They cop a lot of ridicule for being impractical but a fixed gear track bike with a single front brake has been my daily commuter / beater for years with minima

They cop a lot of ridicule for being impractical but a fixed gear track bike with a single front brake has been my daily commuter / beater for years with minimal maintenance. You can ride them through anything and they keep going, replace brake pads occasionally, a chain or a sprocket very occasionally and that’s basically it. I think they’re perfect from a maintenance perspective but it does depend on where you live. Sheldon Brown had some good articles about their versatility.