Who still rides singlespeed?

I’ve dug my singlespeed road bike out (as everyone is getting their summer bikes out) and it got me thinking. I remember when I first starting hanging round STW and an On-One singlespeed was de rigueur, usually with rigid forks. As I look through the forum these days there’s lots of talk of 1 x 11, dropper posts, increased suspension travel and the like. Are there any riders of one gear left? Or has middle age crept up on us all and forced us onto more comfortable, easier to pedal up hill bikes?

Was out on my singlespeed with the boy on the weekend, even has 26′ wheels.

I have that exact bike, On-one Inbred 29er, single speed, rigid forks, 29er version, I still ride it often, it’s my go to bike if i’m heading out with the kids, but it’s not my only bike.

Cycled to work on a singlespeed cx bike and will be out tonight on a singlespeed Stooge

Our Tuesday night riding group usually see’s at least 2 or 3 riders on singlespeeds

I used to ride it a lot, I intended to take all the gears off my new bike but finding as no one else I know rides SS I can be far more social with gears

ss chameleon with 150 sektors and a dropper. great bike. 😀

Still loads of singlespeeders out there most tend to congregate on facebook these days through groups like one cog cycling as STW has become more of hive of lardy middle aged blokes in endro PJ’s who are terribly PC rather than the old world of SS gobshites (this is possibly a good thing as a lot of singlespeederists tend to be more basic and earthy lot…well simple really…. well pretty much educational sub normal, hence the inability to use opposable thumbs to operate a gear thingy-me-wotsit)

Yes- single speed, rigid, 1 1/8th headset & 27.2mm seatpost (but 650b+ wheels..)

Still got rigid SS bikes, though only ride the one with the dropper…. Was my go to bike, but I’ve gotten soft and ride 1×11 Zealous Division and Tarn more often.

I’m actually having a blast playing around with single speeding. currently set up as a 10 speed but haven’t touched my shifter in 5 weeks. going to convert the bike properly shortly. its the only variation ive not tried on the jones yet and really love the challenges and ‘benefits’ of single speeding.

it all seems far less limiting that i imagine and not (or pretending not to) have bail out gear seems to just make me ride harder which also seems to be faster. big days out and big climbs that I’m normally spinning up are different but oddly still achievable.

I’m doing it because i really want to improve my fitness a well and love the idea of really simplifying my bike. maybe for 6 months or maybe forever…

I’ve ridden a singlespeed round my local woods for years. Great fun and easy to maintain in the 9 months of mud.

I do still have geared bike for days out and racing.

When I was younger I had a singlespeed DH bike for a few years. Absolutely fantastic and I believe for a mid pack rider like myself, it actually made me faster. Easier to keep in the zone with no gears to worry about.

I’m also going to build another prototype SS 100mm trailbike. See here…[/url]

So yes, I still ride singlespeed and always will…

SS Scandal gathering dust in the shed. I love it but I don’t ride regularly enough to enjoy riding it. Only really keeping it because if sell it we’ll be a bike short for family rides and it’s probably not worth much despite being a good bike.

I own three bikes, two of them are single speed.

The standard inbred SS (for commuting/pootling/pub/shopping)

Rigid, 29 plus and SS (for fun times)

Haven’t ridden my geared bike for about a year…

lardy middle aged blokes in enduro PJ’s who are terribly PC

Minus the PJs, that’s me, yet all three ( mtb, road and town ) of my bikes are singlespeeds 😀

*I think refusing to use gears has become my own little mid-life crisis.

Guilty. Rigid-forked Salsa Selma. With a dropper post, when I can get the cheap droppers that fit it to actually work. My favourite bike ever.

Mind you, the further I advance into middle age, the more I relish the odd outing on my full susser. It’s like settling into a comfy old armchair after spending a few hours perched on a milking stool.

Something like what Tazzy said.

I’d guess that there’s nor really much to talk about with SS’s so that probably keeps the forum chatter to a minimum.

Steel, single speed, rigid, 1 1/8th headset & 27.2mm non dropper seatpost, 26″ wheels.

Rigid on-one owner. Not been out on it in a month or so but still my main bike over the darker months. Love the simplicity of it.

Got a pompetamine to commute on. Recently rebuilt so all nice and smooth. Great just cruising to work, no pressure to ride fast or far.

Inbred, that’s the name I couldn’t remember on my commute. Thank you for clearing up that one.

ahhh the good old day of SS events where the on one pile at the start would be 30 plus bikes, all looking pretty mush identical, the joy of watching someone grab a white on one, start riding and then realizing that it wasn’t their bike 😀

2 of 4 here. Singlespeed, rigid MTB and fixie road bike. Both steel, both Genesis.

They get ridden far more than the geared bikes. Carbon road bike might get it’s first run of the year on Wednesday afternoon.

Me!

Raced CX all winter on one gear.

Ride to work and back on a fixed gear.

Race XC on a SS 29er. Won a race on it at the weekend!

Add in the BMX and the track and that’s a fair bit of one gear.

My obligatory SS Inbred is out on loan right now.

My newest (to me) bike is a 26″ singlespeed and I love it for local riding and exploring. I get a completely different buzz from riding it than from my bigger, gnar bikes. I just hope my knee holds out this time round.
I did give up on fully rigid though….that is just plain silly 😆

Single Speed for me during the rubbish English weather we having at the moment soon as it dries up I will switch to the gears,in fact on Mondays ride 7 out of the eight running single speed…

I did give up on fully rigid though….that is just plain silly

all of mine are rigid! it helps with technical riding at speed as I cant see the scary bits through the blurred vision so just go for it 😆

Steel SS with bounce up front. Only MTB.

Can’t use gears, I’ve got no fumbs. 😉

Rigid 26″ Inbred SS MTB & my shiny steel Langster still get used although I’ve barely turned a wheel this year on anything.

Me. 29-plus with a dropper though, and I have more bikes with gears, so I probably don’t count as a real singlespeeder…

Just in the process of building another MTB one at the moment, but still have a SS road bike that gets used once per week for a 50 mile round trip commute.

I will be using suspension forks this time around, previously all have been rigid:

Bar ends (natch).

I’m still riding the same one I’ve had for the last six years – the much under-rated classic that is the Singular Hummingbird. Rigid, of course. The only time that I ride anything else is when I’m in Greece and then I really miss both the bike and having a singlespeed.

I find that the older I get, the less I feel the need for gears. I do like my dropper post though…..

Fixed road, SS off-road.

S/S steel commuter used most days in the week. No beard though. And I wear my own jeans

s/s rooster here…

Yes guilty of brandishing a one cogged Swift on our local trails, just put some bouncy bits on the front as it’s almost summer!.
Nice bike Daffy

cardo – Member

Nice bike Daffy Sadly, It had to be sold to pay for a new Garage door.

The new one will be similar, but cheaper.

My next build is going to be a rigid fork, odd sized plus wheel single speed. Currently cobbling together parts for it from the dusty corners of the shed

I’ve got one of these:

Steel, single speed, rigid, 1 1/8th headset & 27.2mm non dropper seatpost, 26″ wheels.

and another with a 1in headset and a 26.8mm seatpost (actually, a 26.6mm seatpost and some Tango can)

The wife’s SS too. Quite surprised at that. She wanted a go at SS, but we both thought the gears would be going back on pretty quickly. Still off 9 months later.

853 Inbred SS here, 26″ obviously. New tubeless wheels on the way.

Was rigid, currently bouncy, going rigid again for a CX “race”.

rocketdog, thats just how it should be!!, singlespeed is the home of random bike building experiments 😀

Still got my SS Surly CrossCheck,
my SS MTB morphed into a Sturmey-Archer 3 speed and is currently morphing into a 1×11