I built and rode my new singlespeed at the weekend, was quite liberating in a wierd sort of way. Am i converted already? Might be.

Probably, watch out for singlespeed knee which will is an inevitable part of being new and over excited though! 😉

That was me 10 days ago and still enjoying it! Mine is retro and rigid so feeling very niche!

It's like riding a bike. But without the gears.

Don't know about the knee thing though, I've been doing it for a very long time and my knees are fine.

I didn't even notice that i didn't have gears, is this a strange thing among SS virgins?

It's like riding a bike. But without the gears.

Don't know about the knee thing though, I've been doing it for a very long time and my knees are fine.

samuri – it's a newbie SS thing – you go out and ride it everyday for the first week you get it and then your knees go blap…

I found at first, that my thumbs were always instinctively looking for a gear shift, where none was available. Very strange.

Never had a knee problem from SSing except when I did the Bristol 12 solo and didn't gear down meaning that I was effectively overgeared for the speed I was doing (eg slower than normal) and too tired to stand up all the times that I should really have. Cleared up in a couple of days though.

I've had plenty of knee problems from riding my geared bikes though – it's too easy to put it in a big gear and churn along.

mossman_uk what bike did you build?

Never had problems with my knees on an SS. Road bike, yep, SS never

mossman_uk – Member

I didn't even notice that i didn't have gears, is this a strange thing among SS virgins?

So you did not find your fingers twitching when you came to a climb 😉

Its just fun, there is something relaxing about not having to worry about which gear to be in.

😉

I found at first, that my thumbs were always instinctively looking for a gear shift, where none was available. Very strange.

Me too- but only when looking for a higher gear when accelerating downhill. Just about over it now though.

Here's my first proper singlespeed bike, a Dialled Bikes Love/Hate.

Pace RC40 forks wound down to 100mm.
Bonty Race Light tubeless wheels shod in Michelin XCR AT tyres.
Hope Mini disc brakes.
Truvativ Firex cranks.

Finished building it up last week and took it up to Sherwood Pines for a blast at the weekend, mucho fun and very light compared to my recent bikes.

I've a Dialled Bikes Holeshot which is singlespeed too,

but I wanted something a bit more suited for grinding out the miles and more importantly, suitable for the race I'm entering in the USA in 3 weeks time. Hopefully my knees will cope with my first SS race.

😉

Nice bikes you have there.

Here is mine, that I mentioned earlier in the thread:

I find that I'm a lot more chilled out when on my singlespeed. It's great!

Does anybody actually race normal races on a ss?

No problems with knees here either. Good cleat position is very important.

As I swap between geared and gearless a fair amount, I do still occasionally try to change gear when hitting a slope.

Take it easy to start with, and make sure you have fun doing it.

"Does anybody actually race normal races on a ss? "

yes, lots of people do

That knee thing doesn't happen to everybody – just like some people run all the time without having knee problems.

I re-SSed last week and had the first ride out on Sunday. I'd forgotten how much fun it is and how much your whole body can ache after a ride, rather than just the legs. My fingers still hurt. I think that's due to how much i was pulling on the bars to grind up the hills.

Welcome to the club Mossman.

Like some of the others on this thread my knees alway hurt after riding my SSer but thats down to me riding like a loon; theres something about speeding along at the max on my single speed that makes me smile every time I do it.

Just be warned, you'll soon find yourself sticking more and more miles onto your rides just to show you can do the mileage with only one gear (or is that just me?).

To compensate for my single speed indulgence I've just built a bike with more gears than I can count. It somehow isn't quite the same…

Having suffered with tendonitis (sp) for years and had a lot of pain in my right knee from playing football, I have to say that I've been riding singlespeed regularly since November and haven't suffered with knee pain at all.

I think the knee thing is a misnomer 😉

Never had any problems with mine and now over 45!

I loved SS soon as I tried it and found it quite liberating never having to worry about if you are in the right gear. You can lose that ghost shifting, gear crunching feeling behind 🙂

And think of all the weight saving and maintenance free riding you can do.

If the hill is too steep just get off and walk

Normal Man

I've built up from scratch with a carrera subway frame, rockshox judy SLs, Alex Disc Wheels, LX discs, Deore cranks, Michelin mountain XTREM tyres. Goes well! I'll add a pic soon!

How old are you that you're still a virgin?

[/quote]Normal Man – Member
mossman_uk what bike did you build?

mossman_uk – Member
Normal Man

I've built up from scratch with a carrera subway frame, rockshox judy SLs, Alex Disc Wheels, LX discs, Deore cranks, Michelin mountain XTREM tyres. Goes well! I'll add a pic soon!

The forks look a bit worse for wear but they work fine!