single speed bikes

johnpercival80
johnpercival80 Posts: 46
edited July 2014 in Road beginners
bit of a newbie question here but whats the point in a single speed road bike? are they for something specific?

Comments

  • marcusjb
    marcusjb Posts: 2,412
    Simplicity, ease of maintainence, chicks dig fixers, SS and fixed wheel bikes look elegant, can be useful for training.

    Someone will be along shortly to talk about oneness and zen.
    Stuff about riding a bike a long way
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    oneness and zen*




    but only if fixed
  • woolwich
    woolwich Posts: 298
    Relatively cheap.
    If you live somewhere flat they are often all you need.
    Robust if your bike spends a lot of time chained up at railway stations/city centre fence rails generally getting knocked about.
    Sometimes specifically used for time trials and hill climbs for weight saving.
    Sometimes specifically just for fashion as they look like track bikes.
    Huge fun.
    Mud to Mudguards. The Art of framebuilding.
    http://locksidebikes.co.uk/
  • craker
    craker Posts: 1,739
    Yesterday's commute on my rubbish-dump single speeded Raleigh, 15 miles in 50 minutes. The day before on my bling carbon road bike... 51 minutes. It's a hilly commute too.

    It is a lot of fun to ride, can be hard work though. But isn't that the point?
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    99% you're never in the right gear so you have to learn to spin or push harder. With a fixed gear, there's simply no rest so it's probably 15-20% harder than riding the same route with gears. Generally hills are harder because you need to push a harder gear - you'll find out very quickly just how fit/unfit you are. If you live somewhere hilly, you'll also spend a lot more time out the saddle and so it will strengthen your quads and core more. I have a local road that climbs steadily for 5km - 10 minutes out the saddle really works the muscles.
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • johnpercival80
    johnpercival80 Posts: 46
    thanks for the replies, it has def cleared that up, maybe something to look at when i upgrade my commute bike next year :)
  • vorsprung
    vorsprung Posts: 1,953
    I used to commute on a single speed. The advantage was almost no maintenance. As it had a freehub I was caught out a couple of times with the freehub freezing in the winter but apart from that it was totally reliable

    The reason I got gears (an Alfine hub gear) on the next commuter bike was that my knees didn't appreciate a hilly commute in the winter
    Audaxing Blog - Long Distance Cycling
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