My typical method of describing fixed gears is: if the wheels are in motion, so are the pedals. But then again, no one ever understands when I say that...

Fixed is a whole lot of fun for me. I like being able to negotiate busy intersections by slowing to a mile an hour in a turning lane, then bursting up to a pretty quick speed to complete a turn or dodge a few cars.

Technically singlespeed is better since it is more advanced. It is also superior because you can conserve energy by coasting and it is better because it is safer over rough ground. But I honestly think that until i tried fixed for a few months i never properly rode a bike before. It taught me a lot about spinning and even sizing a bike correctly, but maybe im a slow learner and couldnt learn without riding fixed.

Traditional training calls for riding fixed the first part of every season to get your spin down and develop strength.

Yes fixed gears are definitely better than single speeds. I believe that most road single speeders secretely wish they rode fixed (might not be true for MTN bikers). Kind of like of like skateboarders and rollerbladers. I mean, who really wants to be a rollerblader, right?

I thought fixed gear wasn't infact a real direct drive, I thought that direct drive was 1 crank rotation = 1 wheel rotation no more no less, and it was the presence of gearing that differed the direct drive from the fixed gear. I'm probably wrong though.

I hate to even ride my geared bikes anymore.

It tastes time to learn how to ride and do anything else.
Things like tugging on your jersey, grabbing a water bottle,
going over rail road tracks... ...things that you normally
coast through--now have to be pedaled through.

The feel of...the connection to the road can be "spiritual."
You are micro-adjusting your candence/speed with back resistance
and constantly aware, yet it becomes an afterthought in time.

Then there is the flywheel effect, where bike's forward momentum
assists your effort. Each bike/rider has a perfect cadence wherein zero
power is required to turn the pedal, yet you are flying down the road.
A geared bike looses more of that momentum when you coast.

A fixed-gear teaches you how to spin circles, and you learn to trust the bike.
The pedals will carry you though the motion when you allow your legs to relax
and flow. The response and control is amazing.

So, yes, fixies are better.

To me, fixed is more challenging and more work. It can be really fun. However, I find it most fun when riding at low speeds, where you have better control. At high speeds, momentum lessens the control advantage.

I describe fixed gear as like driving a old exotic sports car with a finicky transmission. Lots of fun if you remember the quirks to keep the gears from grinding.

I prefer SS coaster brake over fixed gear in general. And hub gears go over well with me, too. There's a simplicity and reliability of one chainwheel, one cog, and a stout chain that can't be denied.

fixed gear= no coasting, and you control everything with your legs. slowing down, too. backwards is a showoff move, but standing still (trackstanding) is a useful skill, done by staying in blanace or rocking forwards-backwards.

and no offense, but if the difference is still not obvious, i suggest singlespeed= its alot of fun too, its safer to push a harder gear if you like that sorta thing, and i dont want anoter person on a fixed gear without clips. i saw another 2 of those clowns today.

why are clips necessary on fixies?

So ya feet dont fly of da Pedals!

If you only have one brake, or heaven forbid, no brakes, your feet need to be securely attached to the pedals. That direct coupling to the rear wheel must be maintained in order to take advantage of the control offered by fixed gear.

If you run two brakes, you could do without. But you also lose some of the control over the pedals that way, being limited pretty much to applying power (either forward or backward) only on the downstroke.

Fruitbooters!!!!

In reference to rollerbladers vs. skateboarders. Damn 40.

I think many of us started out on direct-drive/fixed-gear. We're returning to our roots. Afterall, how many of us had a tricycle or Big Wheel as a kid. Aren't those direct-drive? If we are to assert that simple is best, taken to its logical extreme, the ultimate pedal-driven wheeled HPV would have to be this...

Why is it safer to push a harder gear on a single speed?

"Technically singlespeed is better since it is more advanced"

by that logic, multi-speeds are better than single speeds..... and carbon is better than steel...and cars are better than bicycles.... etc.

"i dont want anoter person on a fixed gear without clips. i saw another 2 of those clowns today."

I'm one of those clowns. I've never experienced a problem when my feet were'nt clipped in. Not to mention, clips were invented long after the freewheel was common equipment. I'll agree it's not as effecient (no upstroke), but the 'need' for clips/clipless is far overstated.

i'm sorry, i forgot all you were breakies. when i think of fixed i think nobrakes. its potentially stupid and suicidal to run a nobrakes fixed with a high gear on the street IF you dont know how to ride it. hence the safer singlespeed.