What should I do?
 

Hey guys I need some opinions on what I should do.

Should I keep my road bike and convert it to a fixed gear/single speed by getting this wheelset and using my same crankset:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-TRACK-BICYCL...item588933272d

Or

Sell my road bike and buy a single speed w/flip flop hubs from bikesdirect(looking to spend $300)

I want a bike just for commuting to and from school.

Any suggestions would be appreciated..

Option C: Keep the road bike and use it to commute to school. It's much more useful and practical.

I'll ask you a question that I ask clients (I'm a consultant).

What problem will the new fixed gear (conversion or new bike) solve for you?

It will solve the problem of having a bike with a derailleur, which for many people are more hassle in terms of maintenance than worth the benefit of being able to shift gears.

Plus some people want the street cred. Both options are a good way to test whether he likes riding fixed without a lot of overhead.

The OP didn't really provide enough information. What kind of bike do you have now? What kind of riding do you do? What do you like about your bike that you think it might be worth converting?

I don't have a terribly favorable impression of the BD low end wheelsets. They are fine for a entry level bike but if you are going to buy wheels seperately you might as well spend another $50 and get something nicer from Velomine or the Alex wheelset from Retrogression or even the IRO wheelset.

+1

You're not really gaining a whooole lot by trading in the gears, other than the aforementioned street cred and low maintenance. But who needs street cred and taking care of your roadie isn't that hard, is it?

I rode my mountain bike from october through march to work and classes, in the winter. I didn't adjust my gears once.. The whole low maintenance thing is a sham, stop trying to rationalize why a SS/FG is better.

Kilo TT

+2. A derailleur isn't as hard as you think to maintain, plus I'm sure there is an LBS at least somewhere in your city.

Obligatory.

i don't know what kind of derailleurs you've used, but mine don't need any "maintenance"... the only thing I can think of is you need to clean the jockey wheels once in a while.

This is the very reason why I would like to convert to a single speed or a fixed gear and also would like a "clean" look.

My road bike is a Sentinel Horizon:o

A bike with gears is way more practical for everyday use. People ride fixed gears because they think they're cool.

Yours don't require candlelight dinners, dancing, flowers and cuddling?

Ha!

Wow, I guess I've had it all wrong, silly me thinking it's a better workout, when all the time I just wanted to be cool! :D

I'd say buy the wheelset. That way if you decide the hills are too much it's easy to slap the deraileur and old wheel back on and boom you've got a geared roadie again.

if your roadie ain't broke, don't fix it. plain and simple.

Thanks for the response. I was leaning toward this because it is the cheapest solution vs selling my road bike and having to cough up another 200+ for a new bike.

Just don't make any permanent mods that you can't undo and you'll be fine.

Hey, man. There are practical decisions and emotional decisions, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with either one. You made it sound like a practical decision in the first post. But, it's actually an emotional decision.

In the case of a practical decision: Research and analyze all of the options for pros/cons.

In the case of an emotional decision: Do what feels good.

The last time I had a derailleur, indexed shifting was a new thing and all the low end gruppos were a serious pain. Dura-ace was the only gruppo with shifting integrated into the brake lever, so yeah, things might have changed.

That being said. Whenever I ride a bike that coasts anymore I feel nauseous and out of control, so the "feel" thing isn't just hipster non-sense.

+1
If you go the emotional route just don't sink any money into it before you really try it, which is what you seem like you've decided to do.

keep the current bike and save up for the fg/ss... trust

What do you mean by emotional decision?

If you ask somebody whether they should buy a volvo or a porsche, there are two different types of responses. One considers practical things like safety, gas mileage and storage space. Basing the decision on these considerations would be a practical decision. The other kind of response considers things like cool, girls, feel, etc. Basing the decision on these things is an emotional decision.

The practical response was: keep the gears.
The emotional response would be: Cinelli laser.
Most of the people split the difference.

Brifters! I love brifters. Which are standard on all new road bikes, conveniently. :)

If you really want a SS/FG over a road bike, I would go the conversion route. Although personally, I would also keep the road bike.

Pictures of your bike?

Riding fixed will allow you to not know words like "brifter".