My road bike is singlespeed, I like it a lot. Simple, looks good and doesn’t make much noise. Makes riding more of a workout and gets me up climbs I used to struggle with in the granny ring on my other bike! Trying it properly on the mtb soon.
built my SS up around this time last year in anticipation for the winter. my geared bike took a bit of a back seat during the winter and there was a period when it was SS all the time (lakes, wales, everywhere). really liked the challenges you face on every ride & my fitness increase.
but it started hurting my knees so stripped it and built my FS back up. i’ve still got the frame (DMR Trailstar) and probably going to build it again as jump/play bike, but it will come out on proper rides every now & again.
Oi! I’m trying to be pragmatic and not become a glassy eyed acolyte. I think the odds are I’ll keep it SS over winter.
I have a question about SPDs. I popped them back on and I’m sure it help with pedalling and not getting bounced off, but I have less confidence on tricky bits.
Would you say that SPDs give more advantage on the SS style of riding than on a geared bike?
Some dodgy looking bloke sold me a brand new bike in a pub car park.
Told me it’d make me cool with the ladies. Told me I’d never need to buy my own pint or shine my own shoes after riding this bike.
It was only when I got it home I found out it had no gears! Rip off!
That bloke sold me two more bikes with no gears. Tall, skinny, glasses, bit of a c**t.
That was ten years ago and I’ve been riding bikes with no gears ever since. One day I’ll catch up with the bugger.
Ive got an io – changed from rigid though as that was a bit too much – got 100mil on front now. Its a great bike when im out on my own doing xc stuff and with people who are not the quickest for whatever reason but for me the five is number 1, and I have an f700 cannondale as number 2 – io is for the above or when riding with the missus.
I ride one as it’s easier, I have a fully rigid one and yesterday rode a xc full sus with gears. Man it was hard! Took me ages to ride the silly thing up the hills and was only faster for 10% of the ride (some of the downs)! I have respect to all you full sus geared riders. You make it look easy but now I know….
I’ll stick with my rigid, ss as it’s a myth that is hard. Full sus geared riders are the true hard nuts. Us ss riders are just wimps takin the easy option. Fact
io owner here. Decided rigid was too brutal. Really enjoy it and I think it makes you ride faster than a FS on a lot of terrain. Fears of not keeping up with mates were totally unfounded – except on long miles of flat tarmac. Great frame.
Bought a roadrat that came singlespeed with intention of changing to 1 x 9 and never bothered changing. I can’t justify having more than one mtb and I can’t envisage a time when that won’t be a geared hardtail.
buzz-lightyear – Member
Would you say that SPDs give more advantage on the SS style of riding than on a geared bike?
yes. i think, probably.
(on steep climbs, SS’ing, clipped in) i’m definitely having to pull up on the pedals very hard. i couldn’t do this on flat pedals, so i doubt i could get up the same hills using flat pedals.
I have a ss road bike for commuting and winter training. Why? Because it was to cheap to buy and it’s cheap to run (for a good riding bike), and keeps wear off the shiny carbon road bike.
I have a bike which goes between 140mm long travel hardtail mode in summer and rigid ss in winter. Why? For variety, to keep wear off the geared mtb in winter. Because I could with spares and bits lying around.
I like variety and not putting cash into a bottom less pit… admittedly it’s a fairly deep pit anyway!
