The best commuter bike: Road, city or single-speed?

My latest commuter-bike challenge, this time facing off three different kinds of bikes: A speedy road bike, a comfortable three-speed city cruiser bike and a single-speed. The results surprised me! Maybe they'll surprise you too.

#bikecommuting #biketowork #cycling

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[midtoad]

It doesn't really matter which style bike is fastest. The best Bike for commuting is the one that you enjoy the most and will ride every day.

[ballom]

On a single speed you never need to care about being in the right gear, because you are always on the wrong one.

[ahoy]

I ride a single speed everyday and i love it. No fuss, goes fast. It's a delight.

[hananas]

For shorter commutes I love riding a singlespeed, it's my absolute go to for general use, but now that I'm daily commuting 40km (25 mi) I got a road bike.
Doing 8 hours of physical work and then having to ride home again in almost any weather is currently just too exhausting for me to do singlespeed. That might change in a few weeks or months though.

Update: I got a new job with half the commute distance and am commuting singlespeed again regularly.

[KenImduaikiat]

Totally agreed with yr comment. I ditched gears years ago and never look back. Luckily I live in a relatively flat city.

[wildeturkey]

I love my single speed, had mine for 11 years now. i've gone through so many bikes, from road bikes, front / dual suspension bikes, down hill bikes and I ALWAYS go back to my single speed. I reckon its that nostalgic factor, the memories of being a kid on a BMX. I love that there is a speed thats comfortable, so you hit it and stay at it. Around Sydney city, its a blast

[michaellyons]

Single speed bikes still have three speeds: sitting on the bike, standing on the bike, and .... pushing the bike.

[onebackzach]

Another point about the single speed is that you can't go into lower gears whenever you have to slow down or stop, so you end having to work harder to get back up to speed. That means you are probably going to subconsciously avoid slowing down more. When you combine that with the fact that you are going to typically have a higher power output on slight hills and headwinds so you can hold a comfortable cadence, you end up with a higher average speed. Of course that means more work, and in the case of stopping/slowing, probably more risk taking.

[bobbybyrne]

Something that's not talked about often is drivetrain efficiency. Here's a great article talking about the differences between 1x, 2x, Rohloff 14-speed, and Pinion 18-speed. It doesn't include single or fixed speeds, but they are widely considered more efficient than geared bikes due to reduced weight, straight chain, taller gear teeth, and shorter chain length, all contributing to higher efficiency. Given the article's test results, and the fact that a single speed won't ever reach 100% efficiency, it's likely not a large advantage, but still something to consider. Might partially explain the surprising commute times in this video.

[ridingwolf]

Even after seeing quite a bit of North American bike content, it's still funny to see how bikes are categorised.

All 3 of those bikes are road bikes. The fact that a race bike is called a road bike still gets me.

[johndelacruz]

Singlespeed user here, I used my singlespeed rig for more than a year wayback 2019 to early 2020 17kms one way 5x a week. In my experience its nice to use a singlespeed on uphills my rig uses a 52x22 drivetrain and what makes it fun it puts pressure on geared mountain bikes and roadies when you chase em up on a hillclimb and they realize you are using a singlespeed set up ehehe Greetings from the Philippines

[seau]

Ss is the best. I am single speed fir over 20years and i never felt i am in a wrong gear. I believe i am the gear.

[JD-oeuc]

Fixed gear (with front brake) was my favorite commuter for years (30 km per day). I ride fast (shower at work) and started with my old MTB with a special road wheel set. The Dutch wet weather, dirt on the roads, salt in the winter was killing for the gears. If you arrive at home at a cold, wet and dark winter evening, the last thing I want to do is bike maintenance. So I switched to fixed gear and it was the best choice ever! Good training for my weekend MTB ride, a really Zen experience (no rattling, noise etc) and weekly maintenance (apply some lube to the chain) was sufficient! Of course the Netherlands is flat, so I only had to battle wind and rain and snow sometimes. And bridges….

[doug]

Single-speed makes me work harder. I’ll get that one.

[Andramelach]

It's honestly why I enjoy single speeds, less complexity and you gain so much experience with one ratio, that you know what you can do with it. Here in Albuquerque we have some gnarly hills, but if you know what your pacing is with a gear, then you can always enjoy the ascents.

Intangible, it's just fun to ride and never have to worry about what gear I'm in, it's always wrong haha.

[juanamaya]

I loved that you added the sweat factor!

[buffalomind]

I just recently purchased a single speed as my 21speed bike got a flat that “forced” me to ride it a good amount of miles home on Christmas Day as I was expecting family over, so you gotta do what you gotta do. I’m great full that the rims were not damaged, but on fixing the flat there were three in all, but the third one was on the hard flat part by the Valve which is not able to be fixed with a patch, so that tube was done. While the bike was unusable from that point on I s ordered 2 tubes, and the next day I went walking thinking about purchasing a single speed bike, and happened upon a bike shop I’d past hundreds of times before without realizing it was there as I was always flying by focused on my destination. I saw it from across the street and literally took a picture for future reference, but decided you know what let me pop in and ask what they had in store. I explained what I wanted and thankfully the shop had exactly what I was looking for and it has been better than I expected it to be on several fronts. Bomb proof as far as not having to deal with finicky multiple front and rear rings/cogs as well as ditching an unnecessary front suspension, and seat post suspension which I haven’t noticed a difference in the negative not one iota. And the bike is lighter which is so appreciated when I lift it for whatever reason. Also a cleaner look with less wires is another plus along with them having dual caliper brakes as opposed to what I had before which was v-brakes. They are a much better look if not the same stopping power, but functional enough which is good enough for me. You have the opportunity to be more athletic more often as standing to pedal is done more often with a single speed than having 21 speeds which really no one uses all of those maybe a third if you are really actively clicking through them in a ride, but not needed/missed magically somehow when it is not an option to power down or up as you control it all within your legs.

[jasonloke]

I have 2 Singlespeed bikes. One is 35 year Old "market" bike where I can lock n park anywhere when I go supermarket. The other one, a titanium-frame bike, I go riding with my buddies in flat, flat Singapore. I can do 75km with it. Yes, Singlespeeds need little maintenance. Your videos are good. Thanks for sharing!

[ThinhNguyen-zkli]

this is the best video I have been looking for. thanks a lot

[miket.]

I converted a 21 speed Trek Verve to 7 speed by replacing the front 3spd crank with a 42t single crank and the stock 7spd in back. Best decision with this bike for me as it is the perfect compromise between simplicity and options. Just low enough that 1 & 2 gets me off the line quick and up small inclines, and 5-7 gears are tall enough that I don't spin out anywhere. The main plus is I got rid of the front derailleur which is usually the source of drivetrain issues. The one rear shifter can be tuned to perfection. Also no cross-chaining, ever.