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@Cope
I'm in the process of buying my first bike for about 5 years. Having searched the forums I came up with the best options for my budget, and I went to LBS and had a go on a Tricross Fixed with 42/16 around the town - no hills, reasonable amount of traffic.
Maybe because I'm unfit, or maybe because my last bike (Dolan/Centaur Audax) was so lovely, I didn't love it - it just didn't quite sing for me. I also didn't get on well with the pedals - toe-clips, and I found it hard to get my left foot into the left clip once the pedals had started moving. I also found that I was wobbling a little at about 20 mph, which felt unnerving.
I'm a bit worried about hills, given that my last experience of riding fixed was falling off, going down a steep hill in the Cotswolds on a fairly heavily loaded bike - although to be fair that bike was a bit crap.
My daily ride will involve a few hills - I'm not worried about going up them - it's going down them that scares me - especially with fairly loaded panniers. I feel tense at the memory of feeling out of control, and wobbly, and I remember not liking the feeling of not being very able to stop when the pedals were going round faster than I felt I wanted to go.
I'm also a little worried about handling London traffic - I used to cycle in London on my audax bike, and got used to it, but I guess I don't feel very in control or nimble, so worry about stopping / starting / weaving around.
These doubts are adding to the sense that perhaps I should just get a geared bike - no worries about hills there at all - freewheel if it's too fast, and low gear going up if need be. Only concern is that there's a lot of wasted stuff - I don't need 28 gears, and I love the simplicity of no front or rear mechs, plus the decrease in weight (although given that I'll be carrying 10+ kg of stuff on the rack, perhaps that's negligible). I also sense that at the same budget a Tricross Single is just going to be better quality than an equivalent priced tourer or audax.
Maybe I'm scarred by my last experience, and I should just get over it - I just don't want to spend £500 on a fixie + kit, only not to ride it much because I don't enjoy it, when I could spend the same on a geared bike that I know I will enjoy, but might wish it were faster and lighter and simpler - somehow more elegant.
Reassurances? Advice?