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Do you only ride it twice a year then?
I have to clean and lube my chain every weekend.
Too much work. Saw a hole in your rear triangle and fit a belt drive.
Saw a hole in your rear triangle and fit a belt drive
And stop regularly to puck mud and stones out of the sprockets or have them snap on you.
Anyone riding or racing Cx on singlespeed?
Plenty. Makes a lot of sense with flatish courses, lots of mud and short, steep run-ups. Maybe a bit less sense on courses with long tarmac sections.
Incidentally, since you can choose different gears on an SS in the workshop, does it matter what ratio you choose? Do you have more fun in 32:16 than 32:18?
Depends.
I'm on a fat bike so these gears are quite low partially the big diameter wheels, partially as it suits it.
33-20 is my default 'unfit' gear, I had 32-20 for SSUK as that's the lowest I've got.
I sometimes go higher in summer, but never past 52" (the old fashioned 32:16). Even in a quick group on a road section that's high enough that I can spin my legs without being so inefficient that I'm going over threshold.
Obviously that varies as I get more/less fit, but it's only a couple of times a year, doubt I'll change it between now and late spring.
Do you only ride it twice a year then?I have to clean and lube my chain every weekend.
Putoline is your friend. I oil mine monthly* if I'm bored, otherwise it may well be January before I next bother.
*20-25hours of proper (i.e. muddy, excluding road miles, commuting etc are extra on that) a month.
kerley - Member
Do you only ride it twice a year then?I have to clean and lube my chain every weekend.
[url= http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html ]But do you do it properly?[/url] 🙂
molgrips upset me so much that last night I had to build a new singlespeed just to make me feel better
I created a sscx from the broken remains of a geared CX bike after 3 mechs went in the first half of a season.
Now use it regularly both regionally and nationally. It's got limus mud tyres on it so if that's the tyre I want to use then that's the bike I use. Love it. 36/16 BTW
How would you go about doing sscx? There's not a lot of frames about that accept a SS setup. There are some steel, but not many lighter, racey ones. I'm tempted by it. Maybe my cross check would do the trick.
Tried fixed, didn't like it.
Tried ss, didn't like it but persevered for 3 years.
Tried IGH, loved the speed and 7 year service intervals.
Converted my PX London Road commuter to SS during the summer and love it. Where I used to spin up any hill at 1mph I now have to ride hard up them and feel much stronger for it. My commute is 26 miles (most of which is fire road) each way but only has 400m climbing so 42x16 works (added bonus is it is the magic ration for the london road)
Off road I use a Rolhoff so all the advantages of SS but with gears 🙂
The fatbike is 1x11.
I like riding all of them.
(I wish I hadn't sold my Curtis 29er singlespeed last year BTW - it was a very high-end sub 19lb build and absolutely beautiful - I've already tried to buy it back but the new owner won't budge!)
@velocipede... You're saying that Curtis bikes are worth the outlay...? After getting a rigid 29er SS last year (Salsa El-Mar) I've been totally converted to SS and rigidity but, I'd love something that fits me better; being an orangutan and weighing very little I'd like a springier custom-fit. Been looking at the raw finishes on Curtis bikes and wondering how people found them - I get that they make much burlier options too.
[quote=tazzymtb ]molgrips upset me so much that last night I had to build a new singlespeed just to make me feel better
Have you lubed it yet ?
However much Taz lubes it, it isn't going to fit.
All lubed and smashed up a muddy gulley, it's a right monster of a bike and so, so twinkly and sparkly and pretty. Just like me
How would you go about doing sscx? There's not a lot of frames about that accept a SS setup
There are not a lot of options. I used a Kona Major One for a few years that was very nice (scandium tubes) but was not disc.
The new Trek Crockett looks good.
Yep, the Crockett does look good - Tanks for the pointer. Didn't realise that had a sliding rear end.
for sscx frames also worth having a look at Cinelli Mash, State bikes, All city nature boy, old Felt breeds or look at frame with a PF30 bband use a team beer, onza, wheels manufactirung EBB converter in it for a normal 24mm axle chainset. gives you loads of options
Did a "faux singlespeed" ride on the fat bike on Saturday. No real reason, just set off and decided not to change gear. It was 28:21 ratio so pretty low really, I probably should have been a cog or two higher.
Mostly it was OK but there was one short steep section near the end of the ride that I walked. It was pure bloody mindedness by then. 😀 The only time I've done one or two of the climbs faster was in a race which quite surprised me TBH, I wasn't heading out intending things to be fast. Managing to ride through the section of track chewed up by cows and about a foot deep in mud was more interesting - definitely in the "I don't want to do a comedy stop and fall to the side" category.