Commuting by SS/FG

I do almost 30 a day on 48/19 and it's fine.

Mainly flat route, with one hill on the way home, which I slug it up. Sometimes, for training, I go other routes that have hills and it's no bother.

When deciding whether to go fixed, I just selected a suitable gear on my geared bike and did my commute on that gear only. I did that a few times and fact that it was easily doable. So I bought a Fuji Track and have never looked back.

Similar story here. 36 miles a day, 2/3/4 days a week, sometimes with a longer ride thrown in one night. I did the same as Pistolero trying the whole route in one gear (on a MTB with slicks) for a couple of weeks just as a challenge. It's more mental attitude than physical ability, I tend to feel like I need gears when on a geared bike even though my route is mostly flat. (I also now ride a Fuji).

P.S. Single speed is bollocks, you may as well just keep your geared bike. go fixed or stay geared.

Single speed can be fun, much easier on the downhills and easier to jump up kerbs and over other obstacles (drains, glass, etc). Ride how you want to ride - it's your commute.

Having said that, I've been riding those 36 miles for the last two years with a fixed wheel and it feels sort of disconnected on SS now.