Viewing 37 posts - 1 through 37 (of 37 total)
  • Full sus single speed
  • AndrewBF
    Free Member

    You don’t see many FS/SS bikes around. Is it something that is possible or are there quite valid engineering reasons as to why it isn’t ‘a good thing’?

    oneoneoneone
    Free Member

    yeah, Kona made/make?? a ss specific fsss

    it was called the kona “a” but im not to sure what there called theses days.

    oneoneoneone
    Free Member

    hungrymonkey
    Free Member

    i have a kona A – 2003 model. its a good laugh and makes a change from the usual SS i was riding. pivoted round the BB to keep chainlength constant, and kinda needed a lockout cshock for prolonged climbing.

    (when i say i have an A, what i mean is that the frame (inc fox vanilla shock with lockout) + magura HS33s, fits someone up to 6 foot, are hanging in my parents garage waiting to be sold… £100)

    EDIT – exactly like that one.

    sambob
    Free Member

    Commencal absolut sx is another, but most ss fs bikes are slopestyle bikes.

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    You go single speed to save faffing around with excess technology, so you’re likely to not want suspension either.

    oneoneoneone
    Free Member

    Hungry Monkey, i have been trying to get one for ages now!! where are you based??

    Clink
    Full Member

    Here you go – and it’s a 29er 🙂

    http://www.lenzsport.com/detail.php?prodID=4

    hungrymonkey
    Free Member

    oneoneoneone – i’m based in the alps… but my parents (and the frame) are based in York.

    AndrewBF
    Free Member

    @epicyclo Point taken. But I’d expect that a well set up rear sus would be a lot less hassle than keeping a full set of gears and shifters in tune.

    I’ve been reading that some (all?) rear sus set ups make use of chain tension as part of the dynamic system. So a SS with rear tensioner should mechanically be the same as being in any particular gear in a 3 x 9 set up in terms of chain tension at any point in the power cycle. Or not?

    oneoneoneone
    Free Member

    Hungry- Tbh i think ill have to take a miss as my bank account is saying NO atm.

    thanks though

    mamadirt
    Free Member

    I have owned a couple of Kona Cowan DS frames (like a burly ‘A’) set up singlespeed and loved them. My current bike is a similar design Commencal Absolut SX but as yet the singlespeed dropouts have stayed in the box – not sure 140mm travel and 1 gear is going to be a lot of fun unless the trail slopes downward.

    epicyclo – Member

    You go single speed to save faffing around with excess technology, so you’re likely to not want suspension either.

    As Sambob says, a lot of f/s singlespeed bikes are designed for slopestyle where a rear mech is just one more thing to trash in a crash and not strictly necessary for gravity-assisted competition.

    james
    Free Member

    It looks like they’ve dropped it for 2011 but Lapierre passport would be SSable:

    Various softtails from the likes of Salsa, Moots, Global etc etc

    I remember in WhatMountainBike some time ago they had an interview with I think Matt Carr? He singlespeeded a Trek Fuel (it doesn’t pivot around the BB shell) with a short cage road mech

    hungrymonkey
    Free Member

    no bother oneoneoneone, i know how being a little cash tight feels!

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    hungry monkey, although I really shouldn’t ask (in case it’s my size), what size is the frame?

    RobHilton
    Free Member

    So a SS with rear tensioner should mechanically be the same as being in any particular gear in a 3 x 9 set up in terms of chain tension at any point in the power cycle

    Sounds sensible; have seen a Demo9 and a Tr Blindside set up as SS so would guess it’ll work with most bikes.

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    SS FS feels as if you were riding your bike with the gear shifter broken in a particular gear. I liked my A (before I stupidly sold her, moron!) but never used the lockout.

    psychle
    Free Member

    SS FS feels as if you were riding your bike with the gear shifter broken in a particular gear.

    Well duh…? 😉

    Have been seriously thinking about SS’ing the Bow-ti, it should work without a tensioner (using an EBB)? No chain growth with a URT style setup is there?


    IMG_9212 by ten_sim, on Flickr

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    psychle, it will. And the bike will end up looking better too.

    psychle
    Free Member

    That’s what I’ve been thinking as well, simplify the lines down a bit (I especially don’t like the rear mech cable routing, ’tis silly!). Might do it tonight in fact!

    AndrewBF
    Free Member

    @psychle Do it! We want photos on here before midnight. 🙂

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    We do especially that I shall be going 35kms to drop my wife’s laptop tonight for repair.

    thepodge
    Free Member

    Someone on here has / had an Alfine on the back of a Trance which must be pretty much the same as setting up a ss

    hungrymonkey
    Free Member

    Hairychested – not sure exactly – i’m 6 foot and it fitted fine, although i’d not want to be much taller – probably suits 5’9 – 6 foot. 17 inch?

    Olly
    Free Member

    SS freeridey DH bikes are great fun.

    rubbish for actually getting from the top to the bottom as fast as possible, but they make you maintain your speed as pedalling is tricky, so make you flow better.
    also removes the possibility of knocking bits off!
    ideal for “dicking about” on 🙂

    i was looking at getting one, until i got my patriot.

    flatfish
    Free Member


    Can’t really see but it’s in SS mode

    clubber
    Free Member

    Here’s mine.

    I’m also building up another one from a broken FS frame.

    Why aren’t there many about? For a start they’re kind of a contradiction – SS is usually either about being maintenance free(ish) or about the ‘purity’/other simplicity BS so FS goes against that.

    Also FS bikes tend to reward smooth pedalling which goes pretty well against what you do on a SS. One of the reasons why mine about is the URT design which was very compromised as a general (geared) design but works well as a SS as it stiffens when you get out of the saddle to do some gurning…

    amedias
    Free Member

    I loved my Kona A before it was stolen last year, pedalled surprisingly well and fitted in with the SS spinny spinny style on the flats and downs by allowing you to keep pedalling sat down with a few inches of squish

    Hairychested
    Free Member

    hungry monkey. if it’s a 17-18″ please email me the details as it’s my size and I’ve been told to get the frame by the wife.

    adeward
    Free Member

    here is my first FS SS built in 1999 for cheddar it has now morphed into

    z1ppy
    Full Member

    just when you thought it’s impossible to come up with an uglier whyte than the std preston, well done that man! 😛

    Tell me though, out of curiosity, how have you attached the mech/tensioner?

    andrewh
    Free Member

    Done it once, rather unsuccessful.
    Broke a mech-hanger mid-race so built an SS to finish on. Everytime the suspension compressed the chain would jump off, solved it by locking it out. You will need a tensioner of some sort. Or a URT.
    I believe someone on here has a belt driven one?

    clubber
    Free Member

    Even if you have a URT like mine above, you’ll usually still need a tensioner as there’s no other way to tension the chain

    mamadirt
    Free Member

    I have no idea what morbid curiosity keeps me coming back to this thread – not enjoyed singlespeeding for a couple of years and finally made the decision to sell my lil red ‘bred last week – but part of me wants to fit the s/s dropouts to the Absolut just to see, like . . . and I need a new rear mech anyway. Hmmmmmm, new mech or one of those bling half-link orange chains? 😛

    adeward
    Free Member

    the tensioner on Marin/preston is an old sunn dh item the bb holds it on , works very well if it is hit very hard it just rotates backwards and just needs to be rotated back to the correct position ,, this very rarely happens but nothing gets damaged when it does,,

    i have been riding with this system since 1999 and havnt broken it yet,, and have been looking for another tensioner since then as a spare,

    clubber
    Free Member

    I’ve always really fancied having a SS setup with a ‘phantom cog’ but not convinced how secure it’d be off road and don’t fancy searching for undergrowth for it if it did come out. That and also looking for my teeth 😉

    http://www.mtbr.com/ssfaqcrx.aspx#ssConversionsRearHub – point 8

    flamejob
    Free Member

    These guys run Singlespeed mainly ’cause they can’t afford to keep replacing broken bits 😀

    [video]http://vimeo.com/17237069[/video]

Viewing 37 posts - 1 through 37 (of 37 total)

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