I have never done it. Is it really hard work or fun?
Thinking about it for a short commute to start with.

Is it a mtb’ing short commute?

For commuting (normal road stuff), it’s grand. For mtb’ing, it sucks. If you’re on terrain you can use a single speed, the terrain’s boring… IMO, obviously.

10% of the time you will be in the right gear, which means 90% of the time….

It’s bloody hard work on the hills, but once you get the hang pf the technique it’s surprising what you can get up. The most annoying aspect is the flat parts where you spin out but want to go faster. The best part is not having to listen to hundreds of pounds worth of parts being ground down by mud and crap and all the annoying mechanicals that result from it like chain suck.

I went through a long phase of reveling in it. Then, at about 3am, as I was struggling up a horrible Newnham Park hill in the middle of Bontrager 24/12, I thought “This is awful. It’s boring. It hurts. I’m humiliating and depressing myself, while going really slowly, as an exercise in some sort of purist, dick-waving tosh. I could just get gears, and never have this feeling at 3am again.”

That was the end of singlespeeding for me. In the next 24hour race I did, I broke my mech to pieces at 3am, which was also unpleasant, but did not cause me to revisit my decision.

🙂

For mtb’ing, it sucks. If you’re on terrain you can use a single speed, the terrain’s boring…

Rubbish 🙂 I’m not particularly fit, and yes, it took me a good couple of years to actually enjoy it enough for the bike to become a permanent singlespeed (rather than swapping the gears and ss kit every few months) but I can ride most stuff on it.

It does help to suffer in pain though, we do an annual sufferfest to Wales and 6 – 8 of us will do a load of Afan together. A mix of seasoned SS’ers and those that have been coerced to come along. Most return the following year 🙂

This year I struggled but last I managed avoid pushing anything last year, which included the W2. And that was with me doing a short group ride once per month and a short night ride (on the SS) once per week for the previous six months.

I have used solely rigid single speed MTBs for the last 10+ years (which a bit of fixed road riding in between)

I have also lived in the same area for that time and the terrain is boring so agree with the comment around that. I don’t need gears and I don’t need suspension.

However, the part that is least fun is riding the road sections on a spinny gear but then if your commute is only 3 miles it doesn’t really matter what you use. Get a micro scooter and race the kids to school…

I like my SS mtb, but then I ride somewhere fairly flat and also it’s mostly a winter mud-bike – which is where it wins hands down

Try it. Choose a gear on your geared MTB, go for a ride and don’t touch the shifters. I single speeded my commute bike for a year. enjoyed it initially, good for fittness, but then it just got tedious. Not necessarily being in the wrong gear on the uphills, I don’t mind a good grind, but it got tedious freewheeling down hills.

lots of folk seem to use it as a maintenance free winter option but I prefer it in the dry… Traction is a real issue for SS in winter slop

I love singlespeed, its great, and I live in Yorkshire (gods country) where we have proper hills! Most of the time with a little extra effort singlespeed is far faster up the hills. The only time its annoying is riding on the flat as I found out attempting to ride 200 miles on a towpath. To say anywhere you can ride a singlespeed must be boring would mean everywhere was boring, even places such as fort William and winlatter forest?

I enjoy it, kinda perfect for the Singletrack around Delamere.
And when it’s too gloopy, like now?
I just use my Fatbike.

@ben98 I remember seeing you on the Bronte K last year riding SS and thinking that’s a good effort.

In hilly areas SS is always going to be a compromise but like anything else, if you’re happy with that then that’s fine.

You either get SSing or you don’t. Or you can either handle it or you can’t 😉

FWIW my n+1 has been SS for few years abs gets ridden round the Lakedistrict.

And it’s been my bike off choice at the Strahpuffer for the last 3 year’s.

LOL @BigDummy!

Almost exactly my route back from the purity of single speed to the pleasure of gears. Maybe it’s an age thing.

still love my SS MTB over the geared HT. Have done for several years. Some stuff I can’t get up, some stuff I wouldn’t go down either – it suits my style of riding. Mostly rigid, as well – but I simply enjoy wooded singletrack and manage to get away without suspension.

I ride rigid SS only and have done for the past 3 years and now gone SS Fat Bike. Lived and ridden in the Peak for over 20yrs – each change brings new challenges and revitalises trails that have become boring. Build a cheap one out if bits and give it a go, it may be an instant hit it may take a few rides but it really is good fun. Re spinning out, I use that time to take in what’s around me and enjoy the ride.

If you’re on terrain you can use a single speed, the terrain’s boring

Ookay….. 🙄

DrP

commuting on an SS would be some sort of hell on toast if it’s flat and a road.

SS is fun if you are up for the challenge. If you’re a half way decent rider then you’ll see hills as a challenge rather than obstacles, and there’s an enormous amount of personal satisfaction be gained from doing a long hilly ride on one. Funnily enough most hills are about balance rather than all out grunt (if you can climb a hill in the middle ring, you can get up it on an SS) and you’ll start to obsess about rear wheel grip. 😀

I would always encourage people to try it, it makes you a better rider (not strength necessarily, but definitely technique improves

the only place I struggle with SS is on canals and flat roads, where others step up a gear and disappear off in front but when on my own it doesn’t matter, I just go at the speed I go at. Everywhere else I’m just as fast as most of the folk with gears. Sloppy mud is an issue and realllllllly steep stuff which goes on too far..

^as nickc. I live in the South Downs, the pointy end, it is all about the hills for me. Surprised myself with what I can ride tbh, and yes you learn all about traction.

Even just going out for an hour or two can feel like a proper ride.

I would always encourage people to try it, it makes you a better rider (not strength necessarily, but definitely technique improves

This winter is the first time I’ve really given it a good go and I’m convinced it’s made me stronger. Not just the legs but my upper body. On the downside it may have played a part in some back issues I’m now dealing with. And I find I have more traction on the ss than with geared bikes on muddy ground. Probably because on the ss I’m concentrating on technique and line rather than just putting my head down and spinning the pedals.

I’m one of those people who travel to Afan every January to hurt myself trying to get up the climb from Glyncorryg (that used to be in the trees, you know the one).

MTB SS is mildly addictive. Many don’t like it.

My Pros are

Gives you a good workout, even on a short ride
Works your upper body and core well
The direct, hooked up feeling of riding without a derailleur is ace
The bike is lighter
You are always in the right gear
You get to sit up and smell the roses on flat spinny bits
It trains you to spin faster
Highly mud resistant operation
You get people gasping at you if you manage to get up anything bigger than a mild slope
You can legitimately grown a beard (probably)
You will be amazed what you can get up
You will learn about momentum
You get to say “coming through!” quite a lot on group rides

Cons

It will find your cracks and weak spots
Other than going for a flat spin, ss rides are tough. If you want to twiddle up a hill hungover chatting, having an easy time, take the geared bike

TM

The other benefit of course, is once you get back on a geared bike, it does feel like cheating!!

Probably 75% of my riding is on my rigid singlespeed but fortunately where I live it’s not flat. As has been said, some people get it, some don’t – the older I get, the more I enjoy it (and the better I seem to get at it too).

“Better” is all relative, of course – but I’m usually even crappier on a geared bike than I am on a singlespeed.

I wouldn’t call the terrain here “boring” either.

I’m not a fan. I love the simplicity but it’s just not as fun the majority of the time.

Mostly great.

SS is best for:

Undulating terrain where you are either climbing or descending.
Short sharp climbs where you whip up them like a hero 😉
Winter muck
Short hard rides over steep terrain
Very long endurance rides where you take each flat as a rest and recover before the next climb
Giving you some proper upper body oooopmh

Not good for:
Rides where you need the maximum possible average speed
Any flat terrain
Massively long and granny-granny type climbs. (although tbh, if you get off and run with a SS you’ll get up it in a decent time anyway!)

Anyway, it’s good.

Ive ridden SS for quite a while now. The only place it sucks is on the road where you run out of gears.

You quickly figure out how to really use momentum to get up and over obstacles, I think thats at least part of the reason most SSers are rigid, you cant afford to let the fork do the work and sap momentum uphill!

I’ve ridden mine all over, once you’re fit it’s just normal, and big hills aren’t any more arduous than they are on a geared bike, just settle into a rythym of sprinting the flatter bits and trying to conserve that momentum up the steep bits.

(although tbh, if you get off and run with a SS you’ll get up it in a decent time anyway!)

WTF…. get off a bike and run ! seriously !

8.134 out of 10

WTF…. get off a bike and run ! seriously !

ahem, I meant a timely walk to give your geared mates time to catch up 😉

It’s great, I loved mine but sort of ended up ‘needing’ gears again for when me and my bf go out together so swapped from 1×1 back to 1×9. I’m building up another SS to use when I go out my own though 😀 I love the simplicity and I found I had to think a little bit further ahead to try to keep a flow going rather than just stamp down the gears and spin 😀 Getting off and pushing is part of it I reckon, if you can’t have fun on a SS and laugh at yourself for trying to grind up a slope you’d normally need 22/36 for there’s no hope 😆

Gear it for the flats, coast / spin the down hills, push / gurn the uphill

Live in Sheffield & ride mainly in the Dark Peak… Currently riding SS Hardtail, SS Full Suspension, SS Fat Bike (Though up for sale soon) & SS commuter / pub bike. The only bike I now have gears on in the road bike.

If you don’t mentally get it you’ll never physically get it .

I never miss the gears, the only time I ride my ‘other’ MTB now is when I think I’ll have more fun with a suspension bike.

Faster uphill, until you are forced to get off and walk, by which time geared riders are at walking pace anyway. (agree with Yak on this)

It is harder sometimes but fun due to the simplicity of it. Made me fitter over the winter too.

I like it. Did two laps of Llandegla on Saturday on mine. Feeling a bit sore today, but that’s probably cos I was a knobber and crashed doing a jump.

I’ve got FS and HT bikes and love riding them both.

About a year ago I bought a SS put rigid forks on and tool the plunge.

The first couple of rides were difficult. It’s harder in places (hills of course, but also the flat) and I kept looking for the shifter.

Didn’t take long to forget all that and it’s now a real joy to ride.
There are the physical challenges of rarely being in the gear I would be on a geared bike but the mental side is the difference for me.

I ride in a different way, because you have no choice. I love the simplicity, the quietness, the way you have to think about keeping the momentum.

Over a flat-ish 24 mile route I ride regularly I’m about 5 mins slower on the SS but the ride is much more fun.

I would really miss SSing now – I like the mindset and it makes you stronger, smoother and happier 🙂

As you can see from the comments here it’s a bit marmite.
I have a retro kona rigid singlespeed mtb that I use to commute (road) for pure simplicity, reliability and low cost in case of theft.

I live a few hundred yards from a rather flat forest which I sometimes take it for a spin round. It’s fun but I take the geared bikes to the hilly forest a few hundred yards in the other direction about 20 times for every singlespeed ride.

Singlespeed off road on hilly singletrack? meh, did it once but as mentioned above you’re in the wrong gear 90% of the time. Some people enjoy the challenge but if I can put in the same effort and go about 5 times faster with gears why not do that?

Gears are not faster but they are easier

As noted just try it some love it some hate it

I am the former but only because where I live is hilly rather than mountainous