[Closed] SingleSpeed - Its pants......

It can be pants ,it depends where you ride really

I live in and mostly ride in calderdale (steep sacking hills)

i liked it for a bit, but it became my only ride for a while as i stripped my FS and i quickly got over it. it was killing my knees and i actually hate it on anything other than ups and downs. looking to ditch the frame and SS components to build a geared HT.

would probably have one again at some point, i do love the simplicity and reliability.

Yes its utterly pointless. Stop trying to be a weirdbeard & fit gears.

Works well for me - ride mostly in Cannock Chase - no big hills and lots of mud most of the year. Wouldn't go for it in a lot of other places. Horses for courses etc etc.....

Love it on my commuter.

gets me to work. no faff, no fiddle.

Tidy!

sure - I liked the simplicity of it, that was the idea. I've seen a few people up and around localy (inc some of the singletrack guys) Mr cozy gears are back

I loved it...for a bit. Then my knees started to get sore, and it felt great when I went back to gears. I still kinda like that punky, "**** all this faffing around" edge that it's got tho.

er... 'm_cozzy' :::: how do you know B@arney even has a beard ? lol and the fact that its 'wierd'...lol
i too ride those big hills around caldedale,glad ive got a decent bike and gears.phew.....killer hills...

I'm not sure I understand what part of it "doesn't work"? The bit where you don't have variable gear ratios to deal with changing terrain? 🙂

I like it as an option. Less hard work on some rides (if you're used to it), and seems to be good for recovering legs that are sore from running. Even enjoyed last night's spin despite having removed my beard now!

If I had only one bike it would probably have gears though.

If you're experimenting with different gears trying to get "the right one", I don't think singlespeeding is for you. It takes a while to get used to working around having the wrong gear all the time by hamster wheeling/grinding at 1RPM more effectively.

I don't understand the sore knees comments... I never had any trouble with my knees, none of the lot I ride with had any trouble with there knees, and there were several folks on here who said their knees got stronger from riding singlespeed...

Are you just staying sat on the saddle too much?

I like the idea of it but my fitness levels are too low to ride it all the time I think. Still, if my gears give me much more hassle I'm going SS as I can't be bothered trying to get my gears to run smoothly!

Might actually force us lazy people who rely on gears to work a bit harder, haha.

In all fairness I've already got knee issues, always have, so it's exacerbating and existing condition rather than causing it.

I have considered it, put some fat tyres on, take the bike up somewhere, have fun! (rigid, v braked) it's still gonna be fun right? **** what the kids ride!

I sold my SS cos it was rubbish.

I bought it to commute to work on along a fairly flat run.

Boring once you reached top speed, which was too slow to be entertaining.

Luckily sold it for more than I paid though.

Nope - no beard, mrs won't let me. Nope not sat in the saddle. I just think I like to 'put the hammer down' pretty often and the simple lack of gears makes for a slow/er journey??

I've been at it for only a month or so and can't get enough of it. It may be a fad (I hope not) and I wouldn't take an ss everywhere but I just loves it. I have only ridden a geared bike once since my new toy arrived and the ss bretheren encourage the consumption of alcohol and cheese which luckily I can tolerate 😉 ps have you tried a ss 29er ?

Just started and at the moment my local loop has a couple of lung busting climbs that used to be granny ring spins but it feels great to get out of the saddle and heave up them. Still a couple of bits that I can't make it up, yet but it is a fun challenge and something different. Don't imagine it will become my only choice but it is fun for a local blast, hard workout/short time thing.

Nah, you are wrong... I think its ace.

If mountainbiking was meant to be easy, it would be called something else... like "sofa sitting" (something I am pretty damned good at)

But hey, I am biased

Of course it's not for everyone and for others just some of the time.........but when you can ride somewhere in near silence without the hassle of constantly fiddling to find the 'right ratio' and just accept what you have available is all you've got, then it stops being an issue and you can enjoy just riding along 😀

Yer its crap and me and 350 other folks will be doing it this weekend YAHOOO !!!! Charles we will have a beer with you my man 😉

I'm not saying I want an easy life, I love a challenge like the next bloke. When I take a 'hill on' I don't spin like a nutter anyway. But when I get to the top I like to take it on the flat then take on the descent...? maybe not needing all 27 odd gears etc but a middle ground like the 2x10 or the 1x9 people seem to be going down...

it used to be good,but now 'everyone' is doing it's pants,obviously.
(sticks nose in air,and wonders off )

Your right it's shite don't bother.

It's great on my commuter and I've thought about it for local loops, but keep binning the idea

I don't think I'd get on with it but I like the idea of simplifying things. My FS will soon have only 2 chain rings on the front. The front gear changer on my hardtail broke this week and I've been managing OK just using the middle chainring since.

[i]but when you can ride somewhere in near silence without the hassle of constantly fiddling to find the 'right ratio'[/i]

Eh? It's like driving a car, you just go into the right gear naturally, at least I do. I never find myself 'fiddling' to find the right ratio. And 'noise' what noise? TBH I've never had any bother with any of the 27 single speeds on my bike.
Yours, a non SS'der.

And 'noise' what noise?

No big deal and each to their own etc.etc

Mr Woody - put correctly.... Horses for Courses.... Just wanted to know if others have tried and failed...

I don't think it's rubbish but it did not suit me at all.

Felt too restricted and inefficient.

I still don't know what you mean by 'noise' though. My tyres make more noise than my drivetrain & I can honestly say that in 21 years of riding I've never had any kind of problem (enough to remember)thats made me want 1 speed.
27 is excessive though, I reckon even 15 would be far too plenty.

funkynick - Member
I don't understand the sore knees comments... I never had any trouble with my knees, none of the lot I ride with had any trouble with there knees, and there were several folks on here who said their knees got stronger from riding singlespeed...

Are you just staying sat on the saddle too much?

well i never suffered from knee pains until i started riding solely SS.

sat in the saddle too much? nope. lots of peak and lake district riding = big hills.

i can't 100% put it down to SSing, but it the pain seems to have alleviated since i started not SSing!

I wouldn't look upon it as a 'failure' that you prefer gears. I've gone back and forth over the years for the same reasons you have given above and have settled (finally ??)on having both options depending on how I feel, route planned, weather etc.

when you can ride somewhere in near silence without the hassle of constantly fiddling to find the 'right ratio'

I guess some people are just a bit more challenged in life than others. I find changing gear to maintain a comfortable cadence second nature. Tell me - are you baffled by the technology they call 'spd' as well? Do horseless carriages upset you with their magical propulsion?

Grinding up hills in a high gear must put more strain on your knees. whether this has any effect is down to the individual but as the cadence is lower and the power required remains the same to torque must be higher = more force thru your knees.

If your drive train is noisy you haven't set it up right. I never fiddle to get the right ratio - I just keep on changing down till I am there.

Either you are very fit, you have no serious hills where you ride or you spin out all the time.

I never thought that I'd get on with it but after a few weeks I'm loving it. It's a 29er rigid SS and it makes trails that were just a straight line blast on a FS geared bike into something more of a challenge and much more interesting.
Flat fire road and slight downhill sections are a ball ache though.

OK !!!!

Constantly fiddling was a bad choice of words, please substitute with 'regular changing' if it offends you 🙄

By 'noisy drive train' I was referring to chain clatter when riding on less than smooth sections occassionally encoutered offroad, something blissfully absent on a s/s.

It works VERY well for me. I wouldn't want it as my only bike, it'd spoil the novelty. Sometimes it's a right pain in the neck. Sometimes (like tonight actually) everything comes together and it's the best feeling in the world.

On the right day it pushes me harder and feels so much faster. It gives me a warm, happy feeling inside (and an equally warm but slightly less happy one in my legs).

Woody has it right. It's no failure to not like it, it's clearly not for everyone and somewhere like calderdale which is typically steep sharp climbs followed by steep sharp descents is not ideal singlespeed terrain by any means.

Not very fit, not exactly flat round here and only ocassionally spin out. SS does me fine. But its not the most sociable way to ride a bike.

I like it as a training once a week bike, makes me work harder than the geared bike and I reckon it's helping teach me to be a better climber, expecially trying to get the balance right with popping the front wheel on a climb or spinning the rear wheel.

There is a really steep climb on my local loop, on the single speed I have 4 or 5 goes at it till I can get up without dabbing, on the geared bike chuck it in the granny ring, up first time with no where near the effort.

To much on it does hurt my knees though.

I like it, but Cannock Chase lends itself well to it.