| They're fun... (Here is a picture of one that I built: http://thingist.com/t/item/15467/) But they're kindof a novelty. Mine is a daily driver, but I wish it wasn't (I'm saving up for a replacement). 1) My knees hurt, a lot, from riding it. 2) "A good cadence" on this bike is really really fast. This is good for me, but I'm a social creature, I'm usually riding with other people, and those other people don't necessarily want to be flying around at "oh no I'm late" speeds. 3) Hills. You can't downshift to go up hills. 4) Mine has a brake, so the brake thing isn't a big issue to me. Granted I wish the brake was chunkier, but that's my own fault since I built the bike. The people who talk about "less parts" are just plain wrong, and are confusing a fixed gear bike with a single speed bike. Fixed gears are a type of single speed, and it's being a single speed that makes things simple. The bottom line is that fixed gear bikes are fun but, like I said, they're kindof a novelty. My legs have definitely gotten stronger riding mine (her name is Annabelle), so that's a plus, I guess. |