[MengYuanLong]

You may feel fixies are impractical but they carry benefits. The primary one being better power transfer. Second, you can often make a cheap fixie by finding an old frame, refurbishing it, and replacing the rear hub. Yes, you can buy them for $700+ but unlike iPhones, there are a number of ways to obtain one for cheap.

Further, a bike that costs less than $200 is certainly not a bike I would buy for commuting. Having commuted without a car for over three years, I can assure you that steel frames are not your friend and arguably not practical if you want to enjoy your lifestyle.

[jbl]

I disagree re: steel frames. All of my bikes are steel, from my race bike (yes, actually raced... well, in the past) to my city bike. The race bike weighs in right around where the aluminum bike it replaced came in.

Steel rides great. Cheap steel will weigh more than cheap aluminum, but is not that much heavier once you factor in yourself and what you carry.

The nice thing about steel is that it's repairable, rides nicely, and fails gracefully (should it fail at all).

[mikestew]

> I can assure you that steel frames are not your friend

Speaking as one who spent $3500 on a steel-framed commuting/winter training bike, I obviously disagree. Aluminum rides rough and carbon is just silly on a commuter.

Though to give you the benefit of the doubt, you did mention "<$200". I think that's more the issue than what the frame is made of.

[anamax]

> You may feel fixies are impractical but they carry benefits. The primary one being better power transfer.

Huh? The "chain loss" is the same during power. There's some friction loss when you're not pedaling a "not fixie" but there's also a "friction loss" in your legs when you're spinning just to keep a fixie's wheels turning.

> Second, you can often make a cheap fixie by finding an old frame, refurbishing it, and replacing the rear hub.

A coaster hub isn't that much more expensive and the user-experience is much better for most people. (That said, a coaster hub with some gears is reasonably cheap.)

And, replacing a hub is work (or expensive). It's often easier/cheaper to just find a rear wheel.

[mfringel]

So, for those of us who know nothing about bikes, why are steel frames suboptimal for commuting?

[bencpeters]

They aren't, IMO. They don't weigh much more (and seriously what kind of commute do you have that weight matters that much? This isn't the tour de france...)

The ride of a decent steel bike is much softer (less harsh) than an aluminum bike. An old steel 10 speed with tension shifters (less fiddly/adjustment prone) is my idea of a perfect commuter bike...

[ef4]

Was about to post the same thing but you said it all.

Steel vs aluminum is like vi vs emacs. People argue about it all the time, but if you just go test ride some bikes you'll find out pretty quite which you prefer.

I like steel. Aluminum is just too bone-jarring.

[marklabedz]

Really low end steel is usually heavy. On the high end though (Pegoretti, etc), they're plenty light and ride like a dream. The "common $700 fixie" - the Bianchi Pista - is steel. They all rust when abused though.

[chrisrhoden]

Weight.

[wl]

Weight, as long as it isn't excessive, is only something racers need to worry about. I own aluminum and steel frame bicycles and the main difference is how the different materials feel when going across bumps. The weight difference is probably there, but it's not big enough to notice.

[Swizec]

Well, my dream bike wouldn't really work as a fixie. But then again, it probably wouldn't work very well for commuting either - I use a longboard for that.

However, I'd love to try riding a fixie some time. It sounds interesting.