[Closed] Sad realisation - SS to geared content

er...no

Been dabbling with 1x9 after 3 years of ss. Can't stand it. Much prefer ss off-road.

On road is another issue - about to get my first geared road bike to get to work faster!

I've got two SS and two geared mtbs. They're all great 🙂

Your mates won't wait for you at the end of fast descents?

Changes mates not bike. You [s]are[/s] were 10 times the rider they are.

Face it, you're a geared loser. 😉

I am faster than faster mates when I ride SS and they ride geared up hill
Spinning out is only an issue downhil and then I tend to find I am either braking or have picked a poor descent if I want to pedal
On road I would use a geared bike

You realise you've just become 99% less attractive to members of your preffered sex.

You'll probably never get laid again!

Kind of expected that.

At lunch I am going to have to scratch off all the CTBM witty stickers from my SS bike 😆

drofluf - Member

You realise you've just become 99% less attractive to members of your preffered sex.

You'll probably never get laid again!

Its a good job my wife is understanding 😆

Signing off .... Mark aka geared loser 😉

😆

My Swift went 1X9 early last year. I loved it as a singlespeed, and I'd recommend everyone tries riding single speed at some point because it is fun, but I just felt that I wasn't getting the best out of the bike with only one gear. The Swift is a great bike and now feels far more versatile. Running it as a single speed felt like trying to drive my car everywhere in third gear, no matter what ratios I stuck on it it never felt right. Now I can use the full gearbox and I'm a much happier camper.

Big Dave - Member

Now I can use the [s]full[/s] partial gearbox and I'm a much happier camper.

[i]Pedant mode on:[/i] Fixed that for you. [i]Pedant mode off.[/i]

😆

I am faster than faster mates when I ride SS and they ride geared up hill

i'm sorry, but how is this possible?. If they wanted to then they would stick it in the same gear as you and bein 'faster' therefore beat you up hill. I understand the ' they just sit and spin theory whereas i have to push a hard gear', but if your so called faster mates wanted to they could easily beat you uphill, thats why there faster

Its a good job my wife is understanding

I find that too 😀

Big Dave - Member

Now I can use the full partial gearbox and I'm a much happier camper.

Pedant mode on: Fixed that for you. Pedant mode off.

Compared to SS a 1X9 set up feels pretty comprehensive to me. I have a 3X9 set up on my Karate Monkey and it doesn't get me up the hills any faster, slower most of the time in fact.

I have a 3X9 set up on my Karate Monkey and it doesn't get me up the hills any faster, slower most of the time in fact.

All this ss v's gears up a hill is a load off bollocks, it's all down to the individuals mentality of wether their prepared to sit and spin or put it in a higher gear and get out of the saddle and power up it.

All this ss v's gears up a hill is a load off bollocks, it's all down to the individuals mentality of wether their prepared to sit and spin or put it in a higher gear and get out of the saddle and power up it.

With very loose surfaces (gravel, small stones etc) on steep slopes it becomes very difficult though.

Sounds like you were gearing way too low.

Go higher and just accept you'll have to work harder on the climbs - it might hurt at first but you'll get stronger. 🙂

Although I do reckon riding SS with a bunch of gearies is a special form of purgatory - they're faffing around with their gears when you just want to charge the hill, and you're freewheeling when they're trying to top out in the big ring.

Nothing wrong with having a geared bike just for riding with your mates.

SS isn't a fundamentalist religion - it's fun for mentalists. 🙂

All this ss v's gears up a hill is a load off bollocks, it's all down to the individuals mentality of wether their prepared to sit and spin or put it in a higher gear and get out of the saddle and power up it.

I agree. There's no way I'd climb in my SS gear if I had the option to change down, which is why I've started SSing for a lot of riding to work myself harder.

I've kind of given up on SS too, not because of the freewheeling/uphill issue, but because my knees just weren't having it. Really enjoyed it though.

Ultimately it wasn't that SS was damaging them, it was just exploiting a weakness in them, so while I gradually strengthen them I'll be sticking to gears and enjoying pain free knees.

Oh, and replacing a steel SS bike with a 2x10 Whyte 905 was a canny move. The Whyte is faster in every respect. 8)

All this ss v's gears up a hill is a load off bollocks

I was actually comparing 1X9 to 3X9. Nowt against single speeding, its a good workout. I did however get fed up with trying to figure out if the creaking I could hear on long climbs was coming from the EBB or an old knee injury. Since swapping to a geared set up I can confirm its my knee! 😀

Single speed is not for off road no matter what anyone says.

Single speed is not for off road no matter what anyone says

Why?

Because gears are useful, probably why they were invented in the first place.

BMX and jump bikes yeah, you don't need to change gear or the inconvenience of breaking mechs.

Riding up and down hills is obviously way more efficient and faster with gears. Pushing a hard gear uphill is also very bad for your knees.

I have realised though, on here, the less gears you have the more rad you are.

Because gears are useful, probably why they were invented in the first place.

BMX and jump bikes yeah, you don't need to change gear or the inconvenience of breaking mechs.

Riding up and down hills is obviously way more efficient/faster with gears.

I have realised though, on here, the less gears you have the more rad you are.

It's (obviously) up to the individual. Having tried both I prefer ss. I accept on really big hills (like recent trip to Scotland) that I need gears. My local rides (Mendips, Quantocks) are fine on a ss.

...and I'm most definitely not 'rad', whatever that means 😯

The problem is that by going singlespeed you've only done half the job.

Fixed is the way forward my friend.

I've got two SS and two geared mtbs. They're all great

Ditto here. 😀

(altho the SSs are primarily winter/nightride and commuting bikes, to be fair)

Riding up and down hills is obviously way more efficient/faster with gears.

Efficient yes. But faster? Not in the rolling Chilterns, my friend.

P 'rad' Meister J.

I have realised though, on here, the less gears you have the more rad you are

I think its seen on STW as more of an excuse to buy more bikes...

I certainly never felt rad on my ss. Red faced, sweaty and close to death at the top of each steep climb was more like it.

Single speed is not for off road no matter what anyone says.

I beg to differ. A great, low maintenance winter training/commuting/hack bike over short/mid distances.

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I have two 29er mountain bikes. One with gears and the other a S/S rigid. I use both bikes, but the S/S tends to be used on my own or with other S/S riders and the geared with the guys! Both great fun though!

LOL at flow, there's very few rides you can't do (perhaps with a bit of walking) on an ss.

Try the Selkirk Marathon for instance - if you are man enough.

😆 and a bit 🙄 at flow.

You are asking on here if anyone has had experience of jumping on a bandwagon?????

There's a time and place for both. I wouldn't like to have just one or the other, road or off-road. It's nice to mix it up, one seems to help my pace on the other.

Spin - Member
The problem is that by going singlespeed you've only done half the job.
Fixed is the way forward my friend.

It certainly makes you work harder on your lines.

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But look closely, I'm cheating - got gears - it's a Surly Dingle cog at the back 🙂

Laughed at flow's comment, if an old wreck like me can ride SS in the Highlands, surely you younger fit guys can do it too.

Epicyclo, you're a git. You, and drjon with his blog. Bloody pictures of Scotland with blue skies cos you're there and can make the most when it's sunny. All that scenery and colour.

Have some respect for us that are stuck in the south ffs.

: )

While you may be able to manage to ride wherever with a SS, I just genuinely can't understand why anyone would want to.

Why have a bike that doesn't have the correct gear 90% of the time? Just seems like a massive disadvantage, with virtually no advantages to me.

While you may be able to manage to ride wherever with a SS, I just genuinely can't understand why anyone would want to.

Why have a bike that doesn't have the correct gear 90% of the time? Just seems like a massive disadvantage, [u]with virtually no advantages to me[/u].

You've answered your own question in the last part. Everyone's different. I prefer the challenge and simplicity. But that's me.

My own Rigid SS build is really for winter use only, I was persuaded enough by the "minimal maintenance" argument, and the need to do some "winter training" offroad.

I want a bike I can jump on ride through the shite, whip off the chain and hose down without an hour of faff to clean the drivetrain out, but I'm certainly not going to become a SS "Fundamentalist"...

But while the weather is nice, geared bouncy forked bikes are what I will enjoy riding...

I want a bike I can jump on ride through the shite, whip off the chain and hose down without an hour of faff to clean the drivetrain out,

A quick hose down is all I ever do to my bike that has gears. 5 mins.
Why would you want to take the chain off?

Big Dave wasn't having a go at you personally but just the ss/geared debate in general that crops up here on here every now and then.

I rode ss exclusively for about 3 years then for one reason or another ended up back on gears but have said if I knacker one more rear mech up this year i'm going back to ss 😉

Yes I jacked in the whole singlespeed thing after a nine year stint on them.
I never went with the whole 'it makes you a fitter stronger rider' Okay if you're the sort that would drop a gear when no ones looking, but if that was the concern just wack it in the 44 and give it some.
Singlespeeds don't go up hills quicker, riders do.

I think singlespeeding just makes you a better singlespeeder. Though I'll concede that there are whole trails that can be a singlespeed sweetspot.

Big Dave wasn't having a go at you personally but just the ss/geared debate in general that crops up here on here every now and then.

I didn't think you were. These debates always make me chuckle. Surprised Godwins Law hasn't come into effect yet...

Warning, descent into the bottomless debate over pros and cons of SS reached....

I've not experienced the OP's realisation as i've never committed to one bike. I see both sides of this.

SS is daft. I love it. 'q - why? a - it's simple'

"Why have a bike that doesn't have the correct gear 90% of the time?"

- The human body doesn't have gears but that doesn't stop fell-runners. I like the SS bike's fixed link between cadence, speed and effort. I also like 42/12 on a blindingly fast bit of downhill singletrack..

Anyway. If you don't want to believe that MTB can be the answer to all, you'll not be dissapointed one day. And you have a good excuse to own at least 3 bikes. All good...

My 29er Inbred is set up rigid SS, but I can chuck the geared back wheel & gear train on & be 1x10 in a few mins. Another 5mins & the sus forks are on. But most of the time its SS. Its not that hilly where I live. I'm not averse to getting off to push if I'd be riding at walking pace anyway. I love the simplicity of SS, but if I felt geared would be better then I'm no slave to the SS thing, because some terrain is better with gears.

I ride uphill at about the same speed as an asthmatic snail carrying heavy shopping so having a collection of rubbish one geared bikes suits my lack of skill and fitness perfectly. If I ride my geared bikes folks actually expect me to do a bit more than "fire road extreme" which makes me display less co-ordination than an octopus on LSD.

I love my ss bikes they mask all my cackness with a protective aura of niche

Why would you want to take the chain off?

Well OK not every ride but every 2-3 maybe; whip the chain off and in the warm and dry of the kitchen (While the missus watches some reality bollox on the telly), soak chain in cleaning agent of your choice, bit of a scrub/rinse through dry off and re-lube, that's about all effort the winter SS drivetrain will ever see.

Vs all the scrubbing between Cassette/chainrings/jockeys in the garden/garage with frozen fingers that my Geared bikes would get if I rode them during winter, I'd much rather keep the post ride maintenance minimal when it's cold/dark out.

Nowt to do with being all tough and Manly, Grinding one gear around the countrysire, no I'm just alergic to the combination of effort and cold weather...

glenh - Member
While you may be able to manage to ride wherever with a SS, I just genuinely can't understand why anyone would want to.

Why have a bike that doesn't have the correct gear 90% of the time? Just seems like a massive disadvantage, [b]with virtually no advantages to me[/b].

This is because you can't see the bigger picture, most people pooh pooh-ing anything have seldom tried it.

My local trail centre is a perfect example of why everything you have just written is utter nonsense, I'm basing this statement on facts not fiction.
The fact is, when you ride over bumpy singletrack such as the Cannock follow dog trail, that one big gear is perfect for the job, it forces you to maintain flow, working hard to achieve that, this has been my own findings, I'm no SS fanboy at all, I just tried and it and realised the truth, that for off road singletrack, it makes a lot of sense.

The fact that I overtake a hell of a lot of people using gears seems to confirm this, a member earlier in this thread said it's all 'boll*cks and about mentality of the rider', while mentality is certainly true, he seems to have overlooked the very point that seems to be going over many heads in this thread, which is..

The PHYSICAL aspect.
If you use gears, then you are far more less likely to stand up and work that bike through the bumpy stuff and up the hills, therefore, you are not working that body in the same way that you are forced to do when you have no choice.
Forget about mentality a sec, away from professional races it is a fact that most (actually all) geared riders I see out and about hardly ever seem to stand up and work hard at it, they become lazy through having those geared options.

Thread now back on track, order restored, now stop being such troll like muppets. 😉

Calm down dear. It's only a bike.

they become lazy through having those geared options

Lazy, or just conserving energy because they can?

I confess that this thread makes me realize how I want another go at SS. I learned a lot and it was fun. Even with gears, I tend to ride with lower cadence and am out the saddle more. Stupid knee. I just fitted a new 34t/1x9 XT setup recently, so will stay with that for now.

I didn't miss any point thanks.

Just stick a load of bloody gears on and shut up

Sorry 😉

There are some very silly, insecure people on this thread

SSs are great. So are geared bikes. Saying one is inherently better is silly. They're better at different things and depending on what you consider important and how you ride, that will produce a different idea of what is 'better' overall.

Many find that SS forces them to ride faster. Others who don't need to be forced into putting effort in make geared bikes go faster (hence why serious XC racers are all racing on gears). SSs should be simpler, lighter and have less maintenance.

The fact is, when you ride over bumpy singletrack such as the Cannock follow dog trail

😆

I stopped reading then

Well OK not every ride but every 2-3 maybe; whip the chain off and in the warm and dry of the kitchen (While the missus watches some reality bollox on the telly), soak chain in cleaning agent of your choice, bit of a scrub/rinse through dry off and re-lube, that's about all effort the winter SS drivetrain will ever see

That's about a lifetimes more lovin' than my SS ever gets, it's a £4 BMX chain I reckon it works better a bit rusty. Just squirt a bit of 3 in 1 on it to stop it squeaking annoyingly every few weeks and you're set.

flow - Member

I stopped reading then

You're just too 'rad' Flow. 😉

I stopped reading before the OP even posted this thread.

"This is however a case of egg on face as I have just finished a Ti SS rigid hardtail".

Just fit an Alfine hub, 8 or 11 speed. All the chainline reliability, plus gears. What's not too like?

It even looks like a SS (from the right angle) 😆

I have a light SS and a bigger, heavier geared FS trail bike.

To ride, they're wildly different from each other and this really is the only point.

I will admit that riding the SS has made me a better all-round rider, I believe largely for the reasons that mental Mickey has said. The SS leaves me no option but to ride with commitment, but the FS allows me the option to be a lazy twiddler [i]and[/i] I can still ride it with commitment if I choose.

Just ride gears, and apply a liberal dose of salt and a birch whip and quit your jibber jabber.

[i]Just ride gears, and apply a liberal dose of salt and a birch whip and quit your jibber jabber.[/i]

This.

All this 'singlespeed make me strong like bear' is cobblers, and points up what most of us already know; STW style mountain bikers are blouses.

Indeed all we've acertained is that singlespeeds are ideal for people to weak to HTFU on geared bikes. Still trying to work out how 32X16 toughens you up, when you could be enjoying the pain of 44X12

flow - Member

I stopped reading then.
🙄

A bit further and you would have managed your first sentence

Isn't a SS just a 3x9 where it's stuck in 1 gear?

No I'm being very naughty, I enjoyed all the singlespeeds I've owned. In the end I just missed the big gears for traditional XC.
Though it's been mentioned that singlespeeds give you a good work out and help with fitness and all that. Myself and others I know used them exclusively for solos because they kept you in check, taking away the temptation to hoon around in a big gear and possibly burning you out.
But like I said before I've done rides and races and thought afterwards that a singlespeed would have been ideal.

it's all about riding your bike and having fun. For me I get more smiles per mile on a SS most of the time, even for endurance races as they stop me going like a mentalist for the first few hours and then entering a world of pain.

Some riders are just mentally fast regardless of what they ride, and some SS riders are fast enough to beat very fast/sponsored gearie boys n girls in big races like the niner race squad. Yes they would be even faster on gears but if they are winning on a SS then putting them on a geared bike, must be like cheating or something 😉

No comment so not to offend other riders

SS is just more efficient IMO. Ok your only ever at 5 or 105 rpm cadence, but you get fitter because of it. there are no worries about gears going wrong, and your never in the wrong gear because you get fitter to cope. there are just less problems all round.

[i]SS is just more efficient IMO[/i]

Demonstrably wrong.
[i]
but you get fitter because of it.[/i]

Again, wrong.

[i]there are no worries about gears going wrong, and your never in the wrong gear because you get fitter to cope[/i]

...and you have the perfect excuse for not being fast...

glenh - Member
While you may be able to manage to ride wherever with a SS, I just genuinely can't understand why anyone would want to...

For me it is simply more enjoyable. Light bike (useful for chucking over 7' deer fences), nothing to go wrong (derailleurs get bent dragging them through thick heather), bugger all maintenance.

I'm more concerned about distance covered than spot speeds. I use my bike to get me into interesting places - one of the nice things about living in Scotland is we can go where we want.

If I lived in a place where my riding was constrained to trail centres I'd probably ride a full sus with gears.

The "rad", "niche" etc stuff is hopefully a joke, because I'd hope no-one took a bike that seriously. IMO if you want to be a proper hard cross-country type, then become a fell runner.

So why? Because it is there.

I only ride SS on my own really. Not because of the (anti)social aspects of racing off up the hill when with friends and then being last back down again. No, I only SS for the image so I get off and walk anything remotely uphill and friends would get mightily peed off with me if I kept doing that and taking forever to get to the top.

I do look good on it though and that's what counts. 😀

SS is just more efficient IMO. Ok your only ever at 5 or 105 rpm cadence, but you get fitter because of it. there are no worries about gears going wrong, and your never in the wrong gear because you get fitter to cope. there are just less problems all round.

That whole paragraph is a load of shite

The human body doesn't have gears but that doesn't stop fell-runners

What about walk, jog, run, sprint? Come to think of it is singlespeeding a bit like a walking race? I know so people are dead fast on a single speed but then some people are really fast in a walking race. Walking race athletes will never beat a sprinter or and distance runner though as their disciple naturally limits their speed. But on Redsocks walking days I bet they really get a kick out of being the first to the tea shop.

I doff my cap to all SSers not that I have seen many int dales
and theres no way I could winch my body up the dales and lakes hills with only one gear

just get out and ride and have fun

GEDA, my point is that on legs or on a ss, effort and rpm / pace affects speed in the same kind of way, the link is direct. you're right; maybe i didn't make the point well but what i mean is that rpm and effort affect speed directly like the the difference between walking and running. i like the way on a ss i get tuned in to speed and cadence.

"IMO if you want to be a proper hard cross-country type, then become a fell runner." aye, or a john stamstad type..

Bristol Bike Fest last Saturday;
1st solo male, 25 laps
1st solo male singlespeed, 24 laps
Assuming the top riders in each category are about the same level of fitness and technical ability, then on [i]the right sort of trail[/i], there's not a lot in it.

yeah I'd agree with Graham there, that course was quite SS friendly for the most part (though I did spin out a bit on the brief flat bits). 1st & 2nd in Male Solo SS would have come 4th & 5th in open Male Solo

Why have a bike that doesn't have the correct gear 90% of the time? Just seems like a massive disadvantage, with virtually no advantages to me.

Actualy, I find myself in the wong gear a lot more often on the geared bike.

e.g. night ride, ina group, unfamiliar trails (something I do a lot of), go into a failry level corner on SS, stand and sprint out of it, no problems.

Do the same on a geared bike and 50% of the time you either spin out because you're still in a gear you used to climb upto the corner or or you cant put the power down as youve gone down a hill into the corner and shifted up too far.

Yes you could look ahead/learn the trail, but after 15 years riding off road I'm as good as I ever will be at that and I still get cought out on twisty stuff.

SS just removes the complications from riding so you just concentrate on line choice, staying off the brakes and either pedailing like a madman or grunting up the climbs.

Also it does make you fitter, but only specificaly for SS, I cant ride the geared bike as fast as someown whose used to it, as sitting and spinning the correct gear doesnt come naturaly anymore, so I'm probably fitter if i'm sprinting out of a section in the perfect gear, but show me a slog of a climb best done seated and I'll really struggle (the option of standing and mashing the SS gear being removed by virtue of being on a FS). On the plus side I have upper legs like tree trunks and can split swimming shorts just by looking at them!

That's one less of us and one more of them.

Seriously. I have ridden to Scotland on a one speed, and Belgium too last month. And gears have a place. But for me it ain't off road.

Do the same on a geared bike and 50% of the time you either spin out because you're [s]still in a gear you used to climb upto the corner or or you cant put the power down as youve gone down a hill into the corner and shifted up too far[/s] not very good at using gears.

Happy to correct that for you.

[i]SS just removes the complications from riding[/i]

Mmmm, walking and talking can be [i]such[/i] a challenge...

Nope, sorry, singlespeed is great for the lack of maintenance but that's about it.