[Closed] So does riding a single speed increase your fitness?

hmmm it sort of changes your fitness a bit.

if you push it really hard on a SS ride it's a bit like interval training. (try HR zone training on a ss - dificult)

I found it's made my legs stronger - pushing big gears up hills.

I reckon commuting on my Langster has improved my fitness way more than a geared bike. You just have to put a lot more effort in = get fitter.

no not particularly, but it does seem to make facial hair proliferate

No
You just become a better singlespeeder.

and accentuates your arseyness ?

Pushes your muscles harder, and uses other muscles - loads more upper body muscles, as well as aerobically giving you a better work out.

Does absolutely nothing a geared bike can't do. Except that it's slightly lighter, so will make it easier to get up the same hill in an equivalent gear. Oh, and sometimes you'll end up walking where a geared bike could pedal on, so that will reduce your fitness 😉

If you want to train by having inappropriate gears, no reason you can't do that with a geared bike, just don't shift. Singlespeeding might have its charms but by itself it doesn't make you fitter.

...and it's the perfect excuse...

'well I've only got one gear'..

...and with lots of gears I can go out and ride in harder gears than you, thus getting more benefit.

I rode a single speed from being 7 to being 15 and have no intention of going back.

scott_mcavennie2 - Member
Pushes your muscles harder, and uses other muscles - loads more upper body muscles, as well as aerobically giving you a better work out.

[b][u]An[/u][/b]aerobically, surely?

there's two sorts of people; the ones who think that not changing gear is the same as riding singlespeed and the ones in the know.
<strokes obligatory cycle industry facial topiary>

I like how people, who i assume to be geared riders, have immediately attacked SSing. I dont know whether its tongue cheek but whatever, who cares.

The way i see it, Singlespeeding makes you think more about how you cycle and definately makes you use your upper body more. Especially your lower back from churning your chosen gear up steep hills. I PERSONALLY find SSing much more involving and rewarding experience. I wouldn't however say it is for everyone, some people simply prefer gears and/or suspension.

My suggestion is go and buy a singlespeed kit for about 20 quid and convert whatever your current XC/Commuting bike is with it. Okay its not ideal like track dropouts are but then you dont have the choice of gears and you have to think about those hills.

Ive never walked where a geared bike could still pedal.

My bike is no weight weeny.

Ive never used the excuse "ive only got one gear", in fact quite the opposite.

The only time innapropriate gearing comes into play is when the riders a wimp.

Aye - but the question is - does it make you fitter?

If you enjoy riding more from it then i suspect so. If you got on and thought "F*@: this for a lark" then no.

I PERSONALLY find SSing much more involving and rewarding experience.

I personally find I prefer not to notice my bike or its characteristics at all 🙂

SSing makes you fitter, but the downside is you have to take a load of spare sprockets with you. Then you have to change your sprockets over from your low SS gear on the hills, to a higher gear on the flats and downs. It becomes a real hassle after a while so I started using gears again.

I think it has made me a better climber yes. Howevever it only works if you go back to gears otherwise your extra fitness offers you no advantage.

I think it mostly comes down to having to attack hills to get up them so it is very like interval training or hill reps.

You keep the rear cog and chainwheel to a level where you're working above 80hr/VO2max then sure you will get fitter than doing nothing or an easy gear ratio.

Thats why I like gears-I can choose etc and also allow recovery for easy rides.

No

it doesn't make you fitter in the slightest. You drink more booze (singlespeed events all seem to involve lots of beer) and grow more facial hair (therefore increasing wind resistance and drag due to beer wok and gandalf chinwarmer).
If you are particularly special you get a 29er and then not only do you get slower/more alcoholic/look more like a geography teacher, but you also loose the ability to ride dinky wheels and therefore completely ruin riding proper bikes as well!

So, in summary: you get slower, fatter, and you liver and kidneys dissolve.

Singlespeeds are bad mmmmmkay!

My mate left his bike dirty and wet for a month which meant that he went single speed for a while he was slower than me in general riding but he's got a new bike now with gears and he is flying

try SSing while your mates are riding gears it is really hard work keeping up with them.I think it has made a big difference to my fitness SSing through the week then gears on the weekend.I seem to go much faster on the geared bike but i am no scientist :lol:.

It makes you fitter, but the dodgy knees make you slower...

oldgit has it. it just makes you a better singlespeeder. You can't get anywhere near a decent heart rate on the flat, most of the time you'd be pedaling in recovery, then on any serious hills, you really working too hard. and DH you're hardly working at all.

so, no, a road bike is best, then a nice steady flatish off road on a geared bike are best for fitness.

Although after a season on the SS, getting back on geared bike does feel like cheating up the hills!

and accentuates your arseyness ?

I personally find I prefer not to notice my bike or its characteristics at all

Single speeds on balance do make you fitter as you are spending a lot more time in the wrong gear and you just don't have the option of spinning up the hills. You can get the same work out from a geared bike but it isn't as easy to put that level of effort in.

Last winter I did a lot of long (2hrs) steady rides up the tow path on the SS – towards the back end I was able to average about 18kph over the run – on the geared bike & road bike – I had good aerobic endurance
This year I’ve tended to ride a more regular off road loop – still a 2hr session but more gloop and climbs – as a consequence I am climbing better and stronger on the geared bikes – I’ve lost some speed but still have a good base
So I’d say yes singlespeeds can significantly & specifically increase fitness
Oh & while I’ve trashed the rear wheel and drive train on the SS – the ‘nice’ (expensive bikes are all good)

it'll only make you fitter if you put more effort in. but more effort on a geared bike will also make you fitter!

however i will say that to ride big hills on a SS you have to be damn fit, whereas someone on a geared bike doesn't necessarily need to be

it'll only make you fitter if you put more effort in. but more effort on a geared bike will also make you fitter!

not sure about this? some times getting fitter involves not working hard.

true, i guess it depends how you define fitter, effort etc. i'm not an expert... when i rode a fixie every day to and from work a few years ago i had really good power and acceleration. now i work much further away and ride in on my road bike which, when i've done it regularly enough, has definately made me better at climbing / endurance

Getting up a hill requires a certain amount of work. Gears don't change that.

SS probably makes you fitter because you'll be working muscles that don't get used otherwise. There's a period of about a month to acclimatise to single speed and you'll notice the effects in this period. I suppose it's what they call core strength these days.

It certainly feels better.

The only excuse for gears is if you are old and frail.

It does if you're weak-minded like Badnewz and always going into the granny ring on a geared bike for those local climbs.

one thing that definately helps you push harder is that getting off and pushing might humiliate you in front of some (irrational) anti-SS types

"The way i see it, Singlespeeding makes you think more about how you cycle and definately makes you use your upper body more. Especially your lower back from churning your chosen gear up steep hills."

But back to what I was saying earlier, are you aware that geared bikes aren't automatics? They only change gear when you tell them to (well, usually), so you can still "churn your chosen gear up steep hills"

Actually, if we accept that that being in the wrong gear is better, geared bikes are better, because you can choose never to be in the wrong gear- but sometimes singlespeeds will collude with the trail and actually put you in the right ratio, which is unsettling I'm sure. If you had gears, you could simply flick it up or down a cog and get back to spinning furiously or mashing a big gear.

All singlespeed is about is taking away a choice. A geared rider can choose not to mash the wrong gear, a singlespeeder can't. But the geared rider can choose to have the exact same gear as the singlespeeder.

Hi,I've found that by riding fixed has helped to improve my fitness.By riding in and out of town and to work when I can on my fixed gear. Then when I hit the trails on my geared f/s mtb,i've improved and also my pedal techinique has also improved,(always pedalling,not freewheeling!).
So I can ride longer.So I must be fitter!!!

Made me fitter.

No, they don't. Well not inherently. If you're lazy on a geared bike and just drop into an easy gear at every hill then being forced to work hard on a ss may well mean you get fitter.

Fwiw, the winter I did most of my road training on a fixie, I found that it resulted in worse fitness since the flatter stuff was just a bit of a bimble. Obviously the climbs were hard but then I didn't bimble them when on my geared bike. 48x18 so 17/19mph on the flat was the natural pace which was lower than I'd have otherwise done.

Northwind - Member
...But the geared rider can choose to have the exact same gear as the singlespeeder.

Light, tight and responsive as opposed to flaccid, rattly and heavy.

And a single speeder can choose to not need all the other gears.

For me SS'ing is just another different but equally enjoyable way of riding. i know that there is no way I would enjoy a ride in the peak on the SS but it is great round muddy places such as cannock or local rides. one of the main reasons for that is no mud on the drivetrain causing drag and alot less faff when cleaning. It definitely improves the core muscles and shoulders and the ability to mash an innapropriate gear without snapping a 9 speed chain.

No,it just increases your holier than thou smugness..

It's not just about the ratios, it's about the improvement in the way your bike feels.
Light, tight and responsive as opposed to flaccid, rattly and heavy.

lol. Only in your head! My geared bike feels just the same as my ss. Noisier, yes but flaccid and heavy? Seriously? Get over yourself! 🙂

All singlespeed is about is taking away a choice

you might have something there. it's taken away my choice to have a rear mech ripped off half way through a local ride... 😉

That's a choice?!

My rear mech snapped off my P7 t'other week so I've decided to use it as a single speed for a while and see how I get on.

Bloody hell what a workout. My abs are killing me and my legs are like jelly after a ride. So it's certainly seems to be making me fitter. In a different way I suppose.

if you put the right ratio on the ss, you end up working at your limit almost all the time on a pretty flat route. I have a 35mile route with 500m climbing I do on my singlespeed mountain bike (P7). Probably 40% road. Best time, 2hr 53m.
Have done the route with folks with gears and they almost always get dropped.

The key is getting a gear that puts you at your limit

ss is cool

thomthumb - Member

it'll only make you fitter if you put more effort in. but more effort on a geared bike will also make you fitter!

not sure about this? some times getting fitter involves not working hard.