Single Speed MTB

SpeedFreak

SpeedFreak

SpeedFreak

Soldato
Joined
14 Nov 2002
Posts
7,774
Location
Under the Hill
Well, I have just got back from my first ride on my newly converted single speed. It was an hour long blast through the woods near where I live. God I'm knackered. Looking at the bike now, caked in mud, I can see that it's going to be a lot easier to clean. No cassette or rear mech. No front mech and only one ring.
I went single speed just as an experiment, but I think it may be on my bike all winter. It forces you to ride hard, momentum is your friend. If you take it easy you suffer. If anybody is thinking of trying, I say go for it. It will get you in very good shape very quickly.
 
Meh, sod that, just came back from a very soggy singletrack blast in Thetford, believe me when I say I needed the granny ring on the uphills that had 3 inches of slippy top mud. Took all of 3 mins to clean with a hose and focused spray, problem solved :)
 
SpeedFreak said:
Well, I have just got back from my first ride on my newly converted single speed. It was an hour long blast through the woods near where I live. God I'm knackered. Looking at the bike now, caked in mud, I can see that it's going to be a lot easier to clean. No cassette or rear mech. No front mech and only one ring.
I went single speed just as an experiment, but I think it may be on my bike all winter. It forces you to ride hard, momentum is your friend. If you take it easy you suffer. If anybody is thinking of trying, I say go for it. It will get you in very good shape very quickly.
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Is this fixed wheel too?
 
Day 2 and no regrets. The ratio is 2:1 32 teeth on the front 16 on the back. It could do with abit more for the road, maybe 34:16, but offroad it's excellent. Works your calves, but luckily mine are huge :D . Somebody else should join the crazy dark side.
 
I'm planning to SS an old rigid Diamond Back I still have.

Got some V's to replace the original canti's it's still got on, then I need to figure out what to do with the chainset.
 
If I get round to actually finally having the SantaCruz Blur that I keep threatening to buy I'll probably turn my current rig into a single speed beast. Single speed on an old school Coyote Ultralite frame would just be stupidly light :D
 
FishFluff said:
Single speed on an old school Coyote Ultralite frame would just be stupidly light :D
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I had a Coyote HT3 a few years back with Judy SL's (yellow), Hope Suspension / Ti Glide on X517's, XTR V's, LX, XT gears. Weighed something like 23lbs. Singlespeed on an HT3 would be excellent.
 
I rarely use my bike gears. I just shift between what I assume is 10th and 15th on my 15 gear bike. Was riding up a long hill with the wind coming at me in 15th earlier, but you get to the top quicker overall rather than peddling frantically and going nowhere (hate it when I see people doing that, the chavs seem to think its cool :confused: )
 
Dr.EM said:
I rarely use my bike gears. I just shift between what I assume is 10th and 15th on my 15 gear bike. Was riding up a long hill with the wind coming at me in 15th earlier, but you get to the top quicker overall rather than peddling frantically and going nowhere (hate it when I see people doing that, the chavs seem to think its cool :confused: )
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Lower gears increases your cadence which is a lot easier on your legs. Also if your riding on slippy terrain in high gears you will just spin the rear wheel.
 
Phnom_Penh said:
How are you keeping the chain tight?
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A bit of luck and a bit of manipulation. I filed 1mm off my dropouts and 1/2 mm on one side of my rear axel. My chain is now a perfect fit for the ring sizes and bottom bracket to dropout distance. Quite fortunate as tensioners just add weigth and noise.
 
Phnom_Penh said:
Erm. Yeh they do. As well as cog wear.
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erm no they don't. It may be a term used, but chains do not strect. Yes you get cog wear and yes you get chain wear, and yes this gives the perception of stretching, but pin to pin distance does not increase :p
 
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