Can someone explain SS to me

Every where I look people seem to be ruining perfectly nice old bikes.

Am I missing out on something, Should I try it?

It's fun. The bike is as light as it can get, and the transmission works perfectly. You would be really suprised at how much attention you pay to your gears when you ride.

The biggest thing for me was accepting that all my accumulated knowledge about bikes was useless.

There are heaps of threads about this.
Try it and find out is the only answer.
Your bike will be lighter and quieter, virtually maintenance free....neat and simple.
You will get fitter.
And its FUN

nice light bike, forget about gears and enjoy the view. Plus never have to clean your bike - just pop some oil on the chain and away you go

You would imagine that you are always in the wrong hear, having only the one but it is amazing just what you can do with that one gear.you tend to keep your cadence up on the flat and attack hills more as there are only 2 options, get off and push or keep riding. I don't think i am fit enough for ss but its probably a great way to get fitter. Hurts like hell when your again comes off though.

Scrat":2l57nss7 said:

Every where I look people seem to be ruining perfectly nice old bikes.

Click to expand...

Gears ruin nice old bikes

As has been said the SS debate has been bashed around many times, some love it, some hate it, it's not for everyone, like everything there is advantages and disadvantages, i did'nt understand it myself till i built one last year, love it now, will always have an SS bike in my fleet

I have some sympathy with the "ruining old bikes" argument.
But mainly because, around here, clueless hipster fascionistas are busy turning nice old road bikes into neon-coordinated fixed-gear-freestyle monstrosities. ****S!

I've had 4 singlespeeds. 3 already had track-ends or EBB; 1 was a conversion with Paul Comp dropouts. But that one had previously cracked at the dropout (that old Kona favorite), so I basically rescued, not ruined it.

SS can be great. It's like the simplicity of your first BMX all over again:
Pedal to go;
Pedal faster to go more;
Stand and pedal harder to go up;
Brake to stop;
Smile;
Repeat.

No cursing as your different groupsets don't work together;
No replacing crazy expensive cogs, rings and chains after 1 winter;
etc.
etc.

But it's not for everyone.
And some people are overly-enthusiastic about the whole singlespeed niche thing; They need to get a life. It's just another bike. Albeit a fun type.

Now I think that SS doesnt appeal to me, but for some reason, a fixie does...

Work that one out...

Scrat":2snvav60 said:

Every where I look people seem to be ruining perfectly nice old bikes.

Am I missing out on something, Should I try it?

Click to expand...

Very correct. And no you shouldn't Gears are great

DM":ptbumde6 said:

SS can be great. It's like the simplicity of your first BMX all over again:
.

Click to expand...

Thats exactly what ss is about for me when I was a kid I rode everywhere on my BMX I remember the look of horror on my parents face when I'd tell them how far I'd been

a lot of my cycling is head down arse up training at the moment :? so going out on my ss is my rest from that and lets me get out for 'just a ride'

Perhaps its the early BMX generation that just 'get it' :?: for about 6 years when I was a kid I hardly walked I was either sitting down being a stroppy git or on my bikes from Striker to Grifter then BMX I didn't walk anywhere and all ss because even the grifter had been converted too ss with a jubilee clip holding the gear cable in one place

So the first time I got back on a ss after years of gears it just felt right and once you've found the right gear for you its suprising how much you can stay with geared riders and there's nothing quite as annoying to them either