Viewing 29 posts - 41 through 69 (of 69 total)
  • First ever singlespeed ride tonight – will I die?
  • rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    I’ve got 36:16 on my 29er Swift.

    😯

    boxelder
    Full Member

    32:18 for the hills for me here.

    No beard, but do use bar ends.

    takisawa2
    Full Member

    33:18 here, on a 29er, riding mostly Cannock area. New years resolution was a whole year in one gear, & its still going strong. Aside from a few times on Cannocks Monkey trail, I’ve not struggled too much. I’ve always preffered getting up out the saddle on climbs, & thats the thing I love about SS. I’m only 5’9″ but swapping to a 29er felt so much better, the bike just seems so much better suited to SS. Going up steep & loose stuff is always a difficult one, constantly looking for the line that will give the best traction. The grippy rear tyre is a good call. Ive gone through three sets of pedals this year, latterly a set of DX 647’s, with the plastic cage. Might try normal (non-caged) SPD’s next. Currently on some flats but being fully rigid can end up getting bounced off the pedals on bumpy desents.
    No beard but do don sandals sometimes.

    Muke
    Free Member

    I converted my P7 to SS a couple of weeks ago to give it a try and was suprised at the ache all over thing but after a few rides now feeling better.What I am struggling with still is not being able to cruise along in top gear.I used to go up through the gears as I came downhill and just power along when I got to the flat, now I have to coast more till my speed drops enough to be able to pedal again without spinning out. Maybe coasting is the reward for putting in more effort getting up the hill in the first place.

    No beard or sandals yet though.

    devs
    Free Member

    I haven’t ridden my SS for ages. This thread has given me the desire again. I think I shall ride a lot of the winter on one.

    mattjg
    Free Member

    while we’re here, what front tyre for a rigid SS in the winter? needs to be ok in the slop, wet roots, fast rolling, have enough volume for a little suspension (2.2ish IMO), and be galvanised from the tears of orphaned kittens.

    loum
    Free Member

    Thinking of converting a bike to singlespeed for winter for the simplicity, and it sounds like a fun challenge.
    The thing is, I’ve got very attached to my flat pedals since I switched from spuds a couple of years back. I’d like to keep them on, even though it sounds like most singlespeeders benefit from spuds.
    Does anyone ride a singlespeed on flats, is it ok or a waste of time?

    Gotama
    Free Member

    Mattjg – I’ve just put a purgatory on mine in 2.2 flavour and ride round the surrey hills. Only had one ride on it but was pretty impressed with the grip. Hopefully they’ll bring the 2.4 over here soon. Other than that the hans dampf in 2.4 blows up nice and big but i’m not convinced by the grip in wet mud, all seems a bit vague to me.

    mattjg
    Free Member

    @gotama ta that’s the kind of thing. Know if it’ll fit OK on a Stans 355, ghetto tubeless?

    (Me SH too).

    womble72
    Free Member

    @rocketdog. What’s shocking about 36:16? 😀 I’ve never experimented with other ratios so have no idea what’s good or bad. I’m just putting my ‘walking up some hills’ and ‘almost dying from exhaustion’ down to the fact I’m overweight, crap diet, unfit and relatively new to SS 😀

    nbt
    Full Member

    Well the OP hasn’t bene back so maybe he didn’t make it? ANyone know him? Any decent bikes going begging?

    gibbonarms
    Free Member

    Singlespeeding is the future! You’ll love it! 😀

    I’m back out on my hardtail this eve for Dalby Full Red: 21 miles of fun, never done the full red on it before, but do it on other bikes and have ridden my SS up some of the hills in there before but Addersback climb might be the ‘fun’ one to beast myself up!!!

    scott_mcavennie2
    Free Member

    I ride 32:16 here on the Surrey hills. Had it at afan a couple of weeks ago, which was no real problem. The initial whites level climb makes me vomit with gears, so it was the same.

    Frame geometry makes a big difference. I have found my heavier ns surge to climb better, and with less rear wheel spin than my previous inbred.

    tlr
    Full Member

    Well, thank you for your concerns about my welfare, and offers on my bikes.

    I did survive, although I confess that I cheated a bit seeing as it was such a lovely evening and went for a proper ride first on my normal bike, followed by a short circuit on the ss.

    The fully rigid felt strange, it’s my first for about 12 years. The gearing seemed ok, strangely it felt different to the same ratio on a geared bike, but I can see some walking on long steep climbs.

    I quite enjoyed it; I might do it again.

    mattjg
    Free Member

    The gearing seemed ok, strangely it felt different to the same ratio on a geared bike

    It’s more efficient: straight chainline, no jockey wheels, no derailleur cage rub.

    mattjg
    Free Member

    and picks up quicker if your chain is tight.

    I also think my SS rolls better, it can’t be the transmission because it’s not being used at that time. So it’s either the rigid forks, or I’m imagining it.

    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    @rocketdog. What’s shocking about 36:16?

    Nothing, on a fixie. On the road, that would pop my hips out off road

    Gotama
    Free Member

    @gotama ta that’s the kind of thing. Know if it’ll fit OK on a Stans 355, ghetto tubeless?

    Not sure this is much help but the Hans Dampf blew up very easily onto my P35s and the Purgatory went up easily on some Flows. Can’t help on the ghetto side of things though. The purgatorys are a tight fit when getting them onto the rim which i’d have thought bodes well for ghetto tubeless.

    I’ll be on a big purple canfield yelli or a swift singlespeed.

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    I think 36:16 on a 29er is the same ratio as my second highest gear on a 1×10 26er! That seems like very hard work indeed. Typical singlespeed starting point gearing is 32:16 on a 26er so 32:18 on a 29er.

    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    32:19 on mine

    cupra
    Free Member

    Anyone selling a rigid ss? Sold mine a while back and I do miss it. Ho hum.

    Glad the OP seemed to enjoy the experience. They are great for winter, from a maintenance point of view if nothing else.

    D0NK
    Full Member

    Does anyone ride a singlespeed on flats, is it ok or a waste of time?

    MrSparkle of this parish runs flats on his SS (think his mate does too) certainly doesn’t slow him down any!

    nbt
    Full Member

    will be selling an SS soon, not rigid but cheap enough to allow you to buy rigid forks…

    cupra
    Free Member

    Tell me more 🙂

    Gotama
    Free Member

    Does anyone ride a singlespeed on flats, is it ok or a waste of time?

    Yep, i ran my canfield singlespeed with flats for a while as i’m not comfortable with clips when doing more silly stuff. Works fine, bit harder up the hills as you can’t pull up as hard but it’s all perfectly acceptable. If i could find a decent tensioner that worked with the weird rear dropout weld on it then i’d be very tempted to leave it as a singlespeed.

    scott_mcavennie2
    Free Member

    I’ve ridden in flats for everything, always. Don’t see the bog deal about riding a ss with flats 😕

    cupra
    Free Member

    Don’t see the bog deal about riding a ss with flats

    Foot slippage in the wet resulting in a family jewels / stem interface led me to only ride the ss I had at the time in spds 🙂

    loum
    Free Member

    Thanks for the advice/encouragement DONK, gotama, SM2, and cupra.
    I’m gonna go for it and convert the bike this week to ss, keeping the flats too but I’ll be careful on the stem. Cheers all.

    womble72
    Free Member

    I bought some chunky DMR V8s and the pins are grippy, so far no foot slippage… However, if my foot does slip, my legs will get shredded :-O

Viewing 29 posts - 41 through 69 (of 69 total)

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