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‘‘It’s terrifying sometimes,” Hommer said. ‘‘But I get a kick out of it.”

A fixed gear bicycle, or ‘‘fixie,” has the rear wheel and pedals connected through a single, fixed gear. The mechanics of the bike make it impossible to coast, unless the rider wants to taste asphalt. It’s just like the original bicycle design: if your back wheel is moving, your legs better be pedaling.

But unlike some single-gear children’s bikes, fixed gear bikes can’t be stopped by pressing backwards on the pedals.

While some riders install hand brakes, the natural, pure fixie relies on a shift in the rider’s weight to stop the bike — a dangerous proposition, especially in urban riding.

Yet fixies are more popular now than ever before in recent memory, with an especially large, growing contingent in the Washington, D.C., metro area.

While there are many explanations for the trend, Patrice Delva, who has worked at Big Wheel Bikes in Bethesda for the past five years, said it is simple economics.

‘‘People are commuting more on bikes,” Delva said. ‘‘As gas prices rise, people are looking for simplicity in their commuting bikes.”

Thomas Arminio, a member of the National Institutes of Health Bike Club, rode a fixie to work nearly every day from his home near the National Zoo in the District until he moved to Bethesda last week. He said the simple maintenance of a fixie is what makes it so appealing.

‘‘There was only one day all winter when it was too bad outside for me to ride to work,” Arminio said. ‘‘The snow and rain don’t goof up the gears as much on a fixie, because there is only one gear.”

During Friday’s Bike to Work Day — an event to promote bicycle commuting — fixies were spotted at events in downtown Bethesda and at NIH.

While multi-geared bikes still dominate the cycling landscape, Paul Reighard, a bike mechanic from City Bikes in Adams Morgan who was tuning-up bikes at the NIH event, made the case that most fixie riders make: Simpler is better.

‘‘The $150 department store bikes are pure evil,” Reighard said. ‘‘At the same price they can put out an inexpensive bike without a suspension or gears, and with much better quality throughout. But don’t get me wrong, any bike is better than a car.”

It doesn’t get much simpler than a fixed gear bike. Without the added weight of gears and suspension, a fixed gear bike can be whittled down to less than 20 pounds, nearly 10 pounds less than most of its geared counterparts. For people who use their fixies for commuting, a lighter, more streamlined bike can make all the difference.

According to bicycle shops, like Big Wheel Bikes in Bethesda and City Bikes in Chevy Chase, sales for fixies are up. City Bikes is currently selling about five per month, up from nearly none in past years.

But increased sales alone might not account for the increased number of fixies on the road.

As opposed to an 18-speed Huffy or Specialized, fixies can be, and frequently are, made at home relatively easily. Often, Delva said, people will take an old 10-speed bicycle and convert it to a fixie, for less than $50 if you do the renovation yourself.

While many rave about the fixie’s sleek style, or lightweight, often the reason one switches to a fixie is for the workout. Since the bike only has one gear, climbing and descending hills can be a challenge, according to Nick Hritz, who is the manager at City Bikes in Chevy Chase.

‘‘It’s much more of a workout than a regular bike, because you are constantly working against your own momentum,” Hritz said. ‘‘It’s like hiking down the Grand Canyon with a full pack; the momentum kills you.”

The rigors of city riding and commuting on a fixie, coupled with the bike’s poor stopping time, has caused many fixie riders to install supplemental hand brakes. Hommer said that riding without a handbrake would be near impossible.

‘‘Riding in traffic is scary anyway, I couldn’t imagine riding without brakes,” Hommer said. ‘‘Besides, my wife would kill me.”