Who still rides singlespeed?

Four bikes here, three of which are singlespeed or fixed.

Kona Unit – singlespeed
Two road bikes – fixed
One road bike – gears

Junkyard – lazarus

I ride a steel Love hat

Ann Summers or Specialist online for that?

I only got my first one last July. Most used bike since, loving it. (Karate monkey.. an older one)

tazzymtb – Member

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

This is the sort of wisdom that is too advanced for bouncie gearies. 🙂

Still SS and rigid here. Even did the World Solo 24s on a rigid SS and did ok for my age group.

I’d sooner ride my bike than operate it.

However I will put gears on my bike when I get old and frail – although I’m not sure I have sufficient intellectual capacity to twiddle all those levers.

Ann Summers or Specialist online for that?

i Genuinely laughed at that
😆
It does indeed sound like an exotic love aid.

853 Steel frame, carbon rigid forks, carbon bars and post. Just a beautiful thing.

Yes, my Inbred 26″ SS with EBB. My go to bike for most rides.

Skinny steel, rigid forked, mismatched plus size wheels & you know what…it’s bloody ace.
My only bike for a few years.
Still is really, as the multi-geared bouncy thing has only ever come out for loony day trips to BPW.

Im with tazzy.

My two bikes in the UK are both rigid SS. I love them.

I do have a geared full-sus in france, but the gnarr there deserves it.

I agree that, in a hair-shirt kind of way, regularly riding rigid, improves my bike handling on the more technical stuff I ride when in the Alps.

100% single speed for last 15 years, my only bike;

epicyclo – Member

However I will put gears on my bike when I get old and frail – although I’m not sure I have sufficient intellectual capacity to twiddle all those levers.

I’m already old and frail and I still prefer riding a rigid singlespeed. Old and stupid maybe?

This thread didn’t turn out like the OP expected. SS rigid here, it’s splendid in a stupid way.

100% rigid here, often fixed, sometimes singlespeed. No multi-gears. All On-one frames for off-roading at the moment (Inbred, ScandAl and Pompino). All proper wheel sizes, too. All with square taper BBs, all with Hope Mono-Mini brakes. No need to change my stuff that works really well and suits my riding. Some of them even have QR seatpost clamps.

Just bodging my first.
Had a road fixie for a bit years ago, but I don’t think that counts.
🙂

Rigid and retro.
Should be light, cheap, simple and fun.
Perfect for an hours blast from the door.

I have only ridden a rigid single speed 26 inch mtb in the last year .The geared one is buried under about 3 other bikes at the back of the garage

Not anymore, I sold my Niner One9 Scandium last year because I just wasn’t using it. It sat in the spare room looking sad so I sold it to a mate.
Bloody loved it though, built up as bling Niner RDO as you could possibly get.
Rode out with a small, but perfectly formed, group of SSer’s on Thursday nights and Sunday mornings.. We had a hoot.
Many memories of doing Charlie the Bikemongers SS Dorset hack with another 200 odd SSer’s a few years ago.

SS rigid. retro Kilauea with modified dropouts. Ace.

Still fairly new to the ss world but used mine all winter and loving it 🙂

Yep. after a brief foray back to rear mechs and cassettes and shifters, I stuck the SS kit back on it-

Steel, 26″, small frame, 150mm forks.

I’m trying to think of a tidy way of SSing my FS bike that doesn’t involve a rear mech looking tensioner.

out last night on the ss Jones, out tonight on the sheep, will be riding the big black rooster at the weekend…

*starts singing special brew by bad manners*

“I love you, yes I do
Cause I know that you love me too
I love you, yes I do
Gona spend all my money on you
Woh woh woh woh”

This thread didn’t turn out like the OP expected.

I’m actually very pleased that there are still so many out there.

That Ritchey is causing a stirring in my nice places.

Thinking about it, my SS was the first bike I rode this year.

First crash of the year. #mtb #2016 #ThetfordForest #flatearthsociety #singlespeed #singletrack #churchofsingletrack #berm #crash by Neil Cain[/url], on Flickr

I’m just about to singlespeed my Puffin, picking the new rear rim up from the powder coaters on Friday, can’t wait 😀

good work swavis! Mine’s still SS. I’ve got a XTR 10 speed shifter, XT block and chain for mine, but they’re still sitting in the spares drawer!

Cheers. It currently looks like a singlespeed but has 3 gears, but they come at a weight penalty I’m not willing to put up with any more 😉

Puffin rear wheel by Gavin Belton[/url], on Flickr

Yup , we’ve got a pair of el mariachis , a 456 and a black Sheep . For local stuff and the FoD its brilliant .

I’m actually very pleased that there are still so many out there.

but your employer would prefer it if we bought lots of xt dinner plate cassettes and the mechs that go with them! 😉

Andy R – Member

“However I will put gears on my bike when I get old and frail”

I’m already old and frail and I still prefer riding a rigid singlespeed. Old and stupid maybe?

Not stupid – sensible. Nothing keeps the whole body in such good condition as riding singlespeed, and it just happens without conscious thought or faff, just ride your bike.

There is a point where you start to weaken, but that’s why god invented the Sturmey-Archer 3 speed hub. 🙂

I’m old enough to remember the following phases of riding SS in the western world:

1. normal (fixed was also normal), derailleurs existed but were for those with pretensions to being fast, and actual racers, but most geared bikes had 3 speed hubs.
2. unusual
3. stupid
4. eccentric
5. niche
6. trendy (but proved too hard for the emaciated fashionistas)
7. just different

But all through those periods, single speed bikes have been the most common sort of bike made, and the most reliable. Folk are riding them long distances, up mountains, loading them with excessive weights, with minimal maintenance, and still managing without gears.

Aye. On-One Inbred 29 SS, done morzine, Wales, and South Downs. But I have a FS for most days, just ride it when out with the kids, or very muddy rides. I’m getting too old to stomp it up the hills anymore.

853 SS inbred,on 26′ wheels and still loving it

This

Since the day it arrived its been my most used and enjoyed bike by far

Pretty much given it up.
Race a basterdised SS 29erCX thing now and again.
Raced SSUK last year and then didn’t convert it back to gears which was just a ballache when I needed to use that bike.

Basically can’t be arsed anymore. I generally want to go faster (or slower) than the SS would allow.

but your employer would prefer it if we bought lots of xt dinner plate cassettes and the mechs that go with them!

I think they’re pretty cool about Mr P’s fetishes. 😉

Collecting parts for a 2nd. Steel, rigid, 26″, 1″1/8th.

Oddly my ss is a summer bike, it’s a track frame with fixed so no brake hanger or fittings for guards. I love riding it, have had fixed ever since I borrowed my dad’s

My mtb has gears, I think one derailleur is the correct number for me for offroad

In 13+ years of mainly riding off road and commuting I don’t think any geared bike has come close to the idiosyncratic joy or riding SS

Currently the owner of a sscx, fixie and SS MTB, love them all.

Second ride on my Singular Swift SS last night. Beach between Highcliffe and Barton, Dorset that appears at low tide.

New cleats, SPD’s, lumps of soft beach gravel and a SS conspired to fall of at 0 mph but looking around, I seemed to be caught in a light beam…

I find there is a feeling on the SS of symmetry underneath me with the bike. I don’t know if its the lack of chainrings, sprockets and wheel dish, but it’s got a levelness to it, that i’m assuming is the SS, rather than the 29er. Do others feel this?

I’ve ordered a 17 to change from the 32/20 that will get me more faster and more comfortable/ less spinny on the flats. Also gets me a prime number gear with a 17 and the combined 51, which seems to be good for chain/ ring wear I think. Hopefully still be able to manage the hills. Have to see. Kind a feeling it a bit more, though missing the outright speed rush without the gears.

I felt the 29er wheels did carry a bit more in the gravel lumps a few extra feet, enough to keep going, where the 26er might have been stopped. The Fatty could float over the real loose stuff though, but on semi hard the X kings’s worked well up front. I like this tyre, it seems to roll well and grip well. A good tyre for someone looking for a much as both as he can get.

Edward

Commute on a single speed with balloon tyres, and have 2x SS Mtbs as well as something with suspension and gears. I generally find it very liberating on the SS; forgetting about gears and just riding when it’s been a while

There’s a large proportion (statistic not validated) of people who have posted here have a singlespeed which is deliberately set-up with old tech; 26″, 1 1/8″ etc.

Personally I want my singlespeed as capable as my geared bike. Good fork, lightweight wheels, good tyres…..just no gears.

It’s understandable that the lack of gears is seen as a retro experience and this is embraced fully. But singlespeed can still be at the cutting edge.

My full sus singlespeed and DH bikes with all the best kit on were the most fun, and often fastest bikes I have owned. I can’t wait to get the time to build a new singlespeed trail bike, but with contemporary geometry and wheel size.

I still ride my Genesis Fortitude SS, but of late just commuting as all of my other riding (on and off-road) has been on my GT Grade.
(Lost interest in MTBing a bit.)