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Count Zero, calm down, 😛
When your IQ is as high as mine, then you might read my previous reply and not that I am an English Troll, not an Aussie Troll, 😆
But then again, you do ride SS more!
How many gears does chris hoy use on his track bike?
ohh thats right 1!
its all about personal preferance and mine is single speed, i ride a 2009 spesh p1 cro mo, i had a flow moe with 9 gears untill it was nicked from my flat at xmas last year, if it suits you to ride ss then ride ss, i have personally found i ride quicker on my ss than on a geared bike as i found i became lazy on climes relying on my gears to get up hills but i was on a crack-n-fail rize a few weeks ago for a ride and i made it up a clime easier than on my ss but it felt like i was cheating, is was slower and less rewarding on the crack-n-fail but like i said its all down to what YOU prefer, try a ss and see if you like it, if you dont then dont worry it wasnt for you!
I understand that different riders prefer different bikes, all I wanted to know is why do some riders prefer SS? Simple question I thought 🙄
I did say at the outset that you'd opened up a whole kettle o' worms with this one Todd!
... Unfortunately, it's often difficult to ask the question 'why?', beacuse certain biking 'cliques' can instantly regard this question as some sort of challenge to their zealously-guarded worldview... This said, I'm sort of 50:50 as to whether you are trolling or actually genuine in your seemingly naive questioning?
I am satisfied to see that pretty much everything I predicted at the outset of this thread has come to bear (pun intended). Singlespeeders really do have much bigger cojones, don't you know..? 😉
On a more [i]zen[/i] note, aside from the practical aspects of mud clearance / lightness / low mantainence etc. ... I think some riders prefer a singlespeed [i]hardtail[/i] - they're always hardtails - simply because it makes riding a more simple, zen-like experience... Which can't be a bad thing, surely?
I was forced to go 'singlespeed' during one ride last year when my rear mech fell to bits mid-ride. I must've found exactly the right ratio or something, because it was actually quite a good experience, flowing along nicely through the woods - I didn't miss gears at all - although I was only on gently undulating terrain (Swinley). Suffice to say though, by the time we got on the road to go home, I could barely keep up with my mate on a geared bike - who is waaay less fit than me - as I was spinning out like crazy.
As for several claims that 'it makes you less lazy (and therefore faster) going up hills'. FFS! That philosophy really seems to work for Lance, Contador et al. 🙄
... Otherwise - I'm really enjoing this pointless, amusing discussion so far on a topic that 99.7% of the population wouldn't comprehend!
(p.s. Welcome to Aus - I think most in the UK are asleep right now)
no_eyed_dear, It was a genuine question that seems to have been lost with some people. If some people want to get upset with the issue and throw abuse, then I am quite happy to throw some back. Does that make me a pommie troll? 😆
I knew that it would open up a can of worms, everybody has an opinion on here, and don't they know how to voice it!
Interesting to hear some of the opinions/excuses to ride SS though.
It does quieten down in the UK right now, then the forum starts to pick up late this arvo.
Never ever seen the point of singlespeeds, there's not a single advantage to be gained by a singlespeed over a working geared bike.
Pointless.
Tractors are cheap and good in the mud but I wouldn't drive one every day.
over a working geared bike
there's your advantage right there!
😛
[i]Tractors are cheap and good in the mud[/i]
There's another advantage, for a non-singlespeeder you're selling them quite well.
[url= http://www.sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html ]Sheldon Brown:[/url]
"Riding a singlespeed can help bring back the unfettered joy you experienced riding your bike as a child"
Click link above for a very good article from Sheldon 🙂
No_eyed_dear - Member
<snip> Suffice to say though, by the time we got on the road to go home, I could barely keep up with my mate on a geared bike - who is waaay less fit than me - as I was spinning out like crazy.
<snip>
Not too long ago I was out with Kramer and Sharkymark, on the Five Dales loop around Chatsworth. At one point you have to cycle along the A6 for about a mile up to Haddon Hall. Sharkymark was on his Blur LT Carbon, blinged to the max, I was on my old singlespeed. Onto the A6, he shifted to big ring, and to one of the smaller rings on the cassette - probably 44-15 or so. On my 32:16 singlespeed I tucked in behind him and drafted him the whole way up the A6, alternating between spinning like an epileptic hamster and coasting. SS can keep up with gears 🙂
spinning like an epileptic hamster
...Been there, done exactly that.
I rest my case. 😉
Perhaps if you need to question the 'point' of a singlespeed maybe its not for you. Everyone to there own
I can say that the friends i have made by riding silly bikes is far greater than years of other riding, and why do people need to get to the end of there ride so quick !
Why not be sociable when out with your mates.
And to all the nay sayers they have probably been dusted by a rigid singlespeed going uphill at some stage.......suck it up 😀
I prefer SS bikes, less maintenance, quieter, less things to think about when riding/racing, and quite invigorating when you give it the beans over something that you thought would beat you.......
For me gears are over complicating, my 27 speed went to a 2x9, and is in the process of going to a 1x9, my geared cross bike is even going from 20speed to a 1x10 for simplicity..........
Riding singlespeeds on flat or undulating terrain is unspeakably dull and frustrating. Hills is what they need.
Pointless willy waving and macho posturing aside, some people just seem to find them *right*. You know that feeling when you get on your bike and think 'this is spot on, I like this'?
Some people just like gears & enjoy riding their bikes....
There are those who s/s,who for some reason think it makes them better than everyone else because they don't use gears.
Then there are those who don't have suspension either,now this lot really are stuck up their own arses....
& then there are those who do all of the above that don't feel the need to harp on about it all the time...After all,it's only bike riding 8)
S/S for me is just another way to ride a bike,it's not better than the geared full susser,it's just different that's all 🙂
nbt - are you up for Dalby a week on Saturday?
Jesus, I thought we'd got all of this shite out of our collective head by about 2002... Question was answered in the 2nd post on the thread. All the rest is just verbal masturbation...
What you read all the posts ?
LOL what a tit 😆
[i]What you read all the posts ?[/i]
Nope, I know what they all say anyway, this has, after all, been done to death... 😉
ive just built up a ss not at my own choice just cani aford gears 😉
SS is great.
For riding to the pub & back when you're blind. Just watch out for homicidal taxis.
I used to have a full suss with lots of gears. Used to pi$$ me off no end suffering from mischanges and crunching.
Sold that and now ride a popular make of cheap steel hardtail that every man and his dog owns. Plus it's credit crunch friendly.
It has slot dropouts. If I'm riding local (South Down, etc) it is in SS mode. If I go to the Wales, Peaks or somewhere with hills I bung gears on the back and turn it into a 1x9 (only takes 1hr of fettling).
Job done; best of both worlds.
As a single speed rider I have nothing against people who ride with gears.
It would be rude of me to make derogatory remarks about people who are so old and frail that they require those mobility aids and who cannot grow a manly beard.
😆
@colande on page 1.....Don't call me Shirley (can't believe nobody did that!)