I was given by an older brother my bike. I rode for a year on a 10 speed road bike through 4 seasons. Bike fell apart, I rebuilt it as a fixed gear and I absolutely love it. I live in a city with minimal amounts of hills and everything I carry is limited to what fits inside a backpack.

That year I rode the 10 speed I NEVER had to shift gears, my thinking was this: I am riding in snow, rain and salted roads, geared bikes are a bitch to maintain, they have lots of parts that can fail and need kept in check. I don't shift, so those extra gears were worthless to me anyways, my 80s steel frame was already very heavy, the extra components were just dead weight.

SO: I converted to fixed gear, it was a cheap way to get my decaying winter rust bucket back in shape. MINIMAL parts means MINIMAL effort to keep in prime condition. Now my bike is lighter and more efficient with less parts to worry about.

Also, it is fun as fuck I feel more in-tune with the machine, I know exactly what is going on with the mechanics and can feel the machine itself. So please don't knock these bikes, just because they don't work for you doesn't mean people lack valid reasons for them and just to set your mind at ease, I have a very modest build, not flashy at all so don't piss your pants about me looking cool.

I am not about to suggest one bike of another, I dont know shit about bikes, and to be honest I kind of hate people that are into bikes and bike culture. All I see are a bunch of asshole elitists with holier than thou attitudes from both the fixed and non fixed crowds. Seems to me this kind of attitude can push more people away from considering bikes as a viable form of transportation and that makes me sad. The one thing building a bike taught me is that if you give the slightest hint of actually finding enjoyment in your bike then you become the target of ridicule.

tl;dr fuck over opinionated bike snobs.