I like feeling a sense of accomplishment in all of my rides. And it gives me a reason to be a fool and not ride with brakes.

hipster points

Wow... that's "Simple?" ..I thought you were going to post pix of a VW beetle pre 1975 !

This would be my idea of simple in a car:

http://www.google.com/url?source=img...Cnvi7kWYFpXeYA

My first VW, a 1958, there was no gas gauge either.. there was a lever on the passenger side "firewall" that you had to reach over with your foot to flip it over to the "reserve" (a line from the tank lower down).. unless you had a passenger who could do it for you. ... that's "simplicity!"

You really do that? Gads!

Who needs brakes? Can't stop. Don't want to.

The Porsche is 80's-ish so it kinda works.

Yup. Its fun being terrified in traffic. I'm too young to be worried about self-preservation.

More pedaling, less worrying.

Also, you feel silent like a ninja.

The 80s: truly a decade of understated simplicity and elegance.

For me it's about the simplicity... less is more!

I'm thinking something more like this on the car front. This still has a two-speed transmission, no clutch though. Trying to think of single speed cars but all I can come up with is go-carts and golf carts.

http://image.circletrack.com/f/30908...t-race-car.jpg

80s 911, 40s beetle, whats the difference?

Because chicks dig it. Any other reason provided is a damn lie.

I picked up a SS a few weeks back from a sales event, 2010 Gary Fisher Triton. While looking at the bike, one of the staff goes to me, "you know it has no gears". Yup I replied. I have a hybrid, and a carbon road bike. The idea was to have something for just booting about, and if I did dump it on a slick surface (ice or other) it would be too bad of a financial hit. Turns out, this bike is a ton of fun to just ride. With a 48T to a 20T it's 65 gear inches which ain't that hard to climb with. Passed a few roadies on the weekend on a climb. It does make you work a bit more, at 30km/h I spin out, but I'm not looking to race it either. I tried the 28's from my hybrid, but they weren't nearly as fun as the 23's it came with.

I think that's 63 gear inches.

How long was the climb and what % grade is the hill?

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3...sivew12616.jpg

Refined dashes ftl. I want graphic equalizers for every channel of my stereo.

Wow! Why even go anywhere? :D

OK, so, if you get to any steep hills you walk it up? And, going down hill, you use your legs to keep the bike from going to fast?

Do they have ones with a rear drum that disengages to coast and also acts as a brake on the rear wheel like the old bikes did, like the Schwinn I grew up with, or is that considered cheating? :)

BTW.. my 15 speed commuter makes no noise at all either...except when actually shifting. But I'll have to try one of those out.. not sure I would want to have no brakes though.. that seems a bit suicidal.

2 km, avg 4%. parts to 8%. It was one of many for the 117km ride, the gps track showed 800m of overall climbing. for the gear inch bit, I forgot to change the wheel size in the calculator :eek:

If there is absolutely no way for me to climb because of loss of momentum and the grade, I'll get off and walk, shamefully. Going downhill, I spin as fast as possible to go as fast as possible.

You're thinking of coaster brakes. I think they are kind of silly and wouldn't trust one brakeless, but plenty of people seem to enjoy them.

It's very common for fixed riders to ride a front brake, the only brake that really matters.

Why? Freewheels tend to stop working around -10F... That and I get a better workout and don't have to do much in terms of maint.

I tried SSMTBing with 34x15 and found a few hills I had to walk. Rollin' 34x18 now and don't think I've hit a hike-a-bike yet.

Only have SS ATM so use cantilever brakes to slow on the downhills.

Yeah, coaster brakes are still being manufactured.
Coaster video for you:

The limiting factor for hills (at least for me) on FG is the downhill, not the climb.

This is true for me too, I can pretty much climb everything, but the descend is what is slow going.

There are a few hills that require herculean effort to ride up in my area. There are a few hills that require me to use the bailout gear to get up (leftfoot/rightfoot).

It's generally not a big deal. Any hill that you can't ride up on a reasonably geared fixed gear is going to be a monster hill to a geared bike too. So you're either walking your fixed gear up the hill like it's a dog, or you're spinning your super-low gears like a gerbil.