** Single-speed Rigid 29er - Yes or No **

Re:

Yeah I hope so!

I got the frame, forks, wheels and tyres, headset and seat collar as a bundle

I have the rest of what i need to build it

It's missing its decals but i'll get some made up and give it a once-over with scotchbrite when it arrives and i'll post up some pics too :cool:
 
I am sure you can get some.nice decals.directly from James @black.sheep... Looking forward to see.the build!
 
Re:

Hmmmmm..... I can answer my own question now.

It's yes AND no!

With a high level of fitness I think it's a great idea.

But, I think with my current non-existent fitness level, and the local terrain, then it's a no. :?

I went out yesterday, managed an hour before I had to turn back. Admittedly I didn't pick the best day or trail, a very soft and rutted trail that just went up and up, and into a howling headwind too. :roll:

The ride back to the car was brilliant though! :cool:

I have the motivation, but I just couldn't get any revs up, and I'll quite happily sit grinding away in a low gear.... after all I went out to go on my bike, not to go for a walk!

I have a replacement sliding dropout with a mech hanger for the Black Sheep, and my wheels will take a cassette, so I think I will run it geared for a while until I get a base-level fitness back, then if I feel I want to single speeding, I'll at least have the option. :facepalm:

Seems I need two bikes! ;)
 

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Re:

Single speed bikes are like Fat bikes, there is a time and place they will excel, but it finding that place and talking from brief experience, Harris might not be that place...

They work well with rolling trails, a 2-3 min out the saddle climb, followed by a gradual downhill, making the most of the height gain

If you have soft ground/head wind/long sloggy climbs you won't win any friends, the rigid forks mean you can get out of the saddle and not lose half your power, it's all about momentum, keep it spinning along and you'll be fine, lose it on the hills and it becomes a chore...

Am I mistaken, or is that the bottom end of the Postmans Trail?
 
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It's Bowglass to Meavaig, I've walked from Meavaig to the eagle observatory, the path is great, I just stupidly presumed it was like that all the way! :facepalm:

Next time I'm going to get dropped off and start at Meavaig, and finish where I started yesterday!

I'm going to flip the stem so it has a few degrees of drop rather than rise, and push the saddle back another 10mm too.

I have to say though, for a rigid bike, blasting back to the car downhill, it was incredibly comfortable and supple, very forgiving!

Swapped out the 2.6 on the front for a 2.35.... 2.6 is just too draggy.
 

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Just stay on the singlespeed for training! The reason is simple, you could use your argumentation even for an e-bike or regular bike discussion. Of course the e-bike/geared bike will help you to gain some fitness, but for serious single speed riding you will need more than that and the only way to learn: riding with one gear no matter what. Do the same ride a second, a third, a fourth time and you will see you start to enjoying it. If not (I doubt that will happen with your lovely sheep) you can still put gears on it... Dont give up, yet!

Cheers
 

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