I currently have a Whyte 46 which after a few early issues I love. Tried a couple more modern fs bikes but always go back to the 46. Lately been looking at having a ht for a second bike, mainly for taking kids out, the odd commute and occasional trail centre as a change from the fs. Was going to go for a whyte 801 until I saw a couple of single speeds that I like the sound of.

I don’t get out as much as I’d like so my fitness isn’t brilliant. I’m a bit concerned a rigid single speed will be a bit extreme, especially as I’m based in south Wales and the trail centres are the main rides for me. I like the idea of something different so really want to give the single speed a go, any experience or advice would be appreciated.

If I do go the ss route I can’t decide between the Cannondale SL 29 SS and the Charge Cooker SS. Any thoughts?

How about a bit of a compromise seeing as there’s a couple of hills round your way, why not try a rigid HT, with a basic 1×10 drivetrain?

Don’t get me wrong, I like a good SS, but it sounds like you need a slightly different balance of simplicity and function a few gears might not be such a bad thing with kids to tow, commuting and the odd trail centre visit… Maybe even (gulp) a 29er?

You can always try SS later once you regain a bit of strength.

It took me about 3 weeks to get used to SSing – I’ve done it for years, so now its just normal. Last night was the 1st time I did a proper xc ride on a rigid SS – I reckon its gonna take >3 weeks to get used to rigid forks 🙂

Not the best person to give advice as i haven’t had gears for a long time (road for off road).

However, if you are not that fit you just need to gear it appropriately for the area you ride. At first that would probably be quite low to allow you to go uphills and even maintain a good speed on more tricky flat sections.

That may cause you to get frustrated when on road/fire road/bridleway etc as you will be spinning away but only doing 14mph.

Try putting your geared bike into a gear of around 50 inches (or roughly 2:1) and don’t change for a complete ride. Not really the same but if you really hated it or couldn’t even complete the ride without changing then it may be a good sign.

I would not buy a as specific bike just as any ht then you can pop back to gear if you want.

I’ve been round CyB and Afan on a rigid single speed. If you don’t mind spinning a bit on the flats, you can get up everything, and down as well. Worst case you end up walking but there are plenty that walk _with_ gears.

I think running rigid is OK, but you will probably have more fun with some suspension forks – you’ll just go quite a lot faster on the downhills. I finally gave up on rigid after being beaten up by the braking bumps at Cannock Chase! But again, Afan and CyB can both be ridden on rigid bikes, you’ll just go a bit more gingerly.

If you can get an SS-specific frame then it looks nicer than a regular frame with one of those singulators stuck on the back, and it’s also quite a lot more reliable (I’ve had singulators disintegrate on me a few times mid-ride).

You can get frames that are SS-specific (sliding dropouts or EBB) but also have a thing for attaching a rear mech, so if you change your mind, then you can (which is what I’ve done now in fact).

Singular make some nice SS frames.

Go for it I say – I think it’s quite a good, easy way to raise your fitness.

Out of those two, I’d probably go for the Cannondale. But some good advice up there, my first thought was that a SS with a gear ratio suitable for off road is not going to be any good for commuting.

My 2 singlespeeders,
Off road, 32:18 29er, approx. 50 inch gear.
Commute, 42:16 700C, approx. 74 inch gear.

Neither really crosses over into the other’s territory.

On the right is my most-used bike. P7, sliding dropouts (I have a RH dropout with a hanger in the garage, if I want gears), and rigid (29er forks). Running 34/17 gearing.

Love the simplicity.

29er rigid makes sense – it does roll better than 26 rigid. I’ve had to add gears to my Rigid 29er SS, but I’m not adding suspension. On the rockier stuff I’m a little slower than mates on FS bikes, but not much, and since I got my rigid bike at least two others in the group have got them too as they saw that (especially in winter) I was able to stay at the front of the group with relative ease.

I find the opposite.

SS ridged is excellent in summer when the trails are dry and flowy, when it gets muddy it’s an absolute git when you can’t put the power you need through the pedals without the rear wheels slipping all over the place, on decent climbs it can be a serious energy sapper.

Maintenance wise it works well in winter, but in terms of the ride quality and effort required it doesn’t make so much sense.

Gave up on gears after wrecking an xtr mech on my old five at Cannock replacement was mega bucks,went singlespeed, then rigid. Faffless riding now, No fox station wear, cassetes needing replacing,gears needing indexing etc .

Current ride is an on one lurcher carbon SS.Can’t recommend it enough, run big 2.4 Chunky monkey tires at 18-20 psi so no need for suspension forks. the uphill traction is phenomenal!

My first mountain bike many moons ago was rigid with 8-speed gearing and v-brakes. A friend at work told me about single speeding so I tried leaving it in one gear for a few rides and quite liked it. I then bought a single speed kit for it and a chain tensioner and ran it like that for quite a while and rode Afan on it a couple of times with 32:18 gearing I believe and had no trouble keeping up with my mates.

I then bought a Genesis iO SS several years ago which was great and mainly used that on my local training loops. I have just got my dream single-speeder, a Singular Swift 29er (rigid) and it is brilliant. Building up from a frameset I took the opportunity to finally convert to tubeless and the overall ride is a quantum leap over the Genesis.

So my advice is convert your existing bike to SS and see if you like it first before laying out for whatever dedicated SS you decide on.

My four-point plan towards SS nirvana:

1. Ride current bike in one gear (nice easy one to start with)
2. Ride current bike in a harder gear (as you get stronger)
3. Set up current bike singlespeed in desired ratio just to make sure
4. Take plunge, buy/build SS-specific bike and grow beard

Optional step 5: Find 1×10 almost as satisfying as SS and much faster

I use a 26″ Simple to train on when it’s really muddy and also as something fun and different to motivate me to get out when I’m feeling meh.

I started with 32:19 and am now on 32:18 which just allows me to get up some pretty steep and long Chilterns hills in the dry. It spins out on the flat tarmac.

I’m getting used to the hovering grind but I’d not want it for Cwmcarn!

Optional step 5: Find 1×10 almost as satisfying as SS and much faster

Off road I generally find SS faster than gears because there is none of the delay in deciding which gear you need to be in for a particular terrain. I do tend to get out of the saddle more for the climbs with SS compared to gears though which is part of the appeal of SS for me. It makes me work harder and I ride faster.

That’s the spirit, lad, keep going. You’ll make it to the Gear Of Champions one day. 😉

I use single speed for racing both XC and CX, I just like it better, makes me attack things more than I would if I had gears.

Built up a nice light SS 29er for 10 under the Ben and that’s been a revelation, love that bike.

If you’re curious, follow the advice above and do a cheap conversion first, see how you get on before shelling out on a SS bike. It’s not for everyone!

forzafkawi

Off road I generally find SS faster than gears because there is none of the delay in deciding which gear you need to be in for a particular terrain. I do tend to get out of the saddle more for the climbs with SS compared to gears though which is part of the appeal of SS for me. It makes me work harder and I ride faster.

Yeah, I know what you mean, I do climb quicker on SS, but if you can summon up the mental strength to stay in the smallest 3 or 4 sprockets then 1x has to be quicker overall I think and almost as reliable

Thanks for all the replies, I knew Id get some good advice on here. I am keen to try it out but like many have said think Ill ease myself into it first before buying a dedicated one. Thanks again.

I’d think again for towing trailers and commuting. Tried both, and used to commute a lot on ss with around 300m of climbing each way, but I got to the point of just wanting to get home / to work and gears shaved minutes off – on the flat bits rather than the hills.

I could barely get the trailer rolling with 2 kids and a picnic, it certainly wasn’t much fun.

If you can run one as a 2nd fun bike even at trail centres everything is very doable with a bit of fitness. Does require a certain commitment, to keep momentum which is fun init s ownright

I did the conversion thing on my first ‘proper’ MTB. Worked well and I love it. Having said that I’m thinking of selling it for a Fatbike! 8)

Have you looked at an Alfine Hub? Less maintainance than gears, but with more flexibility than SS.

I’ve the Alfine 11spd hub on my commuter/tourer, I’m not sure I’d want it on a mountain bike as it would need quite a bit of attention to keep the cable tension right. I think someone on here used one (or the 8spd) and will be along to say that it was fine.

Ran one for years on my Kinesis Decade. No issues at all.