anyone on here ever taken a singlespeed around innerleithen xc route or GT black?

curious about gearing selection, especially for inners 🙂 gotta hurt with the Minch Moor climb straight from the car park :-0

have done drumlanrig on 34*16 a few years ago and had to get off and push at a couple of bits.

Suspect innerleithen would be good cx practice i.e. a lot of time would be spent carting the bike on shoulder up the hills 😀

with 2:1 gt black has a couple short parts you’re probably going to enjoy better pushing.. inners is fine all the way round.

both are perfectly suited to SS 2:1 – the climbs bar the climb to the first hut at GT (which is ridable) are all pretty relaxed.

drumlanrigs even more suited – having been built by an avid singlespeeder.

golspies good too – see if you can clean the whole the steps climb on SS – its tough but doable.

Kirroughtrees a **** hoot on SS – although at times you find your self wanting a bigger gear in the flowy sections.

the only “trail center” ive been to that wasnt SS friendly was pitfichie – but its pretty awful as far as trails go anyway.

cheers. quite surprised about inners actually. Would have thought it would have been torture on ss.

Thinking i’ll use 34:20 or 32:18 on my build 🙂

Rode Innerleithen XC on the SS with Tyred Jr a couple of months back, good fun all the way. 39:17 at the moment I think.

I have done the GT Black on my SS, 32:18 on a 29er. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and that was riding it all.

SS is great fun, if you want to get fitter quicker you would be silly not to loose the gears for a while.

Loads of times, 2:1 like everywhere else – ALL rideable.

Do folk really change gear ratio for a 2 hour ride?

I thought the point of singlespeed is supposed to be simplicity, can’t remember any “what gearing for glentress” posts 😉 If you’re considering it in the near future, I think the black is pretty much completely shut from treefall just now.

Rode both in the summer, no probs with 32-19 on a 29er.

Minch Moor was fine, just don’t try and cut the corners they hurt.

The only downside i found to SS there was spinning out on some of flat/slight downhill sections.

2 minute job to swap a sprocket I guess.

Had singlespeed before but never went to the trailcentres with it however I certainly don’t have the strength for 39/17.

32:18 I think will be a nice ‘all-day’ gear 🙂

might even post a pic of the finished article in a week or so for the anoraks in the house 😉

My experience of inners would suggest gears only…..but those who’ve done it already (above) should know better…..in my case, I think more fitness required!! 🙂

Many thanks to those riders who did not forget to mention the wheel size of their singlesteeds!

whats wheel size got to do with it ?

Everything to do with it if everyone above was running 12″ wheels 😉

FWIW, I’ve never taken the SS up to the borders but around the more modest hills of Dalby my 32:17 setup is fine.

Thinking about it, the only bits at GT which would make my knee caps pop out my legs would be that steep, straight climb from the fire-road to the start of the zig zags up to the first hut (its got a name but I can’t remember what it is) and Redemption or whatever its called? The long drag out the valley…

Personally I find innerleithen’s climb orrible enough even with crawler gears, and the steppy climb tricky enough even with a full range of gears.

trail_rat – Member

whats wheel size got to do with it ?

Quite a bit, they determine the final ratio- 29ers are effectively higher geared than 26ers.

I thought the point of singlespeed is supposed to be simplicity

This. Run what ya brung.