Single speed, I just don't get it?

[unocogero]

Not for everyone though. And I did use all 21 retro gears last weekend! probably not the right ones either

Yeah, I quickly geared up for the Peaks ride. Friday night in the garage desparately trying to find spacers for the granny cog I threw in the toolbox with contempt months ago

Singlespeeding is loads of fun but when the hills appear on the horizon...

 

[mechagouki]

SSes are lots of fun, like others have said, remember all the stuff you loved about BMX, only bigger and faster.

Fixies are gay (IMHO) unless being ridden in a velodrome.

 

[PIGEON]

A 'fixie' (although the word is pretty gay) that's being ridden on the road isn't necessarily gayer than a singlespeed MTB in itself. It's just two ways of making a bike less suited for its purpose, for the sake of a different riding experience. Which is fine if that's what you're after. It's just that the majority of the folks who ride fixed ride like inconciderate lunatics who don't have a clue what's going on around them in traffic. That, and they dress gay. But if the majority of SS MTB people did just those things, it wouldn't make the concept of a single speed mountainbike gay would it.

 

[velomaniac]

One day a cycle savvy policeman is going to have all those modern urban fixie types when he has them for having no brakes !

Fixed gear bikes must have one bicycle brake, the other brake being your legs. Only braking with your legs is absolutely against the law.

However not all fixie riders are gayers, as Cab on this site rides in off road races on a fixie, mucho respect :shock:

 

[DM]

I seem to have more singlespeeds than is strictly necessary

Of my fully working bikes (not frames/ projects), I only have 1 geared bike at the moment and I can't remember when I last rode it - Definitely over 1 year ago.

My Hei Hei is currently just a frame, but I was thinking of getting an ENO hub for it, rather than rebuilding it with gears.

But I can't stand all this nerdy crap that people talk about how cool singlespeeds are. It's-a-bike.

 

[dbmtb]

One day a cycle savvy policeman is going to have all those modern urban fixie types when he has them for having no brakes !

Has been going down in my part of the world for a couple of years now.

 

[ishaw]

One day a cycle savvy policeman is going to have all those modern urban fixie types when he has them for having no brakes !

It won't be necessary! They'll all have been picked off by cars whilst jumping red lights as they can't be arsed to stop at them for fear of having to start from a standstill in a big gear.

Seen it happen on my commute. Get some brakes and gears and stop at traffic lights like the rest of us (well nearly all of the rest ofus).

 

[JamesM]

I had a go on a fixie (it did have a front brake) and tried the whole braking with your legs thing, I just couldn't do it. From any reasonable speed the best I could manage was to come to a very gradual stop and I couldn't stop myself at all (except with the front brake) on anything that half resembled a downward slope.

I spoke to my brother that evening (he commutes on a normal geared bike in London) and he said the way they stop quickly with no brakes is to hop the back wheel into the air and stop pedaling, when it lands the rear wheel locks up and they skid to a hault. Madness!!!

 

[Pickle]

Being a former track rider, when I raced time trials on the road I regularly rode my fixed wheel. Just whacked a brake on a front and tri-bars.

How does that make me 'gay'? :?

 

[clockworkgazz]

I've got 2 in the garage and agree they are really cool, you should try cycling your normal trails in the one gear- tape the shifters up! and seeing if you like it, before converting. However word of warning, your knees will take a lot more strain on the steep climbs and if your an old dog like me this does cause me a bit of pain, need to alternate rides on a geared bike (choose your ratio well my son).