[Industry_Hack]

Mine is actually from Eighthinch.com, and mounts to the water bottle cage bosses. I prefer it over the one I linked to, as it is a bit shorter.

[BeginnerCycling]

I have one of each of these -- they fit perfectly in my saddlebags:

http://amzn.to/TQMKvH

http://amzn.to/SNiBva

[Merlincustom]

With some flats, the tire can stay on and you just need to carry this. It's pretty small.

[salvage_bikes]

Wow, you have to be in a hurry to use that! $13 each , and may or may not work.

http://www.amazon.com/Vittoria-Stop-Racing-repair-spray/dp/B000M52EB6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355361865&sr=8-1&keywords=vittoria+pitstop

[Noel]

Warning I am about to be snarky. I ride a fixed gear mostly in the winter to avoid trashing my regular road bike and for the fun and training benefits. However I have never ridden a single or fixed gear because I am overwhelmed or distracted by the process of shifting gears. Anyone who rides regularly should be or work at being competent enough to find shifting second nature. The idea that one would wonder or have to think twice about when to shift or what gear to be in is laughable to an experienced cyclist. OK everyone have at it and tell me what an ass I am for posting this.

[Industry_Hack]

I don't recall anyone posting that they had trouble with shifting, but I do like my single speed road bike as well as my 24" BMX because I don't have to think about shifting at all. It's not that shifting requires much thought, but when you only have one gear, things are different.

[syrgrad91]

I have both a 24-speed MTB and now two single-speed project bikes. Why single-speed? Well, I built the first one out of curiosity and enjoy the hell out of it, so I built the second bike for fun (and so I could keep a bike at my place and another at my fiancee's house). There's something uncomplicated and elegant about single-speed bikes. Yes, there have been times when I wished I could switch gears to a slightly higher gear ratio, but that being said, I go through the same thing with the 5-speed transmission in my car. There are times when I wish I had a 6th gear so I could run fewer RPM's at highway speeds. It's a trade-off, but one I'm willing to live with.

[salvage_bikes]

I think shifting the gears is a breeze, especially with all the new style chainrings and cogs made to whirl into place in an instant. I don't mind the old flat cogs, though, or the little ticking noises made when shifting. To me, the trick is simple: let off the gas an instant, and the bike will shift the gears easily. I think the people having trouble with gears don't know how to adjust them, or don't "soft pedal" when shifting. To me the main advantage of the 1x1 is just getting on it and riding, without a bunch of trash or mud getting in the rear derailer. And without the worry about a chain popping or skipping, it's easy to focus on mashing some more. Different bikes for different days!

[retromike3]

One question about shifting gears is what do you really need? I'M an old guy so I think more in gear inches. on my touring bike I have a low gear of about eighteen inches and a top end of a little over a hundred. The gear I like to use a lot is about a fifty two inch gear.(I have been pushing a lower gear than usual because I broke both of my legs last year.) The gear i use on my fixed is about sixty five inches 39-16 but I just run it on my mag trainer lately.

On my road bike I have the complete set of ramps and pins and it will shift even if you just stomp on it. I set my younger brother up with a cross bike and it had a set of ramps on the rear cassette but he still had problems with it. (in fact he put so much force on the thumb shifters I set him up with that he moved them out of place.) He was used to the Shimano crapped fire set up that he actually had to learn how to shift a bike correctly. I used to say that the good thing about indexing was that anybody can ride a bike and the bad thing about indexing is that anybody can ride a bike.

[salvage_bikes]

You can look on the Sheldon Brown archives for measurements and conversions other than gear-inches, such as meters development. http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/