In 45 minute or one hour races, how are you getting on?
As my kit wore I was tempted to replace it with singlespeed parts. I rode singlespeed for years a long time back, did enduros and 24s and the like but never out and out xc racing.
I don't want two bikes and I'm happy with singlespeed on the trails.
New to mountain biking (<2yrs), never raced before, but can place in the middle third without much trouble in the Gorrick events. I'm pleasantly surprised to be honest. Clearly the 100 miles a week commuting fixed has had some benefits. Bike is a rigid 29er. I have also found that over 4hrs my arms are dead and am considering converting to an air fork.
we have singlespeed racers in our races, they do fine
it will be more about the course than anything, if it has long flat sections you will spin out, our courses tend to have very little flat and lots of technical stuff so any disadvantage is minimised
I have two gold medals for winning normal geared bike xc races on a single speed.
If you are climbing in the granny ring at walking speed, just walk.
My racing walk is good pace and barely looks like mincing.
My best race result was on my single speed! So long as its a decent course that does not have loads of fire roads then i don't think it makes that much difference for most people. If your fit and fast (or unfit and fast) then your be fast on a geared or SS (maybe a little bit quicker on geared so long as evil stick man does not tear you derailleur of!).
Only problem I had was bottlenecks. FNSS a couple of yrs back in MK.
all the geared racers dropped to granny and slowed down, usually I could have stood & stamped up the short steep climbs, but too many bodies moving slowly ahead meant cadence dropped below a point I could keep moving forward - I had to step off & run with the bike. Very frustrating.
Was better once the laps opened out a bit, but still had times when my riding was compromised by riders who passed me on the flat that i then caught on the climbs (not that I'm a great climber, but you know how it is on SS)
That said: it was my one & only short track race, I didn't really enjoy it for any number of reasons so this might be a feature of all short track races geared SS or otherwise.
Or perhaps I was doing it wrong.
FNSS is what I race, and MK is my local circuit. Tis quicker to run those bottle necks.
Long slightly downhill sections are your enemy... 😉
(but I've never done a race less than 6 hours so can't really comment on proper xc races - it was 10 Under the Ben (almost an XC race) where the long slightly downhill bits were irritating for me, as geared riders came past in big ring).
I always prefer(red) it on a lumpy course when you're either going up or properly down.
i decided to race SS at last years Scottish XC champs @ Drumlanrig, not a great deal of climbing so it worked out for me, race was around 1hr 45min so i was broken after it, defo quicker than with gears IMO. Not all courses would suit though......
Steve Webb has won Gorrick super masters and placed top 5 elite on a singlespeed - then again he does ride a [url= http://www.singularcycles.com/ ]Singular[/url].
I rode a short XC series last year and at the end of one race I was next to a guy on a singlespeed with 100 to go. He was spinning out so it possibly cost him at least one place.
how many uci races have been won by singlespeeders, i would suggest that if your racing to win might not be the best way forward, if your racing to have fun than if that is your idea of fun, fine, do it.
Lalonde bros do ok ss in proper (not uci) races as does dejay birtch. i think, maybe dejay is longer distances.
how many uci races have been won by singlespeeders, i would suggest that if your racing to win might not be the best way forward, if your racing to have fun than if that is your idea of fun, fine, do it.
How many STWers win UCI races? So Schroedingers cat logic a STWer on a singlespeed would both win and lose an XC race.
As other said above it would depend on the course, I really struggle to keep up on group rides on the North Yorks Moors, but around tunnel hill I have the opposite problem, geared riders drop into a low gear for techy sections on climbs and if you're stuck behind them yer screwed as the only way your getting through technical bits on a SS is brute force and speed.
I always tend to be quicker on my SS. I suppose its because I become lazy on my geared bike and just drop down the gears when it gets tough, where as on the SS I just go for it. Not that I'm that fast on either!
I have two single speeds and I race on both. I don't do very well but that is more my fitness than the gearing. I find fire road sections a problem. Doing the mud sweat and gears tommorrow, I hope there is not alot of fire road because on the trails I am no slower than many folk.
I went single for the same reaosn the OP is considering it. My drive trinaq wore out and it went from 3x9 to 2x9 toi 1x9 to single speed. Never loocked back or wanted gears since. I live in suffolk though.
Do it!
How many STWers win UCI races? So Schroedingers cat logic a STWer on a singlespeed would both win and lose an XC race.
TINAS, the question as i saw it is how suitable is single speed for racing, the simple question is then if your serious about racing, what advantage do you gain, none. saying that you don't have the choice to shift gear is irrelevant because you don't have to change gear, just because you have lower gears doesn't mean use them. If there were advantages to single speed don't you think that we would be seeing top level races won on SS, but as i said if your racing for a bit of fun what difference does it make? If you want a more sensible set of race gears go 1x10.
There's virtually no practical reason for SS to be faster (slight weight advantage being the absolute sole one I can think of...). So the only way it can be quicker is because doesn't let you slow down, if you give up and tend to shift down it may be quicker on some courses. Doesn't mean you can't MTFU and just not change gear though...
i've never been able to put power thru a geared bike like I could thru a SS.
Maybe I just don't trust the chain not to spin on the cassette :/
That's just psychological though. I'd be wary of putting all that power through SS lest the chain snap.
I always tend to be quicker on my SS. I suppose its because I become lazy on my geared bike and just drop down the gears when it gets tough, where as on the SS I just go for it.
this
I have had all my best results on ss .......
But then i trained on ss all the time .....
Although the jump expert on an ss was a step too far for me.
Couldnt keep up
Forget that one.
Though I'm racing in the flatlands each course seems to have more than it's fair share of short sharp climbs. Even Milton Keynes was full of them and three grovelling granny ring climbs.
Next week looks ever worse. and they're all on churned up cattle grazing land.
Matt Brown (RWD Factory Racing) who stormed the quarry in a stylish ride on a vicious course as the leading one geared rider coming fifth overall.
Mr Sparkle didn't do too bad either
his blog here http://mrsparkleversuslife.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/brownbacks-round-1.html
if hills worry you stay in the flatlands 😉
if hills worry you stay in the flatlands
They don't worry me as such, I rode s/s only for seven years and did nine of my 24 solos on them.
What I find odd is the nature of the climbs they have here, it's like because it's flat they go out of their way to find silly ones.
There is also very little flow. The old hairpin into a climb is a classic one.
Then again, if they're not like the above they're on golf courses!
Probably why I've only seen one s/s at the races.