Why are single speed riders so opinionated ?

think it’s they way it’s done, the couple I have seen have both pushed past me, not even a hello or can I just pass

maybe I shouldn’t blame them all but some seem to have a real attitude towards anybody with gears

just wondered if other people had had the same experience

People Ride SS and have thier mortgage with Abbey National for the same reason

BECEAUSE LIFES COMPLICATED ENOUGH (without adding gears)

I used to only have geared bikes and had a “More gears than ears” sticker and poured scorn on those ridiculous singlespeeders.

Then I built a winter singlespeed to “save on maintenance” and put a “More ears than gears” sticker on it and poured scorn on all those weak geared riders

Then I built a touring tandem and everyone poured scorn onto me!

Then I had to fit a child seat and go on summer pootles to the park, stopping at the pub on the way home and I couldn’t give a F*ck anymore cause I’m too lardy and unfit to keep up.

This biking lark is great isn’t it?

reading some of the posts you guys seem to take it in good humour

maybe I should try and talk to one of them next time they push past, maybe they are not as confrontatial as I think

does nobody else have any bad experience with them or is it just me?

Most of the time I’m breathing through me arse….finding breathe for a polite conversation about when it would be convenient to pass is a bit too much!
Closing speeds are usual preety high and with momentum being everything in ss the single worst thing you can do to a ss’er is make him pee it up the wall and then have to accelerate all over again (speshly with clown wheels!).

‘mezzin Pook 😀

I’m only confrontational to other singlespeeders if that makes you feel any betterer.

reading some of the posts you guys seem to take it in good humour

maybe I should try and talk to one of them

pop along to the Real Ale Wobble this weekend and im sure youll find a few SS riders there , have a beer or two with them , they`l prob even offer you ago on their bikes , it gives them more drinking time 😆

befreind one and borrow his bike it might jut be the best thing u ever do 😆

Is singlespeeding more or less popular than it was 5 or 6 years ago?

Seems less popular to me – e.g. there don’t seem to be as many SS threads on here these days. But maybe it’s because the most vociferous/evangelical of singlespeeders from 5 or 6 years ago don’t post on here any more.

Because if you have gears you can’t get off and walk.
Gears = no excuses.

SS = low maintenance.

My primary reason for SSing.

I probably don’t count though because my SS isn’t niche enough (it even has a sus fork).

Being someone who rides a 27 speed hardtail, I had a go on a rigid fixie at llandegla a few months ago and it was, well, a revelation. Great fun.

my first bike was a singlespeed

reading some of the posts you guys seem to take it in good humour

maybe I should try and talk to one of them next time they push past, maybe they are not as confrontatial as I think

does nobody else have any bad experience with them or is it just me?

Jeez, you really do have a problem with this don’t you, would you even be posting this if a geared rider had pushed past you ?

You don’t have gears on your legs or shoes. When you’re not on a bike you’re walking or running and when you get to a hill or go up stairs you push a bit harder with your legs. Singlespeeding just feels sooooooo natural, hence riding with gears is unnatural and a perversion that should be mocked and eventually banished from this planet.

A fine argument. You have wheels on your legs and shoes then?

Why are single speed riders so opinionated ?

You should ask that question on http://www.lfgss.com/
An infinitely better forum than STW.

I want some of the pills that pook’s been taking 🙂

Anyway trash heap bikes are the new winter niche bike.
My current winter build is now up to £3.99 though it looks like I need a bottom bracket, still it’ll be under £20. I’ll throw it in in the hedge come spring, might be there still next winter.
Makes buying my old Factory custom built Nicolai singlespeed frame seem daft now.
That must certainly wee in the shoes of the maintenance argument?

It’s because it’s the internet and everyone has to argue.

Out in the real world, I ride one the most niche bikes on STW, yet I seem to get on with everyone I meet, regardless of what they’re riding.
Except people with large back packs of course. I always force them off in to the brambles.

They all seem to have a chip on their shoulder, they think they are better than everybody else because they ride a bike with gears

Fixed it for you

“everytime this Singlespeed thing is mentioned they have to defend it with great vigour”

Superficially, losing your ability to change gear seems like a retrograde step…

So people keep enquiring/criticising it. And it gets vigorously defended, because actually, it’s quite a good style of cycling. This is not surprising, is it?

There I go again…

The real justification for single speed is that it just feels so good…

And that’s my opinion on the matter 🙂

and the real question is ‘why, whenever singlespeeding is mentioned, do some geared-bike riders get so upset by it?’

Why are 29er riders so opinionated?
They all seem to have a chip on their shoulder, they think they are better than everybody else because they ride a bike with big wheels. 😐

I kind of knew I was going to get flamed on this subject, seems to be more of you than I first thought

I think it’s the attitude of the ones I’ve come across and then when you read post by them on here they seem to just want to tell you how good it is, they don’t seem to see both sides

maybe it’s just me, but going by my experiences the attitude of people on bikes with gears seems to be a lot more acceptable than the ones without and then sometimes on here they seem to have a real attitude, maybe I should have title the post “Why do Single Speed riders have such an attitude”

guess I should maybe try one, maybe taking the gears off gives me more attitude!

epicyclo – Member
The real justification for single speed is that it just feels so good…

And that’s my opinion on the matter

Same here, I went SS origianlly cos my local trails are a bit dull and I never pushed myself hard enough with gears, but IMO SS has a great feel; and that now is the sole reason why I don’t want to put gears back on my bike.

I don’t think I ever “flowed” along with gears, more experienced geared riders probably do, but I used to be very slow-fast-slow-fast when I rode gears.

Plus night riding SS alone is great, the bike makes no noise so its like you are gliding along in the darkness.

Gibson, you’re not getting flamed. You should see it when the wolves circle round…

I have three bikes with gears, one without, I ride each one for different things. The singlespeed always makes me frisk around like a teenager. So does the 456. My XC bike makes me feel intrepid. And my hybrid makes me feel like I’m on my way to work, which I usually am.

They’re all good. Two wheels good. Which reminds me, must get another motorbike….

maybe it’s just me, but going by my experiences the attitude of people on bikes with gears seems to be a lot more acceptable than the ones without

Someone with gears on their bike threatened to punch me one, because I’d had the nerve to fall off in front of me and he buckled his wheel when he rode into me.

Therefore all riders with gears are aggressive ****?

This appears to have degenerated into another “why ride singlespeed?” thread.

If you get it – fine – if you don’t get it – get over it.

I started riding SS offroad over 10 years ago because it looked like fun. TBH I wish it wasn’t so fashionable at the moment, so we didn’t need to answer the question so often!

A fine argument. You have wheels on your legs and shoes then?

In addition to my bikes I am also the owner of a fine pair of singlespeed roller blades 😉

People Ride SS and have their mortgage with Abbey National

Hey that’s me (well Santander)

A fine argument. You have wheels on your legs and shoes then?

In addition to my bikes I am also the owner of a fine pair of singlespeed roller blades

OMG…a SSing rollerblader…sorry, you are in no position to judge upon anything 😮

maybe it’s just me, but going by my experiences the attitude of people on bikes with gears seems to be a lot more acceptable than the ones without

Which reminds me – I had a little ‘off’ at Bristol Bike Fest a couple of years ago, to which someone behind (with gears) shouted “move out the ******* way!”
Oh, I won the SS category that year BTW (with broken forks) 😆

Oh and leave Mostly Ballanced alone ooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo – he’s faster than you (probably) – even with 1 gear

It’s to do with knowing a secret, THE secret – any sense of confrontation is only born of a sense of frustration in ones own inability (as a SS rider), to help others so close to cycling nirvana, see that if they took just one more step, they too would ride into the light.

Try it, and you will understand everything.

to be fair, I agree with the OP all single speed riders are miserable gits with no sense of humour and massive chip on their ugly mutated hunchbacks.

They just take out their hatred of the beautiful people effortless breezing along with gears by deliberately:
1. stopping suddenly to drink a tipple from a hip flask
2. overtaking them and then really quickly turning off down a side trail so that the geary victim doesn’t see how out of breath they are
3. wearing comedy facial hair to distract other riders
4. constantly Preach to the perverted that run gears on their bikes.

If natural law still applied all single speeders would have been eaten by their mothers at birth as all natures freaks are!

Singlespeeders don’t have very large brains. They haven’t the brainpower to operate gears, and they haven’t the spare neurons to change their opinions.

Well, that’s true for me and I don’t care what you think.

do people really ride ss bikes on the trails? i thought they were just for attenion whores who ride around trail centre carparks before they get there full sussers out the car and rip the trails up proper

I love my Love/Hate SS.

I ride a SC Superlight most of the time (and an UJ CX), but anything up to, say, 2 hours I prefer the SS. I see it as a challenge and when I’m fit enough, I can do the Llandegla Black slightly quicker on the SS, although I’m always more knackered!

I’m always polite to all bikers too.