MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I bought a single speed bike recently mainly for pottering about and the simplicity. However I took it out for a ride on the road with the gf and found I enjoyed the challenge of getting it up the hills. My usual approach to climbing is to put the bike in the lowest gear possible and to sit and spin my way up, with getting out of the saddle reserved as a bail out option. Boring, but it gets me to the top. On the SS I had no option but to charge at the hills, out of the saddle and way faster than normal, and definitely not boring, possibly even exciting.
Spurred on by this new discovery I popped a slightly larger sprocket on the back and took the bike to Glentress. Once again I found myself enjoying the climbs. Each little kick up in incline felt like a challenge and the sensation of going up at speed was fantastic. I have to confess that I did push the bike a bit, especially after Buzzard's Nest, but the rhythm of riding - pushing - riding was more like an interval workout than the usual long, steady state grind, so I felt like I was getting more out of it; enjoying the challenge of the sections when I was riding and the peace and recovery when I was pushing.
I'm not about to stop using gears but I am definitely going to continue riding SS as it has opened my eyes to climbing being something that's fun rather than just something to endure to get to the down bit. Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Fixie next then?
Yep, shifted to running much bigger gears when I went 29er. Was running 22/36 on the 26er. Went for 26/36 on the 29er.
just fitting up a 30/40 for a little extra pain.
I rode an SS for a few CX races. I thought it would be too hard and I would cry.
It was perfect (for me) on some of the courses ,so that was a nice surprise.
I did still cry a lot, just not as much as I had expected.
Course, you can do that on a geared bike too. I used to pace myself as fast as I can up all hills regardless. But a couple of things helped me enjoy them more. Firstly was riding a fully rigid bike - standing up and pulling on the bars is far more satisfying - I think this is why SSers like rigid too. Another thing that helped was converting my FS to 1x9, so the bottom gear is only 32/34. So not quite singlespeeding, but with the steep hills around here it feels like it. But it's made me pedal harder which either leads to a PR or a failure.
Not done SS on the MTB but have an old commuter that I converted. You definitely have to plan your rides otherwise it's get off and walk. As you say, a different work out.
Pretty much the same experience. 2+ years sacked off MTBing owing to *stuff* (house moves and abdominal sprain/tear injuries)
After rehab and some healing was missing MTB like a leg. Found self in MTBangernomic situation with a geared hardtail that had drivetraindeath. So bought a supercheap Dawes Edge ONE singlespeed from fleabay whilst waiting to fix up the geared. SS frame was a little too small but enjoyed it massively for a few basically learning to ride again. Even with totally shot bottom bracket it was fun and HARD. Headphones and metal MP3s helped here to silence the cracks and bangs of knees and B/B.
Have been SS curious for years. But now I am realising quite how out of shape I've gotten.
ffwd a few months and traded up from the Edge ONE to a 2008 P7 running SS. Rode it home like I stole it.
NOW it makes sense. Bloody amazing. Couldn't fathom at first how the hell people haul 32/16 up hills like these. Asked for advice here. Got told to toughen up princess. So chided I kept at it daily for three weeks, grtting off and pushing when back on for punishment. Then one night I realised I'd gotten up the last hill home withiut pushing, and without wheezing. And more importantly without hurting. Now I beat a regular riding buddy up hills. Maybe it's just a mental thing but find self now reaching for it all of the time rather than the more 'useful' town bike or gravel bike. In a way I suppose it's like being 10yrs old again on that first Raleigh Tomahawk. Simplicity itself. Hop on and ride until your lungs burst. Learning to work your arms and body out, hardly ever sitting. Then some coasting. Am a convert. So much so have decided to fix the geared hardtail up (thanks to Sir Gnusmas donating load of bits - forever grateful 👍🏼) and hopefully sell it in order to upgrade the P7 with powder-coat, upgraded dropouts, better wheels and a dedicated SS drivetrain. 32/17 tho. Can't afford any more tears 😬
It was my first outing at the Strathpuffer that had me proper SS curious. So once I got back my FS was stripped down for post puffer maintenance I dragged out my old DMR SS and put a sensible off road gear on it and hit Whinlatter. First big climb had me seeing stars but I was hooked!
It's amazing what you can climb in the wrong gear.
Around the time I started riding a single speed for pootling I started routinely snapping chains on my geared bikes making shifts when there was far too much load on climbs 🙂
I did the Dirty Reiver single speed - didn't get a sore arse as I was hardly ever sitting down! 🙂 I don't think I'd do SS all the time but as a diversion/change it's great fun, in the thread title's masochistic type of way.
Javier Simon, who now has the fastest SS time on the HT550, is currently doing the NordKapp race. Here's day one https://www.strava.com/activities/1652197765 427km!!!!
but the rhythm of riding – pushing – riding was more like an interval workout than the usual long, steady state grind, so I felt like I was getting more out of it; enjoying the challenge of the sections when I was riding and the peace and recovery when I was pushing.
100 times this ^