my first dable at singlespeed

longun

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finally managed to get out on a bike today,so i took my freshly built ss to see what the fuss is about lol

bike b4
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then ss
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and finally,this is why
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was really interesting.ive a mile n half flat road ride to some woods which was different,dunno if alot slower but general feeling was good.but in the woods it was ace,no messing changing gears etc,just peddle n go,needed to sprint to gain momentum every now n then but on the whole i enjoyed it. :D dunno if ill fully give up on gears as the i-drives nice with 27 n full biongy bits.reminded me alot of my bmx days but learned i need to get fitter again lol
 
i'm tempted to give it a go but i'm so unfit i'm not sure i could cope!

what are the advantages of ss? is it simply less weight and less to go wrong?

is it a case of "if you have to ask you wont understand"
 
lewis1641":3jijvb66 said:
what are the advantages of ss? is it simply less weight and less to go wrong?

Mainly i think, i'm loving my single speed E3, feels weird though when you first ride SS, you still instinctively go to change gear at the bottom of a hill but you soon adapt.

If you are not fit single speed is a good way to get fit :D
 
Have found I have got a lot fitter riding SS. I guess it's a combination of a few things
1. Cadence...when you run gears, to a certain extent, you can stay within the cadence you a comfortable with. No such luxury with a SSer. I never used to spin very quickly, but now I have to, sometimes....short bursts at max sure gets the heart pumping.
Going up steep hills takes some getting used to...but each week the big ones are getting easier and easier = I must be getting stronger.
My biggest challange is one hill where I would have to stand up to pedal from bottom to top....now I can ride the first half sitting down. Want to do the whole thing sat down.
2. Upper body....I personally use more upper body strength SSing...heck, my moobs are down to a B cup :LOL:
3. It's just MORE FUN....so I go out more.

Of course, these are just my personal experiences....otherwise may, and no doubt will, disagree :)
 
I enjoy SS a lot.

I wont give up on gears, but its just nice to have the no-faff option of SS in my shed.

If its really muddy, then SS shines through. No gears to worry about mashing in the mud!
 
And if you're as unfit as me, just run your bike in a low gear. I use 34:18, and people pass me all the time, but so what? Some wiry little bastard would probably go faster than me if I was driving.
 
personally I don't buy the fitness thing - but I think that depends on how you ride normally. When using a geared bike it allows me to push hard all the time so I am always at 100% - on SS it's only uphill that I am like that. If you're somebody who uses gears to take things easy then yes SS should get you fitter.

the main benefits as I see them are no worries in the mud and clag you get in winter and also just not having to think about gears ever. Means you can actually concentrate on and enjoy the ride more.

just my thoughts anyway ;)
 
chris667":u61r35te said:
And if you're as unfit as me, just run your bike in a low gear. I use 34:18, and people pass me all the time, but so what? Some wiry little bastard would probably go faster than me if I was driving.

I like your attitude sir :cool: :LOL: :LOL:
 
:LOL: Alot of its not about going fast but on our last meet the SS guys were showing clean heels to the rest of us. I find you connect with the terrain a bit better a hills a hill not a case of dropping a couple of gears. On a road bike too it can be absolute cycling bliss, nothing too worry or think about just ride :LOL:


And longun sorry for straying OT a wee bit, good work on the SS :D what gear are you running?
 
I've found that one of the reasons SS is fast is the need to maintain forward momentum. Riding gears you can stop in even the most awkward positions and still get going on that girly 22/34 winch gear (it's just wrong having a smaller ring than sprocket) . With single speed if you stop on a climb with your gear at least three times higher than that granny gear, you won't get going again. Therefore single speed riders keep the speed higher than geared riders out of necessity. On your SS there's no time to relax.

Anyway, like Kona say, you've got three gears on a single speed bike: Sit, stand and push.

You soon learn to put up with the slow top speed on road and byway sections for the fun you get in the woods and on singletrack. After all those road sections are boring whatever speed you do.

It's a long time since I've ridden gears off road. Three years ago I bought a Merlin Malt with gears and just couldn't get motivated to take it off road. The thought of all those mud clogged missed shifts and the cleanup afterwards was just too intimidated. So it was sold hardly used and I built another SS.
 

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