Oh Stu,we’d got us a biter…..

PS,don’t ride over molehills,it aint nice. 😆

singlespeed is an alternative to self discipline

Ain’t that the troot……
Oldgit….I wonder how good I’d be at crits if I had’nt ridden ss 😆
(tbh I think its less all out fitness and more the attack-recover-attack-recover from riding ss thats helped).

.

Just converted my SS back to gears now that Summer is upon us.

Got to admit, it might have been a mistake.

I get terrible SS envy anytime I see a bike with those lovely clean gear-free lines, and I’m still just as slow and useless, except now I’ve got no excuse and I have to worry about what my wife is doing.

i’ve been riding my ss (rigid with h-bars, so more similar to a road bike in climbing position than my other MTB) a lot more than normal this spring, it’s my usual ss winter bike but it got a faster back tyre a while ago and it’s been great on the unusually-hardpacked ground here. it’s worked better on group rides than i expected too.

i’ve noticed that when i’ve been on the road bike in the last few weeks, my power uphill -mainly on bigger-gear grunts rather than steeper small-ring climbs- has been considerably better. i feel stronger having stuck to the ss for longer.

i think the way a ss encourages very high heart rates then recovery as you spin on the flat is good – it forces me into that patterrn more than geared bikes. i could do intervals, but i find structured training miserable and prefer the ss as an ideal, more fun way to do it.

so yes, good for training and i’m sticking with it as a ‘training’ tool for a big alpine road ride this summer.

is it easy and cheap to convert a geared H/T to a single speed one and what do you need ?

some tools to take stuff off, a tensioner and a rear cog. easy.

what do you do with the front triple set up ?

cheers Pete

just run the middle ring,take off deraileur and shifter/cable…..

you may need shorter bolts for said ring.

try Charlie the bike monkey,or ebay.

check out you tube for a selection of how to SS vids.

enjoy !

I rode s/s myselt almost solely for nine years, but when I wanted to return to road and cross racing I felt the s/s lacking.
With gears I can go as fast as possible up down and along.

+1 for what oldgit said….

I ride SS and geared, started SS about 3 years ago. It made a huge difference to my riding, as some say above it really has taught me momentum and how to attack a hill – something I do on geared now as well without having to think about it.

I notice that some other riders in out night group get to the bottom of a hill and then are fiddling with gears and clashing chain etc until they are at walking pace, then grind up slowly. Whilst they don’t need to do that, quite a few do and that is the difference from riding SS – you cannot afford to slow down in that way. They are harder work on a long flattish road section, but then the high speed spin burns calories.

My riding improved significantly from starting SS – don’t know how much is fitness and how much technique, though.

LOL.
How funny has this forum/thread thingy got.
What alot of fun.

MidlandTrailquestsGraham – Member
Beerbadger, do you behave like that in real life ?

I’m not sure. Behave like what? I just enjoy riding my bike and don’t see the need to put down other peoples riding, ESP’ as for many this was the first mtb race/event. Does it matter that they were on geared bikes or singlespeed? I don’t think so (unless singlespeedstu was doing your Mrs up the bum).

singlespeedstu – Member

Beerbadger, do you behave like that in real life ?
I was there, that’s what I saw, why contradict it in that way ?

Yes he does.
Maybe he contradicted you because he was there and did more laps than you.

YOU know me toooooo well. 😆

I WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND, I WASN’T THERE MAN…….
I WAS IN…………… NAM!

Behave like what?

The shouting/all capitals and jumping to conclusions thing.
There’s been a bit of a misunderstanding if you think I was putting other people’s riding down.
Did you miss this bit ?

SSing trains me to attack hills, attack crests and push a higher gear than I would normally choose.

I ride both, it’s just that after months of commuting on a SS, WE6 was my first race on one and made me realise how different they are to ride.

I started racing cross 2 seasons ago on a ss cx bike.Did ok but got fed up being left for dead at the start and having to pass loads of people.So I put gears on….and my results promptly got worse 😐
Took me a while to remember how they work,dumped half of them and all is good with the world now.

Didn’t shout. Just left caps lock on by mistake.
My fingers and thumbs must be worn from changing gear. 🙄

Get a Rohloff. 😉

.Chaps I have just followed the earlier instructions and made my old GT H/T into a single speed, I have left the middle ring on and as you said the bolts are too long, so until new ones arrive a have turned the female round(result) tensioner on order (e Bay) and have for the time being screwed the rear mech so I only have one gear this is also acting as my chain tensioner, shorten my chain and off for a ride, Jesus how hard it was, not sure if I should have gone for an easier gear but I managed the whole ride, my answer to the original question asked after one ride I am sure it must do you some good. I also found it hard to remember I had no gears. FUN FUN FUN thanks chaps Pete

Single speed is fun, and feels good when you drop a 120mm+ travel sofa going up a hill.

aldo69,

good for you mate ! that’s what it’s all about,having FUN !

Get a Rohloff.

Hate to say this but even with a Rohloff* dragging him down he’d still make you eat dust.

*even typing the word makes me shudder at the though of all that draggyness and noise.

Rohloff.

(walks off to the bath room to clean the sick off shoe)

1freezingpenguin and Beerbadger, do you behave like that in real life ?

Yes.

But by your post every single geared rider changes down not matter what the hill is.
Once again bullshit. If your so much a climbing god on your singlespeed why didn’t you win?

And yes I do ride and have raced single-speed.

I think the word ‘trailquest’ speaks volumes.

Anyhoo, I’m equally shite at climbing on gears or ss. I just like riding bicycles 8)

I think it’s a bit sad when someone has to deliberately misinterpret what I said as referring to every single geared rider who has ever lived, riding up every hill in the world, rather than it being the far more likely observation of the majority of mid pack riders in a race.
However, if it gives you some sense of purpose in life to imagine that I said something ridiculous so you can point out how ridiculous it is, carry on.

No worries I will 😉

Dummy/spit/****.

There’s more to riding than being mediocre at pedling round a flat field 😐

Then again i wouldn’t expect anything better from someone that can’t even ride down a simple local bridleway because it’s ” a bit sandy”. 😐

Single speeding is just brilliant, training wise its great for out of seat climbs on the road bike other than that it’s great training for single speeding.

And for those knocking Graham, he’s pretty handy on a SS for an *old biff.

*I’m an old biff as well.

single speed riding is great training for smuggling woks, drinking beer and eating cheese in the woods.

It is also so hardcore that if a young lady so much as even glances at a singlespeeders manly physique they immediately become pregnant.

oh and I was a lot faster when I used to ride the E6 on a gearie, but it was much more fun arsing about on a singlespeed, which is what it’s all about for this fat singlespeeder

And for those knocking Graham, he’s pretty handy on a SS for an *old biff.

Seriously? Having seen stuff he’s posted on here about not being able to ride even the simplest of local trails I think you might be a bit off the mark there. 😐

Seriously? Having seen stuff he’s posted on here about not being able to ride even the simplest of local trails I think you might be a bit off the mark there

Maybe, link to the thread?

“a bit sandy” ?
This is Kinver we’re talking about here.

The Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal is just out of shot to the right in that picture.

KINGTUT.

Here you go

BTW we went down there again today and even my mate that’s not very experienced managed to jump the first two waterbars without any trouble.

As you can see from the picture it’s hardly technical. Just a nice smooth wide trail.

I refer the honourable gentleman to a quote from that very thread.

I rode all the way down there on the grass.

So there. 😛

Every time the front wheel touched the sand, I came to a halt.

Taken from the same post. 😉

You’d struggle to ride down the grass pussyline now as it’s getting a nice coating in nettles. 😡

KINGTUT.

Here you go

I’m underwhelmed, I think Mr Graham is a naughty little troll.

Again.

SS good for training? Oh yes, and no mistake.

So I’m all for trying things out and here’s *my* evidence, and I know my level of fitness / state of mind at the time.

Using the CVMBC as a benchmark:

Geared bike: about 4:30 (I was v. Unfit)

Rolhoff : 3:20 (after some practice)

SS 36/18: 3:37 (today, very disappointing)

Thing is, I felt fitter and faster than ever today. The 15mph headwind didn’t help but I can think it would have hurt me so much anyway.

I burned past quite a few geared bikes on the climbs.

I held my own on the down hills. (touching 45+ mph at parts)

The SS loses out on the not-so-hilly bits where the high gears burned past me.

My thoughts for next few months is for SS for some training and use a 1×9 on the other bike for race pace rides.

SS, at end of day, is a bloody good way to get stronger and fitter. That cannot be denied.

Am I missing something here but if you want to use your geared bike as a single speed can you not just leave it in the one chosen gear? The combined weight of the derailleur and rear cassette must be less than 1Kg and additional friction minimal. I also hear the same comments about “take my hard tail” when all that is needed is to lock out the rear suspension!

I mean we are not talking winning the race here. The weight saving must be around 1% whereas in say a mountain bike sportive the field is often spread out by more than 100% so surely fitness and strength are the overriding determining factors?