I jumped on my bike (and by “bike” I mean “car”) to see if he was still there but I wasn’t as lucky as you were. Maybe I’ll put up some ‘lost’ signs and see what happens :)

Godspeed my blue little headless, armless freak…Godspeed.

Good or you in considering biking to work.

For me the main upside might be an esoteric one: the purity and simplicity of it all. From a dollar-sign perspective there’s definitely a benefit in that with a singlespeed bike there’s just less stuff to go wrong — no derailleurs, cables, shifters to break or need adjusting — but as my friend Manny says “gears are good!”

And he’s right, especially if you are considering “taking the plunge” as you said (and certainly with a South Pas/Hollywood route that has a variety of elevation gain/loss).

I loves me the singlespeeder stuff (not to be confused with fixed gear bikes, which are the very velo essence of purity and simplicity), but I would recommend you get a multi-speed bike that allows you to manage the route you’ll travel and grades you’ll encounter along the way with the most efficiency and least amount of discouragement.

I’m thinking about taking the biking plunge due to the gas prices and am gonna get a bike (though I live in S. Pas and work at Sunset Gower 8.6miles!!). I see bikers, especially around Scoops, with the single speed like your le noir. What’s the upside to that over the usual 10 speed?