[Closed] Single speed bikes - I just don't get it???

Why not?

they're all crazy!

Oh dear... you've opened up a whole kettle o' worms here me laddy.

(...I'd duck run for cover if I were you)

Singlespeeds: good for riding through filthy stinking winter muck on gently undulating terrain - and pretty much nothing else, really*

And don't let anyone tell you anything otherwise.
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* Other than being able to belong to a niche-core niche of MTBers who for some reason believe they have bigger ca-ho-nes than anyone else. 😉

*Ducks and runs for cover*

Scott, thank you for that detailed explanation!

Why?

Because they are [b]AWESOME[/b]

😀

Singlespeeders don't need gears. The bikes are so afraid of their awesome power, they mould their cogs to the right size for the conditions.

Single speeders can't answer the question and just throw abuse. Just like they can't handle a little climb, 😆

lol

Gears are for queers.......................................or my other bike.

Your loss...

I had 3 bikes at one time, a full sus a narly hardtail and a single speed

On my ride to work, generally the full sus takes me 47 minutes, the hardtail took (sold it now) 45 minutes and the single speed took 50 minutes.

Just shows that the SS is not as slow or as hard to ride as you may imagine, probably because its light and also when you come to a hill as you can't click it down a cog or two you have to get spinning.

That's the point, for me.

Also, my wife sometimes rides the SS as she can't get her head around gears....

Oh, I get it now, they're for technically challenged people that don't understand gears!

try it you might like it, i did for the sswc2k+1 and ive only ridden 2 geared bikes since, less gears more beers and all that jazz!

Try it - just leave your current bike in the same gear all day, it's just the same [although they'll try to tell you it isn't]

when you've decided that it's pointless - start changing gear again

surely writing sswc2k+1 is as long as writing sswc2001?

less zero's, more beero's

Shirley this is a wind up 🙂

Singlespeed bikes are rubbish, and cannot be ridden where there are proper hills. Fact.

Everyone who rides SS is a cock.

Including bmxers?

[i]Singlespeeds: good for riding through filthy stinking winter muck on gently undulating terrain - and pretty much nothing else, really*

And don't let anyone tell you anything otherwise.[/i]

SS is best in the summertime. ner ner ner.

i think we should leave the doubters ,, in their ignorance and keep it to those who have seen the light,,

Shouldn't they be called single gear rather than single speed, does SS sound 'cooler' or something 🙄

[i]Other than being able to belong to a niche-core niche of MTBers[/i]

surely SSing is no longer a niche, there's too many of them about, i ride one to look at the scenery, especially up climbs i tend to find 😳

so it's just so they can make up jazzy little rhymes?

miketually - Member

Singlespeed bikes are rubbish, and cannot be ridden where there are proper hills. Fact.

Everyone who rides SS is a cock.

word.

Maybe if all the normal riders started to refer to 'them' as [i]single gear[/i] bikes they might just STFU about their squalid little affectation 😉

Amen as above - SSers are all c0cks.

Especially the ones who are evangelical about it 😉

do singlespeeders really exist then ?

No - just people who claim to ride SS (and build them up but never ride them) in order to be Kerrazy! and deliberately different.

Do you need to 'get it'? I don't 'get' road cycling but many other people do; I just accept that and don't feel the the need to question it. I would like to try SS though 🙂

nuke - Member
I would like to try SS though

Bi-curious? remember, it's not wrong, it's just different

The worst are those that do the whole SS thing on a steel, rigid, retro machine. Awful people! On that note, I'll get my coat..................

The BNP plan to erradicate singlespeeders and that's a fact. They're all a bunch of wannabe heroes I heard 😉

I ride singlespeed after naysaying it for a few years, I actually found I just enjoyed the simplicity of it.. I'm not a wannabehero or anything, I've got gears on my commuting bike, my brother in law rides a full sus geared and wanted to try S'speed so he left his bike in middle/middle for a ride I think it's the same thing..

The whole niche / lets grow 'wacky' beards thing winds me up, why can't we just all consider ourselves bike riders? ❓

Single speed bikes make sense if they suit your riding style and the terrain you ride most often. Hills generally aren't too much of a problem if you've got the gearing right and because a single speed drive train is so simple you can mash the pedals round without worry that your gears are going to slip.

For sure there are some SSers who like to see themselves as wacky and think that growing bears somehow confirm this fact but most of us ride single speed because its nice and simple and the bikes are fun to ride which is surely what riding should be all about. For those of you who haven't tried it you should give it a go before declaring it as cr*p.

Blimey SS'ers

[b]growing bears[/b]

Yeah, its seen as the big new trend in single speeding. Instead of growing a beard so people can spot you from a distance some single speed wannabe heroes have started strapping grizzly bears to their handle bars to demonstrate how tough they are and to maul passing full suss multi geared bike riding sissys 😉

I really shouldn't try and touch type when I can't do it...

It was an excuse to have another bike.

Try it, you'll love it. I reverted back to 9 gears for a couple of years or so. Biggest mistake I ever made. Now I just have 1 again and the bike feels so right. There really is nothing like the gurning and contorting that's involved in getting up a steep climb on a 1-geared-wonder. And when you finally get off to push, it's OK because you've only got one gear and you did much better on the climb than the geared guys would've had they been on a SS bike 😉

They're cheap...

I just love being able to be in the correct gear all the time, and not having to get off and push.

With gears I find that I just have more wrong gears to be in... 😀

Nice and light for carrying.

Welcome to the forum by the way Toddboy, you seem like just the sort of startlingly original thinker this place needs. 😛

I quite like the idea of a Ti Hardtail SS 29er. 😳

whats there to get? it's a bike.

[i]The whole niche / lets grow 'wacky' beards thing winds me up[/i]

define a wacky beard? i think mine is 'traditional' i'd like the circumstance to shave it into a decent set of burners though

Bunch of luddites...mate bought one..steel rigid for a while....then fitted rebas...then swapped to On One scandium frame...thinking about putting gears on it now....quite sweet really watching mountain bike evolution all over again!

Not really practical for real hills either...cue response from online riding gods who ride up 1 in 3 hills in the 36-16

oh and they are really anti-social cos you can't chill with your mates on climbs either!

And yes I have ridden one!

they're an anti social bunch.

Well i find i am, faster on the climbs as you need to commit to them therefore you reach the top generally quicker than the average geared rider. So you end up waitng at the top and have recovered nicely for when the others arrive all puffed out. = anti social

Along the flat, if your riding with a fast bunch who are big ringing it, your spinning like a fool and breathing heavy, therefore can't speak to clearly = anti social

On the descents, you need to pump the terrain more to retain speed, put in bursts of power now and again, i find this not a problem on the techy stuff, but the fast pedally flowing trials i can't go a fast as i'd like to, about the only negative, this can mean you maybe holding up riders behind you =anti social.

Not really practical for real hills either...cue response from online riding gods who ride up 1 in 3 hills in the 36-16

You're right, they're impossible to ride in the Lakes or the north Pennines. Just can't be done. Nope, impossible.

Anybody who rides with me will tell you I'm a better stronger rider on SS. If I have gears I always be at the back on climbs, but with SS I'm nearer the front. I get off and walk about the same amount on both.

Part of that is because I'm 100kg and I'm fearful of getting out of the saddle and putting the pressure on with gears because of destroying the drivetrain, and snapping a chain. The other reason is because I get lazy, and on SS you can't do lazy.

And it's right to call it single SPEED because we go the same speed everywhere - up down or flat.

For me it's just another bike. When I fancy a change from my full sus I jump on the singlespeed.

Can't afford gears. I have two bikes and can only afford 10 gears across both. 🙁

the whole stupid beard thing does look a bit sad, is it still going?

Can't afford razor blades. 🙁

For me:

I want something cheap, that I can use to get to work every day and that either won't get stolen in Glasgow or if it does won't matter a huge amount.

I've recently dabbled- although only on my commuter so maybe there's something about MTB SSing that I'm missing, but FWIW:

Lighter
Cheaper to run (in theory- doubt I'll see this for a while yet)
Keeps you working a bit harder (good thing)
Coasting down anything that looks like a hill is boring
Some hills are very hard work (and offset the lightness to some extent)

So while I'm not in a huge hurry to put my gears back on my commuter, neither am I about to rush out and take the gears off my MTB. I guess there's an attractive simplicity to it, but (for me anyway) it wasn't the revelation that some might make it out to be- it's just a bike with no gears on.

I got one recently for riding around Delamere. Not particularly hilly, very muddy (especially over winter) and also good excercise.

I'm hoping the SS will save my Full Suss bike's bearings and drive train from getting knackered and also give me a little more fitness so that when I take the full suss out into the peaks or wales I'll be able to go longer/faster etc.

So far I really like it and find the riding a little more challenging and exciting.

I like SSers, they make me laugh and remind me of religious people. It never ceases to amaze me how illogical people can be.

Ive got 27 Single speeds - all mounted on one bike so I dont have to ask those questions about what gear ratio to use.

after 20 years of riding mountain bikes I love sinlge speeds.....I own a big bouncy thing (no, not a space hopper) and race an ultra light hardtail as well, but the joy of stomping past a load of wheezing, granny gear spinning "real" mountian bikers on big climbs in the peak district, scotland, north wales is amazing.

If you don't get it, don't do it.

I personally think anyone who gobs off about a topic based on narrow minded stereotypes "bearded luddites etc.." without having had personal experience of the topic is a big hairy nob face....so there! 😛

after 20 years of riding mountain bikes I love sinlge speeds.....I own a big bouncy thing (no, not a space hopper) and race an ultra light hardtail as well, but the joy of stomping past a load of wheezing, granny gear spinning "real" mountian bikers on big climbs in the peak district, scotland, north wales is amazing.

If you don't get it, don't do it.

I personally think anyone who gobs off about a topic based on narrow minded stereotypes "bearded luddites etc.." without having had personal experience of the topic is a big hairy nob face....so there! 😛

sorry for the double post......ok.....so i'm an IT luddite......bugger it's not a stereotype

[img] [/img]

I've got a rigid SS and a geared full susser (and had a hardtail too at one point). Each have their advantages and disadvantages and both can be fun to ride. There's nothing to "get" with SS other than it's a different style of riding.

I never intended to get a mono-ratio. I was asking around for a nice light hardtail, and a mate gave me his old steel oner frame, then I found that it was a really enjoyable bike to ride in the endlessly rainy muddy claggy summers we get these years.

It's nice to have a few bikes to choose from....

This thread is why I love STW. Pointless, amusing and deeply deeply uninteresting to 99.73% of the population 😀

Part of that is because I'm 100kg and I'm fearful of getting out of the saddle and putting the pressure on with gears because of destroying the drivetrain, and snapping a chain.

I'm 110Kg and love getting up and stomping. I have snapped 4 chains in the last 2 1/2 years but have only had one gut to stem incident. I vowed to just change chains after 0.75 on the wear indicator now. I want to try this SS thang tho. It looks fun. I've got all the kit I need now and this winter either my 853 or 456 will become SS.

I cant speak for serious off road use on the SS(see other bike)but cant be faulted for canal work commute (nice and flat all 8 miles) and also quality for arsing around on the local jumps and "urban riding" so it has my vote.

I have too many bikes, all sorts, ride them all but my 'bag of bits' SS is my fav, just grab and ride, but I do live in Devon so only little hills really!?!

Bikes are cool.

Pushbikes that is.

Hardtails look better singlespeed.

No worry about chain slap.

Don't have one myself, but can see the attraction.

Kramer - Member

Hardtails look better singlespeed.

No worry about chain slap.

Don't have one myself, but can see the attraction.

Suck it up big boy, you can try mine next time we have a ride and see if you can overtake me on the descents *then* without doing a superman in front of the walkers 🙂

See, I ask a simple question and get all of this back, 😆

For the record I ride a full sus bike, lots and lots of gears, and every other bit of new technology that is in the modern world, (apart from grizzly bears zip tied to the handle bars). Although I do have a beard, shaved short to match my ever balding head!

Before moving Down Under I used to ride my bike around Hamsterley, in all weathers, and never had trouble with my gears. The bike got very muddy, took it home, cleaned it ready for next time, easy.

Now I live in a world of almost continuous sunshine, and still no trouble with my gears, and no desire for SS either.

I also don't see the point of road riding, or bmx's!

I bust a mech on a ride a while ago and did a successful trailside singlespeed conversion, It was rubbish. Spinning out on every descent and grunting up every climb at a stupid low cadence.

I can see the appeal for winter flat woodland or for a jump bike - but for every day trail riding - dinnae be so daft laddie

Bikes are cool.

it dont even matter yo.

singlespeeds have their place

as do road bikes

and shoppers

etc

Got a full suss but spend far more of the time on my rigid ss these days
Think you either get it or you don't
I find it more of a challenge especially in the Peak, Scotland or Wales
Got tired of the bills for a full suss as well

Its just another bike isn't it. What's all the fuss about? Mike Ferrentino has a point this month .............

They're fast. I know 'cos I got overtaken by a bloke on a Pompino with 52/12 ratio (down A316). Anybody from here BTW?

I looked under the bridge, and guess what I spotted? Yep, a troll. Not only that, but an Australian troll. Singlespeeds are great. I've got one. Hardtails with 6" travel forks are great as well. I've got one of those as well. 6" travel full sus is great too. Got one of those. Guess what. The SS is the one I ride most. If you don't understand why, then maybe one day when your IQ gets higher than your shoe size, you may just begin to get an idea.

It might of been me going so fast I jumped through time and space and onto the A316. You'd never achieve that sort of movement on a geared bike.