Finally a reason for not being single speed.

[CommuteTooFar]

I found last night riding home in the snow wishing for a lower gear.  In slippery conditions I find it much easier to pedal a smooth low speed with low gears.

[PaulF]

Why can't you pedal as smoothly with a singlespeed?

[Rhys W]

His gear isn't low enough, is what he's saying.

[Deano]

I find the constant feedback about the slipperiness of the conditions that you get while riding fixed to be a major boon.

Also, kick-ass powerslides

[1gear]

I find the constant feedback about the slipperiness of the conditions that you get while riding fixed to be a major boon.

Also, kick-ass powerslides

Spot on i say!!!
I find riding fixed in slippy weather better as you can control speed and be very smooth. Ive been down some very very slippy roads on fixed and i dont know how i stayed up right, people crossing the road were struggling to! I found that you can feel when the wheel is slipping and losing traction so you can react to this. In the case i mentioned above i couldnt actually do much and it felt more like i was in for the ride down the slope then controlling the bike! The road was sheet black ice and even light braking on the back wheen caused it to slip. I wasn't keen on touching the front brake!
However, i guess its just different peoples opinions.

[Domestique]

I guess my problem when I ride fixed, esp in the bad weather, I have become a lazy fixed rider and tend to rely on using the front brake rather than my legs.
That said I have ridden over ice, you know when everything goes light, and convinced myself where I on a geared bike I would have been moving to fast with brakes to control my speed I would have been down.
Tbh the last few days I have been walking, just not worth the risk imo.

[border-rider]

Swings & roundabouts, I think

+1 for the early sensing of of ice and the ability to slow gently using legs and avoid falling

But once you are on a really slippery surface, a freewheel allows you to stay dead still on the bike, making just tiny balance adjustments, and roll along until you're clear.  On fixed (for me anyway) the necessary movement and the counter-rotating masses of my legs tend to make me just a little more likely to fall over.

Can't beat fixed for deep snow though. Lack of a dead spot stops the bike from grinding to a halt every half pedal rev.

Tbh the last few days I have been walking, just not worth the risk imo.

Agreed.  As I get older I get more cautious 

[Ian H]

But once you are on a really slippery surface, a freewheel allows you to stay dead still on the bike, making just tiny balance adjustments, and roll along until you're clear.  On fixed (for me anyway) the necessary movement and the counter-rotating masses of my legs tend to make me just a little more likely to fall over.

Riding to York on 64", I found the two gert heavy panniers acted as dampers. The bike was very stable.

The main problem I find on icy roads is that of keeping warm. Riding smoothly and carefully doesn't generate much heat.

[MSeries]

Tbh the last few days I have been walking, just not worth the risk imo.

Same here, too many x-rays in the last three years.