On-one 456 Summer Season s/s

xizang

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Built this up last week because, to be honest, I got fed up with gears.
Today I took it out for it's first ride as a s/s.
As soon as I got it off the rack and started to ride towards the mountain I knew the gearing was too high. I put a 36 - 17 ratio on it.
I was surprised though as to how far I rode it before having to get off and walk to the less 'hilly' bits.
I walked more than rode to the top of the mountain BUT on the bits I did ride I was thinking of what gearing I should be able to run to get up the trail a lot further before I'd need to, ahem, walk again.
Mainly it's down to fitness as it's the 1st time I've been out on the bike for months.
Coming back down the 36-17 was very nice. One part was rocky, about 300-400 metres, rocks were flying up and pinging against the tubes but that's all I could hear. Very nice not to have the noise of mechs clanging and chains slapping.
Got home and changed the ratio to 34-19. The good thing about it was the chain stayed the same length as I'd gone 2 teeth lower in the front and 2 higher in the back.
I'll be taking it to the same trail tomorrow to see how far I get.
(I may take some pics to post up as I think I'll more than likely be stopping a few times, lol)

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On a side note, it was the 1st outing on the new pedals too. Wellgo B54's. VERY grippy with my AM40's :twisted:


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Hey good work. I have those pedals, they feel strange in thin street shoes like vans canvas but on the trail they've not let me down at all.
I've only ever ridden the wrong bike in he wrong gear off road :-D and my current SS is better geared for road but ill get out in then hills on it soon. My 24" bike works great 34 - 18, it's a trial and error thing.
Bike looks smart nice n bright!
 
You have a nice collection of gear bits to play with. I bet you'll end up on the 34/17 by the end of the summer. As you say, it's amazing what you can get up when the only other option is walking.
The singlespeeding thing is addictive.
 
Took it out again today on the revised, 34-19, gearing. WOW!!!! What a difference it made. I must have ridden 4 times as much as yesterday AND I took the longer route :mrgreen:
Coming down wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I just got up to speed quickly and let gravity do it's thing.
I even found some new trails (to me) as I hadn't been down a particular section for about 10 years!! Some nice twisty, rocky chutes.
As said above, this singlespeeding is addictive. Haven't smiled so much riding for a long time.
The K&N is fitted to help with my breathing, lol.

 
Interesting. Defo the worst things I did road and trail on my SS bikes was to pick too hard a gear. Finding that sweet spot is half the fun, but making it slightly too easy is quite a nice thing really, encourages ya to take it easy(made less road rage danger) or addictivly add spins.
 
Your bike is looking really sweet as that colour really does stand out well and running a single gear gives you less to worry about and that includes weight too ;) ..
 
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