+1 for dumb phones!

Yeah, mine is in the bedroom

When I'm out and about I rarely, if ever, leave it unmanned.

This is great! Thanks for sharing.

I've never even tried it, must be lots of fun!

Nope, I've got hills to climb. The bicycle has been my primary mode of transportation since I was 5 years old (I'm 52 now), and I commute to work by bike five days a week. The last leg of my ride coming home in the evening is a long-ish 15% grade hill. I would not want to do this on a fixed gear/single speed bike.

I'm not totally convinced by that. You may never make a mistake yourself but others (including animals or children) will in unpredictable ways with little notice. If you do spot a problem late, you simply cannot stop as fast as a brake with legs alone. Even if you could lock them instantly, you will skid as weight shifts to the front.

It is also good to have in case of a major failure (e.g. with the chain) or if you loose your footing (especially downhill). With the speeds capable of on a bike, a brake is essential IMHO.

I would add a single brake on the front. The front brake is always stronger and it'll be a short cable, so will not ruin the look.

Really nice looking bike by the way.

I should add that in the UK at least, two forms of braking are required to be street legal. I think many other places in the world have similar requirements. On a fixed wheel bike, the fact that you cannot freewheel counts as one from of braking, since you can slow down with your legs (similar to a back pedal brake) but you still need another one.

I have been cycling as my main means of transportation for 30 years now (with some minor stretches when i also owned a car).
i have always bought cheap used bikes.
i have by now a good eye on what is sturdy and will keep me going for more than a year.
the only major, and by now obligatory, investment are puncture-safe tires.
they usually raise the bike's value by 100%.
i haven't had a puncture for over a year, at 20km a day, 5 days a week.
twice a year i take a cloth & brush, spanner and oil to the bike.
it just works.
i don't even need batteries for the lights because it's got an old-fashioned dynamo.

you would probably look down upon it.
and nobody'd bother stealing even the smallest part of it (i still lock it though).

it is one of my major pet peeves to see how cycling is becoming a fashion thing with so many people, as well as a competition. fixed-gear with no breaks, or 3000euro racing bike and 1000euro outfit, both obsessively polished? it's all the same to me.
fondling their precious treasure every saturday afternoon until it shines and glitters, ready to strut around for another week.

i want to get from A to B, burn some excess calories, and not carry my backpack on my back (hence the basket).

oh, and i use a hub gear (because i can't be bothered cleaning gears that are on the outside of the wheel) with - wait for it - three gears.

I used to alternate between fixed & free on the same wheel. Years ago, I used to use one for touring, 100+ mile rides on a summer Sunday, good times.

Today, I still have a fixed/free bike as my main one, (with a hybrid for off road stuff).

Unfortunately, I have lost my fitness & no longer am cycling, but I keep them just in case I can get back into it, though it will be rides of a lot less miles.

Do not post while drunk.

Do not post while drunk.

I have a Fuji Sports 10 ten-speed which is older than any of my children and I love it to death. I got it used from the Urban Bike Project in Wilmington, Del., where I used to live.

However, I can say that here in Virginia Beach, one-speed bicycles (I learned recently that they are now known as "cruisers") are very popular.

That goes back to the days of the Schwinn Cruiser.
Back in the 1950s, and, perhaps, in the decades before and since, Schwinn made a "Cruiser."
When I was about 12 my father took my brother and I to the Schwinn Bicycle Dealer, and, yes, it was on Main Street, and bought us both a "Paperboy Special." They took the "Cruiser" and put 1.75 inch tires on it, instead of the standard 2.125" tires, heavy duty rims and spokes, and a cast iron rack on the back. The idea was you threw your newspaper bags over the rack like a set of saddle bags. IIRC, mine was green and my brother's was red. Gawd, was that a long time ago!
IIRC, some of the Cruisers had a headlight mounted in the front fender.... hang on... I just remembered... One morning 3 or 4 years ago I was walking past the window of a local bike shop in the wee morning hours and spotted a "brand new" cruiser in the window... Let me see if I can find the photo....
OK, this was taken almost 4 years ago. The frame design is totally different from a "real" cruiser, but you get the idea from the balloon tires, full fenders, chain guard, etc., etc., etc.
The Cruisers also had a spring mounted at the top of the front fork that acted like a shock absorber.
In the '70s someone up the road in Marin County put a derailleur on a Cruiser and, as they say, the rest is history (birth of the mountain bike).

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I wondered where the "Cruiser" came from, as, when compared to my Fuji, they do anything but cruise. They pretty much lumber. But the terrain is flat here and the lumbering is easy.

I learned about the Urban Bike Project from Second Son (it really is a worthy project), who was volunteering there some years ago. I don't think the bicycles were the attraction, but there was this young lady volunteer . . . .

When I left the military and went back to college I went out and bought a French made Ten Speed and rode that thing just about everywhere and made numerous "improvements" (ha!) over they years. I still have it and even though I'm now a senior citizen, I still take it out for a ride every now and then.
The bike itself was under $100.00, but after I put one of those Swiss made book racks on it and bought a lock, the bill was still less than $110.00.

Those were the days!

now that actually made me chuckle a bit. why not take it one step further?

anyhow, a bike without gears, brakes or fenders - how can that be anything but a fad...