TchoMec":3dboyifz said:Hi hamster,
interesting thought and Ive never had a singlespeed.....do they make you stronger...Ive heard they do...where do you notice it most when you're back on a geared bike? Ive heard if you want to get fitter and are short on time SS is the way to go....If you're in the New Forest...I take it there are still lots of decent long climbs?...did your pine mountain have front suspension or did you upgrade the marin rigid fork?
Singlespeeding is great! typically you lose around 3kg of weight off the bike, which certainly helps. You definitely get fitter - the first couple of months are not exactly a bundle of laughs but you do improve fast. If you are a time-poor middle aged man (like me and most on here) then you will benefit. What surprised me is that it improved my bike handling - scrubbing off hard-earned speed got punished and I learned to corner faster. I think they are best served with a rigid fork as you will spend a fair bit of time out of the saddle uphill. Also I have never had knee pain as it is impossible to mash big gears (and I have dodgy knees after riding on the road).
Of course with a 20lb bike you also can hop and jump it really easily too.
When you are fitter with such a flyweight bike you will be able to tear up the climbs ahead of all the people on their spanky power ranger Specializeds, which is rather satisfying. The New Forest tends to have short steep climbs with smooth tracks, so definitely suits a rigid singlespeed. I wouldn't want one for the Peak District however...
As for forks, the Pine Mtn (mine was a 94) as stock had a 390mm fork and always felt nervous. Replacing it with a 410mm P2 made it handle far better.