July 13th, 2009 by 
kwc
Why a Fixed Gear? Why Single Speed?
One of the questions I frequently dealt with when talking to friends about the Sputnik was, “Why would I want to give up gears?” The answer to this question has little to do with comparing the Jamis Sputnik against other bikes with a single gear, but I feel that I should address this quickly as the question is so common. If you want a more detailed guide, there’s always Sheldon Brown’s article on fixed geared bicycles.
There are many categories of reasons that one may wish to give up gears. Among them are maintenance, money, style, and training. For maintenance, there’s no derailleurs to adjust, less cables to worry about, no shifters to fix, and the frame is much easier to clean as there are less parts on it. Anytime I had an issue with the bike, it was easy to diagnose as there simply aren’t enough moving parts on the bike to fiddle with. As for money, not only are you not paying for those extra parts, there’s also a lot less you can steal off the bike!
By “style,” I don’t mean hipsters vs. roadies vs. mountain bikers.
Someone might choose a BMW over a Lexus because they think the BMW looks cooler. Or they might like the more comfortable handling of the Lexus. Or they might prefer German engineering. Style has many facets to it, as do flip-flop bicycles. Perhaps you like the simplicity of the frame and lack of cabling. Maybe you like not having to think about shifting when you come to a stop sign. Or you might like the control that a fixed gear bike gives you. Or maybe you just want to do those awesome bike tricks from the movie Quicksilver. Style is one of those things that is hard to define and is one of the reasons why there are so many bike brands to choose from.
I’m not sure training will be a big reason to choose the Jamis Sputnik, but it is another reason to go without gears from time to time. A fixed-gear bike forces you to work on the smoothness of your pedal stroke and work at higher cadences. One of my cycling coach friends advises his clients to train on the track for this very reason. A fixed-gear drivetrain is also more efficient as you’re never cross-chaining.
Of these reasons, maintenance and style are most important to me. It rains a lot during the winter here, so I want a bike that I can get wet on a daily basis and not worry about. Any sludge that gets on the bike is easy to get off and the big, fat chain is easy to keep lubed. I also appreciate the mental simplicity of the bike. When I built my most recent road bike, I decided not to stick my Garmin bike computer on it because I had grown tired of the extra gizmos, cables, and batteries. A bike that looks clean and stays clean appeals to me.
These are all reasons why you might choose a fixed-gear or single-speed bike, but why the Sputnik? Jamis built some compromises into the design of the Sputnik to give you more flexibility than a pure fixie or pure single-speed. The flip-flop design lets you ride fixie when you want the benefits of fixed-gear riding, single-speed when you want the benefits of freewheeling (i.e. not having to constantly pedal and being able to go downhill safely). Jamis also put front and rear brakes on the bike. That makes it score less on the maintenance and money reasons, but it also means more safety and control.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:14 am
I have this bike and absolutely love it. I have switched out the stock crank, bars, wheelset, tires, and saddle. Now it is perfect! The stock crank is pretty cheap, and the wheels aren’t very good.
It seems odd to me that this review is so concerned w/ the flip flop hub. Nearly every fixed gear bike these days has a flip flop hub, so that’s not something that is unusual to the Sputnik.
Also, your frame of reference is obviously different than that of a regular fixed gear rider. You seem to think the Sputnik is slow and heavy at 19 lbs, but I disagree. The Sputnik is actually lighter than a lot of other fixed gear, CR-MO offerings. The carbon fiber fork helps to keep it light, and it is the only FG bike that comes w/ steel and a CF fork. A great combination, IMO. I think Jamis would be doing a disservice by putting a steel fork on the sputnik. You make a good point about the cable stops, though.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Same poster as above^^^
Also, about the CF fork, I don’t see how it changes the look of the sputnik. This bike has absolutely 0 “retro appeal.” It does not look like an old bike at all. The graphics, threadless stem, everything on it looks very modern. So, in this way, a CF fork fits perfectly w/ the look of the sputnik.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Hi Ben,
Thanks for your comments. It’s always great to have comments from owners of these bikes and from a different perspective.
To clarify, I don’t think the bike is slow because of its weight — weight honestly doesn’t matter that much on the terrain I was using it on. I think it was slow because of the wheels, which I make some reference to with regards to slowdown in the rear hub over time; I should have made this more clear in the article.
With regards to frame of reference, you’re right. I wrote this review with the perspective of people who might consider switching to fixed gear, not from the perspective of people who already own fixies. As the majority of the comments and questions I experienced while riding this bike were from the non-fixed-gear riders, I felt that this was the more important audience to address.