[dguaraglia]

To be fair the problem with the Gbikes is not that they are fixies, but rather that they are super heavy. They work fine for moving around the campus, but you wouldn't want to ride more than a mile in them. I'm pretty sure that's by design.

[microtherion]

The Swiss Army used very heavy single speed bikes, and people rode major distances with them. Of course, they were selected for physical fitness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_army_bicycle

[MrFoof]

Amazingly, they are much lighter than some other services.

Boston's Hubway bikes are 3-speed, but 42 pounds despite (I believe) an aluminum frame. New York's Citi Bikes are also 3-speed, but 45 pounds.

[dguaraglia]

Holy crap, I didn't even know you could make a bike that heavy.

[ariwilson]

Almost all electric bikes weigh more than that (source: me one handing city rideshare bikes after carrying around my electric bike).

[blattimwind]

Cast iron frame!

[jstarfish]

Not necessarily by design. If they're ordering fleets of bikes, they want them cheap. Steel bikes are the cheapest around, can take a lot of abuse, and also happen to be the heaviest.

[s0rce]

Steel bikes don't have to be heavy but cheap bikes usually are. A good steel bike might weigh 19-20lb (compare with a medium- to high-end carbon fiber bike that is 15-17lb) while the frame is only 3.5-4 lb of that total. The rest of the components make up a lot of the weight and to save weight there you have to spend more.