[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