Single speeds, what is it about them ?

[silverclaws]

Okay, I know zip about single speeds, what is fab about single speeds ?

Do they have a freewheel ?

I have seen some without brake levers, how do they slow, by exerting back pedal pressure on the cranks ?

Are they safe in places like Devon with it's hills and bloody steep one's at that ?

Or are they only any good on the flat country ?

 

[IWish]

Some single speeds have a freewheeling yes. Some have a fixed gear. Brake leverless ones either are fixie or coaster brake.

You will hate going up the hills and hate going down. If you set gearing so you can get up you'll easily spin out going down.

A ss bike like any other is safe as the rider. But you'll need a brake even if you have a fixed wheel.

I don't see much appeal to them beyond long flat road cruises. Id sooner have a few gears to help on the way up and down. This is only my opinion though. I know some members adore ss and fixies.

 

[We_are_Stevo]

Horses for courses; some love 'em, I don't...

...as for where you use them; if riders can do multiple laps at Mayhem on a unicycle you can do it it on a SS ( even whilst wearing a bear costume!)

 

[IWish]

...as for where you use them; if riders can do multiple laps at Mayhem on a unicycle you can do it it on a SS ( even whilst wearing a bear costume!)

:shock:

I have to go to Mayhem!

 

[MADJEZ]

It's a bit like a BMX, single gear is ok until you need to do any sort of distance and go up and down hills. Hence I had to get a racing bike when I got a 10 mile paper-round as a youngster.

Luckily then I was able to keep 2 bikes (early prototype for RB bike hoarding... ).

 

[Rich Aitch]

Part of me thinks they are a grassroots reaction to the dreariness of the over logoed incoherent shmutter that big bike makers are inflicting on the world. The appeal of a bike is surely something to do with simplicity, so if you look at modern bikes and think that they are shouting at themselves then it's likely that you'll either go retro or go singlespeed. This is just my observation based on visits to the big bad cities of Leeds and London but if you are mechanically minded and more than 30 you will go retro, if you are a middle class student who probably still listens to Coldplay [And finishes all your sentences with a question mark?] then you will go singlespeed.

Now I have seen a few singlespeeds with narrow bars that stick out forward at the front, almost like a one piece mountainbike bar +bar end arrangement but in a flat plain with road bike width. I rather like them, what are they called?

 

[Rod_Saetan]

It's simple, it requires less maintenance, it is unnecessary to have multiple gears in a wide variety of environments, it allows you to concentrate on picking a line rather than which gear you should be in, it allows you to ride along in relative silence, it can be cheap, it will force you to understand the importance of cadence, it can be a training tool.

This is just my observation based on visits to the big bad cities of Leeds and London but if you are mechanically minded and more than 30 you will go retro, if you are a middle class student who probably still listens to Coldplay [And finishes all your sentences with a question mark?] then you will go singlespeed.

Like, what? LOLZ?

 

[Rich Aitch]

Like, what? LOLZ?

What does L.O.L.Z mean?

 

[ishaw]

As someone with knees that need more maintenance than my bikes, I wouldn't consider a singlespeed. My experience from my daily commute is that singlespeed riders are dangerous as they never want to stop at lights. I also think that as soon as a rider on one gets to the top speed they can possibly cycle at, they start bobbing up and down whilst seated on their saddle and look pretty comical imho.

Damn light and simple to maintain though.

 

[hydorah]

The singles speed thing does makes sense and is/was a grass roots thing in big cities

So As far as I'm aware: a 'fixie' has a fixed cog at the rear you could ride forward or backwards... pretty cool... trick...

A single speed is capable of freewheeling might even have a coaster brake...

Basic motivating theory: for working bikes, low maintenance, clean and you're not carrying what you don't need!

Ingredients: Take a track bike and that's cool or a lot of guys would take a neglected 531 road/tourer/MTB and SS it

But like most grass roots activities it gets aped by the 'cool kids' and every Tom Dick and Harry was hacking every old bike they can find

You can buy SS and fixed gear off the peg now... I believe there is a model available from Kona called the 'Band Wagon'...

Me? I live in Devon single speeding is not my cup of tea! I think the boom may actually be over? People don't go on about them as much as they used to