Fixed is way easier than you'd think. I went singlespeed first to see how I'd cope (I'd only ever had MTBs before) without gears, and it's no problem at all. I wish I went fixed first - it's such a pleasure to ride, and whenever I ride a non-fixed bike it just feels really, really weird.
My advice (because you're a roadie, I wouldn't say this if you were totally new to road riding) is just go fixed straightaway. As I think MrSmith once said, riding ss is like sucking a boiled sweet with the wrapper still on.
Surly do make something called the "Fixxer" that converts shimano cassette hubs to fixed.
It's quite expensive, about £59 I think, but it's a lot cheaper than a whole new bike and you could probably make the money back by selling your shifters etc. The only downside is that you'll need either trackends or semi-horizontal dropouts to adjust the chain tension. Using a chain tensioner on fixed is not a good idea.
Fixed is way easier than you'd think. I went singlespeed first to see how I'd cope (I'd only ever had MTBs before) without gears, and it's no problem at all. I wish I went fixed first - it's such a pleasure to ride, and whenever I ride a non-fixed bike it just feels really, really weird.
My advice (because you're a roadie, I wouldn't say this if you were totally new to road riding) is just go fixed straightaway. As I think MrSmith once said, riding ss is like sucking a boiled sweet with the wrapper still on.
Surly do make something called the "Fixxer" that converts shimano cassette hubs to fixed.
It's quite expensive, about £59 I think, but it's a lot cheaper than a whole new bike and you could probably make the money back by selling your shifters etc. The only downside is that you'll need either trackends or semi-horizontal dropouts to adjust the chain tension. Using a chain tensioner on fixed is not a good idea.