Haha fair enough - 98% as efficient sounds like an exaggeration (citation?), but point taken.

I actually achieve the lotus position while riding, I find if you close all your senses but hearing you can navigate rush hour traffic like a fish through water. OooohhHHHmmmMMMM ZEN
...bike MUST BE FUNG SHUI....

or.. I could just enjoy it and ride it to be a better cyclist. Use more muscle power, get a better range, higher cadence and what not

[To renton] And I like the Raleigh. Built not Bought
When was the last time you pushed your bike to its technical threshold anyway?

your proposed setup sound anything but simple -- if you approach an upgrade and have to dismount your bike and take out your tools in order to change the chain orientation, that's not simplicity -- that's trying to cut down a tree with a butter knife -- a butter knife might be more mechanically "simple" than a chainsaw, but so what?

sure, build up some franken-fixed gear bicycle for kicks and ride it for fun -- that's great and I support you; but dont kid yourself or blow smoke up our asses about how much more efficient or "simple" your setup will be over a variable geared bicycle. That's utter nonsense.

good one. you should use that more often when your ideas or reasoning sucks -- it works well for you.

Whoa there psirue, someone grab that stick up your as$ and wrench it free. I wondered if you're just being a little pissy or you're always that hardass who enjoys e-thuggin on the intrawebs - I would give you the benefit of the doubt from a bad day at the office, but from your last couple posts on the forum it seems like you're just always kind of a dickk.

"approach an upgrade and have to dismount"? - How does my gear ratio give you the slightest inclination that I cannot tackle a hill on this bike, notwithstanding my physical fitness. A 60 degree incline? Sure, there'd be problems, but I never planned to hit the Tour de France with it.

This is a fixed gear bike. With two gear ratios. Instead of going home before hitting the trails to change both cog and chainring, they're already on the bike. This is NOT and was NEVER meant to be a do-everything, go-everywhere super bike - I have a fully capable mt bike with 24 wondrous gear combinations. With a negligible weight increase and no change to maintenance costs or complexity of use, I'd say this is a much better option than adding derailleurs or storing those extra pieces in my under-seat bag.

This is posted in the ssfg subforum for a reason - I fully comprehend the drawbacks to a fg setup, as well as the advantages. You might as well attack every fg rider for "trying to cut down a tree with a butter knife," and you'd have a huge debate on yours hands at that point. I champion the beauty of fixed gear riding only as enjoyable in and of itself, not to be technically compared to every other possible bike component combination. Did someone steal your blankie when you were a kid, or do you just enjoy trying to crush dreams?

Good talk buddy, I welcome the debate.

I don't understand why you don't want to run a derailleur if you want to change gears but your budget is ridiculous for a Raleigh conversion. You could buy a way nicer bike from BD and still have money to powder coat it green if you choose... and then still have money left over.