This thread cost me £500 today.
I hope you're all proud of yourselves.
😁😎
All the Pros of SS
Except the lovely clean lines...
There is a difference between sliding dropouts and horizontal dropouts 😉
I really loved the dropouts on the Highball. Very, very simple but so few frames use anything similar.
Kona's sliding dropouts are top notch (once you replace the socket bolts for hex)
Love this thread. I could ride my Stormchaser all the live long day and then do it all again the day after.
It's the first year I haven't had a single speed for about 15 years. I had an 853 Rock Lobster that I'd stripped down to have repainted and while it was hanging up frame only, I thought I'd give it a go. I got a kit from CTBM thinking I can resell it shortly after once I realised what a shit idea it was, and was proved badly wrong.
Subsequently I've had a Tinbred, then a 29er Inbred, then a Swift (that I really regret selling) then a Pace (which cracked) and lastly a Voodoo that I converted to gears and sold earlier this year spotting a gap in the market when everyone went bike mad, and I was mainly doing road loops due to lockdown.
Now I'm hankering - but don't see many options out there other than another cheap alu frame or bike and a tensioner kit.
@ajantom you need a decrocher stick for your gear changes. 🙂
Google Vernon Blake but make sure to include cyclist in the search or you'll get Batman syff. 🙂
Found inbred dropouts a right pain in the arse, but dropouts on the voodoo were perfect (after changing the hex screws for something not made of cheese). Whole dropout slides, including brake mounts so no worries like on an inbred of wheel dropout being twice as long as brake adjustment. Only issue is that brake was then on seatstay rather than chainstay so kinda got in the way of racks.
I've generally found single speed a step to far but I've been dinglespeed for years now -- 33/20 for techy offroad or long road climbs and 36/17 for roads, gravel or easy XC. That's on a Stooge 29er.
I run a sprung tensioner with two jockey wheels so changing ratios is a 10 second job and I tend to do so perhaps a couple of times an hour. I find the minor increase in complexity absolutely worth it, and the maintenance costs are basically the same as full on SS.
Not the Stooge, but a better pic of the dingleset-up
I was riding s/s as a teen back in the 70s. Did what would now be called a ‘bike packing’ tour of the Dales in summer 1975.
Bought my first s/s for 40 years in 2018. Rode it a little to begin with and was amazed by how well I thought I could ‘manage’.
Throughout 2020 I have ridden it regularly, primarily in hilly terrain (Shropshire Hills / Marches) my geared full suss hardly at all.
£900 rigid Kona Unit vs £3500 Giant Anthem 1 ?
Frankly I’d take the Kona.
32/18 by the way on 27.5+ .
Sounds like what I did. I rediscovered SS a few years ago due to work/family time constraints, having limited funds and finding I was just going through the motions when out on my (geared) bike.
They are rather hard work but quite addictive, I don't think I will ever be without a SS bike.
Word of warning on solely riding SS, they tend to only make you good at only riding SS. I know this is stating the obvious but when I got a geared bike again I struggled to push big gears and just rode it like a SS.
That Dinglespeed is class! I used to have a Genesis Day-One with a flip-flop hub. I would ride it to the trails in (this is from memory so might be wrong) 42/16 then flip the wheel round to a more manageable 42/18 to ride the trails.
Now I’m living 7 flat miles away from work/pub SS just doesn’t work for me. Either spin out or long wet slog into the wind and rain.
That is not how I find it, maybe you are not getting the right gearing?
I use a gear that gives me my best cadence (80-90) at my average speed. If I get a headwind it is not that much of a slog but I am never spinning out apart from steep downhill but luckily I can hold over 200rpm for a few minutes when that happens.
It is also better to ride fixed gear than single speed even on the same gearing for some reason as I hate riding single speed on the flat but fixed is great. Don't know what that is though!
That Dinglespeed is class! I used to have a Genesis Day-One with a flip-flop hub. I would ride it to the trails in (this is from memory so might be wrong) 42/16 then flip the wheel round to a more manageable 42/18 to ride the trails.
I have a 16 and 17 cog on my wheel a slightly slack but totally acceptable 16 gets me out and about and the 17 is a ten second trailside stop.
It is also better to ride fixed gear than single speed even on the same gearing for some reason as I hate riding single speed on the flat but fixed is great. Don’t know what that is though!
Its because the momentum takes your feet round when on a singlespeed your feet can't keep up.
Seeing as we have all the resident SS'ers here, what do you carry in the way of chain links? I have my sliding dropouts in the middle of their range, but removing 2 links makes the chain too short to run the axle all the way forward. Not much use in carrying a quick link, the only option is to carry a few links of chain.
^ this, or if I was going to be very remote I'd even carry a spare chain.
Never needed to use either though; I reckon the major killer of chains is hamfisted shifting forcing the chain over and twisting it across cogs that weakens them. My legs never managed to break one purely through tension. I also know that you can buy proper cheap chains but I always went mid range branded for a few quid extra.
The major killer of my chains is me adding and removing links when changing gearing, getting wheel closer/further away depending on tyre size etc,.
The only time I had a chain fail was with a chain that I had added and removed links many times combined with it being a very light weight KMC X9-SL and the side plate just snapped in half which I would wager was a side plate I had rejoined/bent a bit to get link in. Luckily I was less than a mile from my house on return part of loop.
I just carry 3 or 5 links along with spare power links. It's very unlikely you'd ever snap it (even the 9 speed ones that I use) but if you do, there is no bodgery to get you home.
So what's the best STW-approved BB mounted chain tensioner?
So what’s the best STW-approved BB mounted chain tensioner?
Anyone? My singulator has skipped a few times resulting in pain of one kind or another and so I’m also keen to try a BB mounted one.
I had no luck at all with BB tensioners or BB mounted lower chain guides used as tensioners and those using them seem to be a bit of a minority. I'd be searching for a better mech mounted tensioner personally.
Something like a Blackspire Stinger-
You can rotate the plate around to tension the chain and the roller can be moved up and down its slot too. I had a full MRP type chainguide on my Switchback just because I used it for DH races as well as just pottering about on and it was easier to leave it on. 1/8" chain too, which is not everyone's cuppa I know but I prefer them.
BB tensioners are a bit like push up ones at the back, they work but only for about the equivalent of half a chain link. I suppose you could run one pushing down if needed? They do look tidy though.
I think the only/best option is to play with ratios untill you get it almost right, then add the tensioner.
I really must get out on my Ti Singular Hummingbird (with custom Singular Ti forks) in the next day or two - I haven’t fallen out of love with it, rather I’ve just been distracted by other stuff.
It’s still the one bike that I’ll never part with - although, when I get too old and decrepit to do it justice, I might actually give it to someone who could.
Or send it back to Sam for the Singular museum....
Love riding SS. Chilterns based so there's plenty of hills to work on, some are a real challenge but doable others can be completely avoided - mainly due to conditions & traction as I only generally ride SS in winter (Salsa El Mar). My current fav thing about riding SS is, this happened today, dropping riders who you accidentally bump into on e-bikes 😁 Rigid as well for added impressiveness 😉
My current fav thing about riding SS is, this happened today, dropping riders who you accidentally bump into on e-bikes 😁 Rigid as well for added impressiveness
Happened on my ride today too 😁
Full suss ebiker. Overtook him on some very sloppy single-track, could hear him whirring behind me, but dropped him when there were a couple of techy bits and a log hop.
He came puffing past me on full turbo after we reached a bit of road 😆
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Never get tired of this....
Andy, that is a thing of beauty. I must resist the temptation to build up a bling single speed!
I opted out of the SS today due to the snow and ice. It was the right call. Even on 32:42 and 29*3 the rear wheel was spinning on the climbs.
Yes, yes and thrice yes
Ss gets back to the simple pleasures. Love it all day long.
I'm hoping for another hard frost tomorrow, and I'll take the SS out on a final long outing of the Xmas hols.
Back in school to teach remote lessons on Monday am 🤨
If anyone in the Bristol area fancies an almost new small Dialled Bikes Love/Hate frame then let me know. I'll even deliver it if needed. Yours for a donation to charity.
Andy R, looks gorgeous! what is it?
My first singlespeed. 40/19 wheels manufacturing eccentric bb
rstephenson
Full MemberAndy R, looks gorgeous! what is it?
It’s this - Singular Ti Hummingbird with Ti forks -and yes it does get used and no, it isn’t always as clean as it is here...
A few changes since the photos - steerer is now cut down and it has different bars....
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Very nice 🙂
This is my old singlespeeded (32:17 I think) mk3 26" Soul (man I miss that bike, I'd have another in a heartbeat) waiting for the Shields ferry on our way up to my mam's. 70-odd miles, many sandwiches were consumed that day 🥪🥪🥪🍺
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