It’s mostly swearing….continuously….at high volume.

Oi bigblackshed…me, page 2, honestly, you can’t read nor write, but you can pedal a bike 🙂

@rorschach, that’s tourettes your thinking of. Like single speeding, but less beard

Folly to say that SS is faster. Everyone knows it’s not.

I’m faster around Whinlatter on my SS. Gears make you me soft.

As a training tool SS does have benefits but you could get the same effect on a multiple geared bike by just selecting one gear and not bothering to shift.

I had a rigid bike for a year or so before I remembered that you don’t have to sit and spin on rigid bikes so I started standing up and heaving on the bars at low cadence like the old days. This is very satisfying and enjoyable – however whilst I choose a higher gear than I would if I were spinning, I still select the right one.

Thing is, sometimes I need to keep the intensity down, when base training, so I need gears for that. In the spring, I’ll be changing up a few cogs and hurting myself. My main goal is a 5 minute (or hopefully 4m30) climb that I’m fairly sure would be far harder on SS, and I’d set a slower time. The rigid bike is definitely slower than the FS.

SS is faster given the right course as theres no losses in the transmission. Iirc rear derailleur costs ~6W.
There’s a strange feeling of efficiency when you first ride a SS, and efficiency is speed.

Doesn’t take much stop/start, steep climbs or pedally descents to swing the balance in favour of gears though.

@molgrips – Until I get the Spearfish frame built up both my MTBs (Cotic Solaris and Singular Puffin) are rigid so I’m used to being out of the saddle and giving it some welly 😉

Doing zone 1 or zone 2 rides is always pleasant at this time of year.

When all the local trails are slow sloppy mess the full suss geared bike becomes much less fun. You just basically sit and grind away waiting for the ride to be over. Single speed comes out and it is fun again.

Strange thing, folk.

They buy a bike and want to go fast and get the sensations of speed.

Then they want to go faster so they get gears and suspension, but now they have to go even faster to get the same sensations.

The bike costs more, and needs expensive maintenance, but it’s still just the sensation of speed they are chasing, but they have to be faster to get it.

So they get dissatisfied with their trails, and start adding artificial features to them until they end up with a skinny hardened bumpy road with ‘flow’, berms, and wooden bits.

And all the time they’re riding their thumbs are flittering about like a demented speed typist’s as they operate all the wee levers on their bars and clatter their way through the scenery.

And that’s the nice thing about a rigid singlespeed, you ride it, not operate it. Anytime you want to enjoy the sensation of speed, you don’t need a specially groomed playground, you just find a bumpy track.

The other nice thing is a top rate SS bike costs about the same as a top rate front fork, and so you have more money to spend on beer.

The money that would have got wasted on maintaining gears and suspension instead gets spent on going to events like the SSUK, SSEC, etc and more beer.

What’s not to like about singlespeed?

Gears and suspension are for the prematurely old and frail. 🙂

I choose a higher gear than I would if I were spinning, I still select the right one

There is no ‘being in the right gear’. You will either put in the effort required for the gear you select (mandatory with SS), or select a gear to match the effort you want to put in (much more potential to vary with gears).

Well given the limit in available leg power, the limit in cadence, the compromises that come with adding more torque and the different training effect, I’d say there is a range of ‘right’ gears for the circumstances.

The money that would have got wasted on maintaining gears and suspension instead gets spent on going to events like the SSUK, SSEC, etc and more beer.

What the hell do you think gears are made of? Gold?

I’m running 10 year old mechs and shifters, I’ve maybe changed cables once or twice in that time. So I change a chain and cassette every so often. That’s about ooh, £100 a year absolute maximum? Oh, I also changed two sets of jockey wheels on separate bikes in that 10 year period.

Oh and my rigid bike is geared.

Then they want to go faster so they get gears and suspension, but now they have to go even faster to get the same sensations.

The fact that you write that demonstrates you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about or (more likely) are trolling. The sensation of oofing down a rocky trail on a rigid bike at 10mph is absolutely nothing like the sensation of carving it up at 20mph. Not remotely the same sensation or even the same skill set.

Speaking as someone who owns a rigid bike, an XC FS and a long travel FS. I like the benefits of each type of bike.

Anytime you want to enjoy the sensation of speed, you don’t need a specially groomed playground, you just find a bumpy track.

Again total bollocks spouted by the kind of person who likes teasing others on the internet. Which is a bit crap. I’ve been there on bumpy trails on rigid bikes, been doing this for long enough; I still own a rigid bike. I know what it’s like to ride both.

The other nice thing is a top rate SS bike costs about the same as a top rate front fork

Eh? A top rate SS would be what, Shand Bahookie? £1300 frame only – there aren’t many suspension forks for that price, and nice ones abound for half that. And that’s before you’ve added ‘top rate’ wheels and those **** £350 Jones bars.

Troll.

Doing zone 1 or zone 2 rides is always pleasant at this time of year.

Put your willy away – Z1 on a SS is entirely terrain dependent.

When all the local trails are slow sloppy mess the full suss geared bike becomes much less fun. You just basically sit and grind away waiting for the ride to be over. Single speed comes out and it is fun again.

It’s all in your head. Just as you like SSing, I am quite able to have a fun ride in the mud on a FS. In fact, owning both rigid and FS, I don’t think there’s much difference on muddy trails. Where rigid is good is on the long rides with road and big climbs on tracks.

When did this become an argument about FS versus rigid?

Why are half of SSers such annoying bell-ends?

Molly old dear.We get it.Now fekk off.

Epicyclo doesn’t.

So I’ll stay til he does 🙂

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZIxw0bwe9Q[/video]
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Top bloke, singlespeed legend, now retired. I’m in the video too 🙂

molgrips – Member
Epicyclo doesn’t.

So I’ll stay til he does

I’ll admit defeat, I’m getting old and frail now, and I’m looking at gears for my bike.

I’ve bought one of those Sturmey-Archer 3 speed things so I’ll soon be experiencing all that flow and gnarr I’ve been missing..

But hey, this is a thread about single speeds. Surely you didn’t expect anything but absolute bollocks on here?

Because the reality is single speeds are total bollocks and cannot be justified except with some heavy-duty rationalisation by their deluded owners.

But they’re a damn sight more fun. (Owners and bikes)

And I hate maintenance. 🙂

I’ll happily take 50% of single speeders being “annoying bellends” over 100% molgimps being a whining little princess in need of a safe space, or preferably a quick shovel to the windpipe before burying him in a shallow roadside grave. 🙂

Mind you to keep posting in a thread about single speeds about how crap they are and how much you hate single speeders for not having fun in the molgrips prescribed manner and then to moan about it on other threads as well…..? Either being a dull little trolgrips or just totally lacking in self awareness. Either way, you’ve been about as useful and pleasant an experience as sucking on a week old cum sponge from a sexytime club

Tit

Molly old dear.We get it.Now fekk off.

+1. Why so keen on telling us what you think is wrong with single speeds ?

You are wasting you breath with me as I gave up gears 17 years ago and have no intention of using them ago.

My zone 1 & 2 comment was about geared bikes not singlespeeds but given the way I wrote it I can see how you came to that conclusion.

As for riding it to the exclusion of geared bikes. Looking at my Strava stats for this year, I’ve ridden just shy of 10,000Km of which 770Km have been on the singlespeed. My geared bikes must be feeling so left out and lonely and unloved.

What the hell do you think gears are made of? Gold?…. That’s about ooh, £100 a year absolute maximum?

You do know you just agreed with them that it was cheaper to run SS

Use them dont its your choice. Mine comes out for SSUK and then gets used till I take the FS out in spring time

You are the biggest zealot on here and that is some crown you just claimed considering the disciples of the one gear are all here 😉

tazzymtb – Member
I’ll happily take 50% of single speeders being “annoying bellends” over 100% molgimps being a whining little princess in need of a safe space, or preferably a quick shovel to the windpipe before burying him in a shallow roadside grave.

Mind you to keep posting in a thread about single speeds about how crap they are and how much you hate single speeders for not having fun in the molgrips prescribed manner and then to moan about it on other threads as well…..?
Fair go Tazzy 🙂

If we’re allowed to talk bollocks about single speed, then the same applies to Molgrips.

Once he masters the art, who knows? He may be ready to make the next move and get a proper bike*.

The beauty about riding singlespeed is it’s fun, and fun is not something to take seriously.
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*for the benefit of bollocks deficient gearies, that statement is bollocks too. 🙂

I was always very sceptical of SS riding but I thought I would give it a go. I had been getting bored of Glentress having been a few times in a short time so for variation I thought I would build myself up a single speed for a change. I really rather enjoyed it and I was no slower on the climbs. What I ended up doing was attacking the hills hard ( cos I needed the cadence to get enough power) until I ran out of puff then walking the rest. Turns out this is about the same speed (compared to the mates I was riding with) as my usual technique of sitting and spinning away in a low gear at a pace I can complete the entire climb. Coming back down again the silence of lack of chainslap was nice and not having a tall gear meant conserving momentum and pumping the track which helps develop my meagre skills. I don’t actually have an SS MTB now – the bike got its alfine back for commuting on but I do have an SS road bike which I also enjoy for its lighter weight and completely silent running. I once took it out and back ride in a really strong wind. Its geared low so at 70ish rpm I am doing 15 ish mph. I actually hit 35 mph coming back downwind at a totally silly cadence. It amused me.

Its all just messing about on bikes and I was surprised that I enjoyed riding the SS on and off road as much as I did. I wouldn’t do it for “natural” rides or touring as then I really do want a low gear for the big climbs but for “dicking about” it was surprisingly fun

I think a lot of it is dependent on the local terrain – I cannot imagine taking mine to the lake district for example – though I did but only for SSUK [ and I did take my FS geared with me anyway …….shhhh i got away with it

FWIW i was slower up Garburn on it than I was on the SS but i cleared everything.

You are the biggest zealot on here and that is some crown you just claimed considering the disciples of the one gear are all here

Single speeders- putting the Fun into fundamentalism.

Molgripes is more Church of england though, sort of desperately trying to convert people to his beliefs, whilst being all beige and dull. He’ll break out a guitar soon and start with the happy clappy songs about idle thumbs being the work of the devil and how a 9spd jesus saves our souls

There’s a bit of confusion in this thread. Singlespeeds don’t have to be austerity mobiles- my bike’s not, it’s got big brakes and nice forks and a dropper on it, but just the one gear. It’s fun and works for most of the stuff around here. It’s more difficult to wheelie with the one gear though 😕

@kayla1 oh gods no, definitely not, my ss fleet is worth the economy of a small island republic. But you can still have an amazeballs time on an old 26″ surly 1×1 if you want and no ss rider will sneer at your out of fashion bike. But that’s because single speedy folk are a much nicer tribe than “mountain bikers” who are dicks 🙂

tazzymtb – Member

@kayla1 oh gods no, definitely not, my ss fleet is worth the economy of a small island republic. But you can still have an amazeballs time on an old 26″ surly 1×1 if you want and no ss rider will sneer at your out of fashion bike. But that’s because single speedy folk are a much nicer tribe than “mountain bikers” who are dicks

To be fair, we’d probably assume the 1×1 rider was being deliberately niche with with their little wheels and funny brakes.

Right – let’s just clear something up.

I have nothing against singlespeeding. I’ve seriously considered it myself, for quite a while, but I just don’t think it’d fit for me and my riding. If I lived somewhere else then yeah maybe I would.

What I object to is SSers with a superiority complex talking bollocks about the rest of us. Epicyclo’s post suggesting that going slower on a rigid bike (nothing to do with SS mind) is the same as going faster on a FS, for example. Or suggesting that geared FS riders are miserably grinding along because they are victims of fashion where SSers are having a great time – that’s just shite.

And yes I know it was probably a wind up.

And saying ‘yer but suchandsuch an event was won on an SS and I regularly pass people on my SS so that means they’re faster’ well, no it doesn’t. That’s crap reasoning of the highest order.

But that’s because single speedy folk are a much nicer tribe than “mountain bikers” who are dicks

Isn’t this thread full of SSers doing the sneering?

I’m going to spend all winter riding a single speed. Two reasons:

1. maintenance
2. I’m hoping it will make me faster on my geared bikes.

No snobbery here

I found riding the fixie on the roads and hills was a great training aid…I MUST get out more on that heap of junk…

DrP

I’m going to buy one today just to freak Molly out when i tell him the trails come alive at 5mph slower 🙂

It’s as much something different for me. It suits some rides/routes but not others.

Would I have a singlespeed as my only bike? No way! Too many steep hills round here.

I’ve found that I’m faster than some people but slower than others regardless of whether either party is on SS or geared.

I’m going to ride mine tonight because it’s awesome (and I’m bidding on a fixie on ebay).

The problem with geared bikes is they have n-1 wrong gears, where n is the number of gears SRAM/Shimano have decided is optimum this year.

Isn’t this thread full of SSers doing the sneering?

Sneering? No, that’s just the funny face we make when our knees have exploded and we’ve prolapsed on that impossibly steep climb we just cleared. (Whilst overtaking the miserable gearies)

😉

Sneering? No, that’s just the funny face we make when our knees have exploded and we’ve prolapsed on that impossibly steep climb we just cleared. (Whilst overtaking the miserable gearies)

The best bit it pretending to not be out of breath/prolapsing and casually offering a jelly baby.

I didn’t mean to start a sneery thread, I was just excited about getting out on a bike again after ours were nicked. I could just as easily have started a ‘Aren’t steel hardtails brilliant?’ thread or, more broadly, a ‘aren’t bikes ace?’ thread!

So then, pissing about on bikes in the dirt eh? Ace or what?

The best bit it pretending to not be out of breath/prolapsing and casually offering a jelly baby.

😆 My other half, yesterday, as he breezed up to me after gearing up a hill-

“You ok love?”

Me-

“<wheeze> I’m fine. Smashing. Never better in fact. You? </wheeze>”

I love riding my 26″ rigid steel singlespeed, and I love riding my 27.5″ 2×10 carbon hardtail and my 29er 1×11 carbon FS. I even love riding my 700c carbon road bike. They are all bikes, and bikes are great.

But if I was forced to keep only one of those bikes, it would be the SS.

There’s a 17% climb on the local road loop I’ve found from Swindon. I can do it at a reasonable cadence out of the saddle if I smash it in 34/28, or I can do it at about 40rpm if I try to take it easy. I think I will go round this time. 17% hills aren’t really base training.

I’d be walking that on an SS no question. I reckon SS makes even less sense (to me) on road.

Coombe Gibbet hits 16%. Get up that fixed no problem.

Well not exactly no problem, but i got up it 😉

you should try it molly; you’ll be amazed what you can get you can get up.

17% is about the limit on the road SS for me (39:16 ratio) but it does depend on the length of the climb, how far into the ride it is, road surface, day of the week, phase of the moon and a myriad other factors. 20% is definitely too much though, I’m off and walking.

No sneering at all, its what happens when folks all have shared passion, you get a whole load of tongue in cheek (even better if it’s in someone else’s) comments. Some folks would find offence at anything and to be fair you did come stomping in like a giant fun vacuum to tell everyone how wrong they were and pulled the “oh no, everyone is mean and stinky and didn’t agree with me” routine.

Just chill old bean ,there is plenty of stuff out there in the real world to get all angsty at. The paucity of gears of some folks bikes really isn’t one of them xx