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Hiya.
Neice has one of these, set up tubeless and singlespeed.
It's lovely.
Light, fun and simple.
Looks like it'll last too.
Not had a chance to ride it on any serious off road stuff, but it feels great on their little local loops.
Did you like yours?
Quite fancy sticking an Alfine or Sturmey Archer 3 speed on and using it to replace both the current hardtail (Rock Lobster) and the pub/shopping bike.
Ta in advance.
Brilliant versatile bike, last one I'd ever sell. Not as light as some but simple and just does the job with no fuss. Works well with a Sturmey 3 speed but I went back to SS for the simplicity. Currently it's a SS semi fatty (porky bike?) on 3" tyres and is great fun without going full fat. I nearly bought another frame set to run narrower tyres and hub gears but a Cotic Simple came along instead. That's good too, but different, lighter and sharper handling in the rigid setup I have.
I have a first gen 1x1 with no disc tabs on the frame, so have a disc on the front and a v-brake on the back. It's dumb, simple, low-budget singlespeed fun at it's best. Geometry from the 90s, but a wide bar, short stem and modern tyres help it along a bit. It's only bike I've had for the last week while I wait from SRAM to send me a shock back and I've been having loads of fun going out on the local group rides keeping up with everyone on their trail bikes.
Don't have one anymore but had one like blacknose with no disc mounts then a later one with disc mounts. No lightweight frame and a short top-tube on the 16" ones I had compared to the inbred SS I had once.
Rode it rigid and with a 100mm forks, did 24hr races on it and rode it at most trail centres. Fun simple bike but don't know what it be like riding now after riding more modern bikes.
I think the word you looking for is 'twitchy'.
I have a Surly Troll, which is the same but with moar braze-ons. I love it! I had an Alfine 8 on it until it wore out, now it's a singlespeed. The new ones can fit nice big tyres too. Really fun, will last forever, the sort of bike you get very attached to. Doubt I'll ever sell it 🙂
Mine is also the canti only model. I use drum brakes on it. It's 19 years old now.
The best thing you can do with them is fit decent width rims and run Surly Dirt Wizards. They bring the handling and feel bang up to date. Used to do 24hrs on it, but now it's just fun or retro rides and SS events.
BTW you can fit the following wheel sizes.
24x4"
26" (obviously)
27.5 x 2.8" on 52mm rims
29er
Most versatile bike you'll ever buy, and the last one you'll want to sell. Keep it rigid and simple.