We are heading for the borders this weekend and I have just looked at the weather. Thinking of taking a rigid singlespeed. Please convince me that this is a silly idea.

Thanks

SC.

Gears and suspension add something to the experience, but if you are fit stupid enough, why not?

plenty do it on CX bikes, often SS or fixed. Don’t see why not!

Didnt you convince yourself when you bought the bike?

Are you CRAZY? You’ll DIE! You NEED suspension and lots of gears to ride ANYWHERE. At the very least a “hardcore hardtail.”

You wont get the most out of the trails but you wont die

Feel less beat up on my rigid 29er round the gt an inners black than on my 26er hardtail not much if any slower.

Depends what you call fun really. At Innerleithen even on the XC route you will be pushing a fair bit, unless you are really Jan Ulrich ? And you will pedal out pretty quick on the descents, unless you like mincing ? Glentress will be less grim if you pick your route carefully.

For single speed specific Drumlanrig is what you are after, it’s much closer than K’tree and Mabie if you are in the Borders.

only ridden kirroughtree with gears once and compared to a singlespeed it was pretty dull, singlespeed definately adds something.

im not jan ullrich hels 😉 – wish i was then i wouldnt have to work on a floating box in the sea

just cause you cant pedal doesnt mean you cant be quick on the downs either – you just need to flow … get off the brakes pick your lines for grip and carrying speed. The flat and fire road bits of any course are where SS looses out – although that said me and smee did see new max cadences tearing down that fire road egging each other on

But ill admit that if your not used to climbing on SS for an hour then it will hurt alot ! Ive all but given up on gears on normal mtbs.

kirroughtree flows so well it imho who ever designed it is either a singlespeeder or got very lucky with that 😀

drumlanrig is another excellent SS course

Put it this way… I will be riding fully rigid SS at Innerliethen on Sunday too. So it cant be a stupid idea can it?

I could imagine Kirry being ok if you’re fit – Innerleithen would be fairly pointless imo unless you are just out to prove a point. I’m sure someone out there could do all the climbs/jumps/drops at Innerleithen on a rigid singlespeed, but it’s certainly not me.

In order to hit the jumps properly you need to be carrying a reasonable amount of speed, which I would have thought would be quite hard on a rigid singlespeed – but what with all the amazing riding gods on here no doubt I’m wrong. 😉

Trail Rat – I have to admit when I mentally picture somebody from on here, a big belly does tend to feature. “not Jan Ulrich” is my way of communicating indirectly and tactfully, I have been told I will fit in with your culture better that way…

Dont want to be pedantic but Mabie, Kirroughtree are not in the Borders

The Red at GT is fine Singlespeed and Rigid, the Black is a bit more challenging (the up not the down), never attempted Innerleithen without gears or suspension

Biking is (for me) about enjoyment so take the bike you’ll enjoy riding most, not the one that’ll take less cleaning.

Ha you see the straight to the pointness is what i like about kiwis !

So its really ” as long as yoir not a fat knacker youll be fine ” 🙂

I rode Mabie last night SS with fatfront and it was great fun. Ridden all of the Stanes apart from Innerleithen SS and geared, SS for me is more fun.
Last night
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5onFqTU9oIg&sns=em [/video]

Done them all on a rigid ss and a cross bike, you’ll be fine as long as you’re not a talentless porker.

If you ride 29 take care your whees dont explode 😆

Surrounded by Zulus has spoken Shortcut- better take gears and your floppy front end 😀

I reckon they are all do-able. Plus, it will mean you have less time hanging around in cold wet clothes when you re-group mid ride. Let the geared riders ride off up or down the hills, and then they can freeze/dissolve whilst stopped and waiting for you. Win!

I’m sure you could do all of them on a unicycle if you wanted!

Innerleithen would benefit the most from gears I reckon, but then again I’m a bit of a talentless porker

Trail Rat – you read me like a book.

Done them all on a rigid ss and a cross bike, you’ll be fine as long as you’re not a talentless porker.

So you did all the drop-offs at Innerleithen on your cross bike? 😆

Tollah,u are clearly a riding god………….

did u have any medium/sitting on the fence type explosions ?

grum – not I went down Jayne’s Lane.

Take it you will love it. I am sure you could ride it all no problem. Unless you are a talentless porker (as mentioned above).

Would you like advice on tyres too?

I’ve done Kirro and Dalbeattie fully rigid but geared. Easily doable on SS too if your fit. If your not your just going to be walking lots. Less so at Kirro as its very uppy downy flowy. Rigid is as you’d expect for a trail centre.

reckon the black at gt the only definite push would be the tower trail or whatever it is called – you know, the straight up the hill part at the end of soor plooms/goat track.

have only done the first red climb on ss as a friend took ill so we went home but i reckon it would be ok on ss although perhaps the final climb to spooky wood would hurt a bit.

inners would be brutal ss! tempted to try it though but fully expect i would need to push lots although i am distinctly average.

reckon the other stanes would be no problem although i have never managed to get up the scorpion at mabie even with gears. iirc, dalbeattie isnt that hilly and moe fire road than the others but its been 5 years or more since i was there. heartbreak hill at kirroughtree would be a push for me but second drumlanrig as being good for it.

was there in april. hired riks old ss p7 which was 34×16 had to push the last climb but it was amazing on the descents.

ooh! put me right in the mood for some mtb ing!

I’ve done the black and red at GT and don’t remember having any real problems singlespeed. Rigid might by a bit uncomfortable as bits of it are rough (deliverance is going to hurt your arms).

Never tried Innerleithen but as my FS is in bits waiting for spares and the club are going on Sunday I’m going to find out. Can’t be that bad, there’s a couple of steep bits that might need a push but you’d ride the majority if you are used to climbing ss.

Nice Vid Tollah but you miss the bit where you walked up the Scorpian 😉

The fact that you’ll shake any fillings loose could add a different feel to the experience.
It’s all doable on a masochism machine, but, you’ll be sore by the end of the weekend.

Done mabie and Ae singlespeed, and rode the 10 at kirroughtree ss (admittedly because I snapped my shifter on a pre-ride of the course). Would say that kirry suited it well, mabie was alright (although the scorpion was hard), ae didn’t suit the ss. Drumlanrig designed and built by Rik who is a devout ss’er so will ride well. Fitness definitely affects my enjoyment of riding ss around here.

At the moment most of my riding is on the full suss geared bike as it offers more flexibilty for where I ride (steep ascents and rough, varied descents. These wouldn’t be as enjoyable on the singlespeed. As above, take the bike you will most enjoy riding. If you are in dumfries on saturday then the tour of Britain finishes in town so you can watch the professional riders sprint for the finish.

Innerleithen’s quality on a rigid. I recommend the black- it’s barely any harder than on a hardtail, but you get extra bragging rights 😉 Wouldn’t fancy it on a singlespeed though- draggy climb with some fast descending afterwards.

After you do Glentress on a rigid, you may develop an excessive response to anyone on the internet who says “Glentress is just a smooth gravel path”. Is it ****

inners would be brutal ss!

Not at all .I’ve riden at Inners and GT on a singlespeed.
I thought Inners was a lot more enjoyable. I enjoyed the climb more on the ss than i did a couple of days before on a geared bike too.