New Bike

I have a new bike. It’s a lightweight singlespeed roadbike.

I wanted something more simple and more fun than my allround trecking bicycle. And that plan panned out: I love riding this!

I never rode a bike like this before, so I had a few concerns:

For one, I was unsure about tyres – specifically the slick profile and the 28mm width, which is narrower than anything I’ve had on previous bikes. But after consulting friends, YouTube and countless forum posts, I was confident the tyres should be fine. And they are: no issues so far with those. Sure, you feel gravel sections a lot more, but on the road and bicycle tracks they are perfectly fine. And they roll with very low resistance (at least for me).
During the research I learned that slick tyres should indeed be more grippy than their profiled equivalents, since you have more rubber in close contact with the road; and aquaplaning is not an issue with bicycle tyres.

Another concern was that it’s a single speed – meaning, I have no gears to help me go uphill. Since Düsseldorf is pretty flat, though, I didn’t see this as a major concern. And indeed it was totally doable going up short steeper section such as bridge ramps etc. I will say, though, that you have to pedal harder of course. Plus, I had one longer ride with quite a bit of headwind, which is a scenario I would normally use a lighter gear to help me out.

But overall I enjoy the simplicity and the speed and the manoeuvrability. It looks cool, too! And it absolutely makes me want to ride more.

A few specs:

• It’s a Fixie Inc. “Floater”.
• Aluminium frame.
• 10.5 kgs.
• 28mm WTB Thickslick tyres.
• Gear ratio 46/16.
• I ride this as a freewheel, not as fixed gear.