a different job and would like to commute when I can. Im riding a 2007 trek 1000 with a sora/tiagra group. I have been toying with the idea of throwing a single cog on and ditching my derailleurs for a while because mid Michigan is flat as can be.
Do you think its worth the effort to strip everything down and try it out?

Thanks for your input!

Why bother? If you don't want to shift, just don't shift.

I had a similar ride in 2006, a trek 1200 with the tiagara stuff/105 rear derailleur. I also got interested in SS/FG riding, but found that it really makes more sense to use an old 10 speed or 12 speed bike with horizontal dropouts to do it. So I never converted the trek, I just picked up an old steel frame and did a conversion.

After about 1 year of it, I found that I liked it just fine...no real worries, but I now ride with gears again and probably won't go back.

About 97% of the time I liked SS/FG, but man when the wind is really whipping against you or if you are just plain wore-out, I hate SS/FG. I rode a lower gear (usually between 62-70 gear inches) and was/am pretty fit, but still didn't like that aspect.

I find that I can carry more weight on my ride now too, and I just have fewer reasons to second-guess riding....I find having fenders helps with my attitude toward riding too. ....just my 2 cents. For a short commute (7 miles or less) you probably would be just fine.

Good points about wind and cargo; gears are brilliant and bring all kinds of mechanical advantages. They allow the rider to maximize their output.

Give it a go, but you'll need a chain tensioner because of your bike's vertical drop outs. I commute on a fixed gear and love it

Old school answer.

tcs