SS a FS …

could you ?
would you ?
have you ?

I know there is the Kona A but have only ever seen one.

I was just wondering with no intent to build
whether it is feasable to convert an off the shelf FS ?

just need a tansioner. old mech would do…

Would it need to be a more "simple" suspension design like a single pivot to work properly?

more importantly

Why would you ?
Why have you ?

has to be a single pivot with the pivot about the BB otherwise you get chain growth issues and massive pedal bob

oops as per ^^^^

The Kona A's swingarm pivots around the bottom bracket.
This means there is no chain growth as the arm moves which negates the need for a chain device.

Just pick a gear and tape up your shifters.

I had to do this once when i broke the rear mech on my Blur LT and it worked ok but wouldn't choose to do it…. but then i don't understand why you would want to go singlespeed on anything really 😕

yes I have – it's an old Intense Tracer(horst link thing)and I use an old short cage road rear mech to tension chain.

it works brilliantly.
uses up an old frame that'd otherwise be sat idle.
all the benefits of a full sus.
no disadvantages (since it's a proper FS and has a platform shock)

why wouldn't you?

I was lent a Kona A and did Llandegla red/black on it, it was ace, worked fine… seem on paper a bit of a weird idea.. reduce complexity but have full sus … but to be fair it worked well and i enjoyed the ride. Personally I ride a rigid SS so it was a bit of a change.

kona cowan ds frame as well? dont forget rolhoff/alfine hubs need tensioners/ss dropouts too 😉

there are a few "track end" dropout FSers around. solid flair would be my choice.

i know of a DHer who has SSed his bike too. no use for going uphill, only any good at descending, but he doesnt have the problem of smashed mechs, ghost shifting, maintenence, etc.

go for it 🙂

There is always the option using of a URT to go SS, probably the best way to do it I reckon, but many will no doubt turn there nose up at such a bike…

While I’ve seen a couple of SS bouncers including a few quite novel DH bikes, I don’t think I’d bother personally, Concentric BB bouncers are pretty inefficient as far as bouncers go so you’d be relying even more on the shock to help with pedalling efficiency, and the requirement to have a sprung tensioner of some sort on any other type of linkage/single pivot design means that you don’t really reduce the complexity of the Drive train that much and you still have something dangling off the mech hanger to catch rocks, so why not just have the gears?

On a HT it make sense to me, but why try to make an inherently more complex bike slightly less complex and ultimately derive no real benefit…

i used to have an Edge Dh – anyone remember them?

i could run that as a singlespeed without a tensioner – cos of the Virtual-Axle-path-constant-effect-chainstay-length thing going on (VAPCECL)

it was great for Dh riding/racing, i set it up with a gear that was good for sprinting from slowish to quickish.

much lighter (no gears or chain device, less chain, etc), and allowed a stronger wheel – less dish, so i used a lighter rim.

it was all good.

Matt Page of Trek 69-er fame (also the heckling megaphone man at 24/12 this year) used to ride and occasionally race on a trek single pivot/faux bar which he ss'ed up using some sort of sprung tensioner. No idea if it was fun to ride or not…

I have had a marin mount vision fs as a single speed since 2000 but it recently got retired

i now have a whyte preston as a SS and sometimes it has an alfine rear hub

i think the men in the whyte coats are outside !

None of you lot appear to be keeping up with developements, as I've read very recently that slopestyle bikes are being produced as SS, because the type of track doesn't really require gears, and it's one less part of the bike to be trashed in a crash, and such bikes are very suitable for a lot of the DH courses in the UK. and to those who persist in saying they don't see the point in riding a singlespeed, do you actually enjoy riding a bike? You do? Well, that's what a singlespeed is. A bike. A simpler one, true, and lighter, definitely. Try one sometime, you might learn something.

I'm currently working on a full suss design that can be run as a SS. its months and months off production though (if ever)

There is always the option using of a URT to go SS, probably the best way to do it I reckon, but many will no doubt turn there nose up at such a bike…

Unless it was TITANIUM… Still have the old Voodoo canzo ti hanging on the wall- would make a nice lightweight fs ss if anyone fancies the challenge..

Xipe Totec – Member
None of you lot appear to be keeping up with developements, as I've read very recently that slopestyle bikes are being produced as SS, because the type of track doesn't really require gears, and it's one less part of the bike to be trashed in a crash, and such bikes are very suitable for a lot of the DH courses in the UK. and to those who persist in saying they don't see the point in riding a singlespeed, do you actually enjoy riding a bike? You do? Well, that's what a singlespeed is. A bike. A simpler one, true, and lighter, definitely. Try one sometime, you might learn something.

I’d like to think I keep up with MTB related developments.
“Slopestyle” isn’t actually as prevalent as a discipline as the mags would have you believe, especially in the UK, and as much money and bling is on show at Crankworks and Redbull events there aren’t that many slopestyle specific bouncers about, even fewer are SS specific, many competitors are on HT’s and a fair few actually run a geared drivetrain, thinking about it there’s what Kona, Solid, Cove? nope those are the only 3 I can think off the top of my head who make or have made a concentric BB, SS-able, hard hitting 4-6” bike….

As for Riding DH SS, sure but not really viable for Racing DH is it? Even on an HT racing DH you do gain a net benefit from having gears. You’re against the clock so being geared too high or too low for certain sections will cost you, that 2Lbs you saved means bugger all if you run out of gear inches a quarter of the way down the 1st pedally section…

For DH; Mechs and hangers are as much of a consumable as tyres and brake pads. If you don’t like it don’t race DH…

For a fun low maintenance DH Bike to do uplifts I reckon a Mr Big ST10 or Cove G-spot with SS drivetrain would be great, but for the amount of use it would get, total waste of money, you’d soon be missing gears and wanting a proper race bike…

@eviljoe: a SS Canzo ti would rock, Do it!

i might be selling my kona A frame…
2003 (unfortunately no disc mount), coil vanilla shock with lockout.

email me with an offer if interested

tamarvin at googlemail dot com

(am away nearly all of next week though)

The Giant Anthem supposedly has very little chain growth, so theoretically it may be possible on that.

I SS'ed my old Litespeed Niota- I just used a chain tensioner. There was no real issues with chain growth and this was on a 5 inch of travel frame.

chain growth depends on the frame specifics.

the further the pivot point is from the BB, the greater its going to be, and with a virtual pivot point, like on a Giant, potentially (though not nessecerily) more so as the pivot itself moves.

the only way to find out is to take the shock out of the frame in question, and wiggle the back end around, while looking how it affects the mech?

Trek's old STP frame used to do a very smart looking singlespeed bike.