I’d just built my road bike when I got sent to New York for a year with work. I didn’t know what storage I’d have and didn’t want it left chained to a lamppost in Manhattan so I bought a cheap singlespeed road bike from Bikesdirect. Probably the best value bike I’ve ever had. Did my first century on it!
When I came to get my 29er I wanted an Alfine 11 on it but as Shimano kept delaying the release I had it built as a singlespeed to tide me over. That was 3 years ago….
I ran my roadbike with 3×10 for a while, then put on the Alfine 8 that I’d bought for the 29er but found I preferred singlespeed. Roadbike’s now singlespeed too.
Having said that when I get my fatbike in the spring I’ll probably run that geared. Before I sold my Pugsley I found singlespeed too hard in the winter, in the dry it was fine but in the mud climbing out of the saddle just made the wheel spin so I like gears to be able to keep my weight back.