Single-speed... I just don't get it

A loud click from a freewheel should be an indicator of quality, as it has more teeth so drive is engaged quicker. Pretty sure Chris Kings make a right old racket

I have a SS street bike, 26" wheels, big fat tyres and a low saddle and I only run a rear brake. That rear brake is an XTR V and has a shit load of stopping power (and makes me wee a little, its so purty) but then it is a muck around bike. What I love about it you can just about go as the crow flies, because it is SS, because its tough and because it wears Maxxis Holly Rollers, which are the best street tyre there is. It's brilliant fun to ride. Do I prefer it to fixed? About a week in riding fixed and frankly I'm obsessed with my new bike, but a completely different experience

I have jsut got myself a single speed, and love it. Compared to geared the pleasure is noticable, it puts the joy back into cycling instead of the worry about what gear to be in, hills dont worry you because you know what is to come, as aposed to the belief in your head that it will be hard so put it in an easier gear. It means you are completely free to ride and not worry about anything else. Plus I have artheritus in one of my knees so until I have built up the strengh in that knee I cannot attempt to ride fixed

its debatable but i reckon ss is faster on a commute. i live in an area with long hills and i ride 52-17. i can spin up to a point where i outgear and then tuck into a really aero position to hit ridiculous speeds. i dont think you could go as fast as this on a FG, as well as a Fg having to have a slightly more relaxed ratio due to have to pedel all of the time.

that said, FG is more fun to ride.

WHAT A CUNT!

i like fixed gear but am getting one on wednesday as i really love the harmony for controlling speed with yer legs, i have a single speed at the moment and it is a good method for getting your fitness up for preparation for fixed....especially when you live at the top of highgate hill like me.....but different strokes for different folks is what i believe and really, the fact that there are different mindsets about this neglects the fact that we all just like riding bikes....is this not true?

Not ridden fixed much, done about 10 miles in one sitting, but theoretically, it should make pedaling up hill easier? As your momentum is also pushing the pedals round, aswell as your legs, which is why i could climb a decent size hill near peckham on a fixed 44 16 (i think) with the same effort as being in gear 1 on my road bike?

i have a single speed at the moment and it is a good method for getting your fitness up for preparation for fixed.

singlespeed isn't needed to get your fitness up for preparation for a fixed wheel bike, any bike will do, all it take is to get used to riding a bike in order to go for a fixed wheel bike.

singlespeed doesn't feel as much different to geared, only when it's fixed is when you can see the big difference.

I've a few bikes; road, SS mountain and track...
Personally a lot of the argument for SS & Fixed is bull, "the freedom of not worrying about gears" "oneness with my bike" etc... Untill about 3 years ago all the bikes i rode had gears and guess what? it never worried me and i was experienced enough to know when to change them appropriately.

I wish people would just admit that riding fixed is simply novel or fashionable & SS isn't a big departure from a geared bike (bar slight weight difference & no derailleur to catch on rocks).

Please Please i wish people would stop taking derailleurs off their old road bikes, but keeping the cassettes and running SS. THEN also taking off the rear brake. WTF. It makes more sense to keep the rear brake then remove the front one if your so concerned with bike/component weight loss. This behovour is on the rise it seems.

I've a few bikes; road, SS mountain and track...
Personally a lot of the argument for SS & Fixed is bull, "the freedom of not worrying about gears" "oneness with my bike" etc...

actually the óneness with my bike´is accurate since you do feel the road more precise than you do with the geared, when I ride a geared bike I couldn´t feel the rear wheel against the road.

I've a few bikes; road, SS mountain and track...
Personally a lot of the argument for SS & Fixed is bull, "the freedom of not worrying about gears" "oneness with my bike" etc... Untill about 3 years ago all the bikes i rode had gears and guess what? it never worried me and i was experienced enough to know when to change them appropriately.

I wish people would just admit that riding fixed is simply novel or fashionable & SS isn't a big departure from a geared bike (bar slight weight difference & no derailleur to catch on rocks).

Please Please i wish people would stop taking derailleurs off their old road bikes, but keeping the cassettes and running SS. THEN also taking off the rear brake. WTF. It makes more sense to keep the rear brake then remove the front one if your so concerned with bike/component weight loss. This behovour is on the rise it seems.

I agree with you on the SS and running only a front brake, perhaps so it looks like a fixed, stupid. But probably 90% of shit that is done to fixed bike is cosmetically led even if it it performance related, e.g me just ordering a red CK headset form the US, rather than easily picking up a black one here!

However i ride more SS than fixed, mainly because my fixed bike always seem to be in pieces due to some new bit ariving!, but do feel that fixed you have more feel for the bike, in a way that is perhaps unquantifiable.

Without a doubt SS/Fixed is a major fad at the moment, personally i look forward to it all calming down a bit as one of the mainn reason i got into initially SS was that you could put together a cheap knock around bike for fuck all, but the hipsterising of the scene has made this far harder

actually the óneness with my bike´is accurate since you do feel the road more precise than you do with the geared, when I ride a geared bike I couldn´t feel the rear wheel against the road.

I agree with you 100% about feeling the road but i don't think thats a good enough reason to convert a bike. Sheldon's 3 F's are also true, i guess my problem is people over-intellectualizing the need to ride fixed. If someone wants to truly want to feel the road they could equally let the air out of their tyres (not advised, not serious).

I would also add the the 'fixie culture' hasn't quite apexed yet and like skateboarding in the late 80's it hasn't truly spilled over into the mainstream. This will happen before it levels off & makes getting parts etc. easyer to buy.

An example of the beginings of the Currier Culture going *really *mainstream was on saturday while in Deptford i was talking to 2 Jamacian girls who had bought cycling caps but didn't own bikes. This is the same as people wearing skating shoes but not boarding.

People who dont cycle have been wearing cycling caps since there were cycling caps - everyone seemed to have em in the early 80's

People who dont cycle have been wearing cycling caps since there were cycling caps - everyone seemed to have em in the early 80's

pretty much, there's people who wear army trouser (and top as well) but isn't in the army, people who wear trainer that designed for running a prolong distance but never even walked a miles, etc.

I wish people would just admit that riding fixed is simply novel or fashionable & SS isn't a big departure from a geared bike (bar slight weight difference & no derailleur to catch on rocks).

I never understood the reason for SS bikes until I got one and rode one (won it in a competition). Until then I had geared MTBs, one set up as a jump/4X bike but still with 8 cogs at the back. I'm not sure quite why I liked riding SS but I think it's simply the simplicity of it. Unless you're tackling big hills you don't really need more than one gear particularly in an urban environment. So when I made the decision to get a road bike (due to the depth of the mud this summer) I wanted a SS one (cost was also a factor in this). At the time I was unaware of the fixed scene but rapidly found out about it whle researching which bike to buy. I've ended up with a flip-flop hub but am riding it fixed so far. No fashion involved

But I do love the way fixed bikes look: clean lines, with the lack of wires everywhere. I look at my MTBs and they look clunky and clumsy and fussy. The simple aesthetic of the fixed road/track bike is very appealing, which is perhaps why its taken off as a fashion thing. Not sure about lo-pros and carbon wheels tho

I've a few bikes; road, SS mountain and track...
Personally a lot of the argument for SS & Fixed is bull, "the freedom of not worrying about gears" "oneness with my bike" etc... Untill about 3 years ago all the bikes i rode had gears and guess what? it never worried me and i was experienced enough to know when to change them appropriately.

I wish people would just admit that riding fixed is simply novel or fashionable & SS isn't a big departure from a geared bike (bar slight weight difference & no derailleur to catch on rocks).

Please Please i wish people would stop taking derailleurs off their old road bikes, but keeping the cassettes and running SS. THEN also taking off the rear brake. WTF. It makes more sense to keep the rear brake then remove the front one if your so concerned with bike/component weight loss. This behovour is on the rise it seems.

I've ridden fixed for 5 years now and definitely feel that oneness with the bike that you clearly miss. I had a brief spell with a shiny new carbon road bike a few years ago but only lasted 2 months as it never felt right.
Some people likes gears, I naturally don't seem to (could be obsessive BMX riding from age 8 - age 17 maybe?) That doesn't make you right or me right, just different.
Having said that, I do feel single speed gives a pointless feeling on the road (off road it is great though)
And it is always better to remove the rear brake as the front has more stopping power.

Lycra AND cycling cap

the front has more stopping power.

True

that´s a fantastic photo.

And it is always better to remove the rear brake as the front has more stopping power.

If i had to run one brake with a freewheel it would be the back, because you can use properly it in corners and low speed manouvers, and if it locks up you aren't fucked.

Its like on a motorbike, you use the front 90% of the time, and only use the rear for corrective braking in the corners, but it is this that makes you able to ride the bike safely. A lot of custom bikes only run a rear brake to achieve a clean look ( a bit like fixed gears), but use a big un and it its perfectly good on the road, though you do sacrifice some ultimate stopping power

I ride in london, mostly on my commute to work, Ive used geared mountain bikes geared racers, a ss hybrid and now a ss road bike.
Gears piss me off, it takes forever to set them up properly so they don't slip, so they use every cog, so they change smoothly and quickly.
The final straw for me was when I was about set off from some lights, stood on the pedals and the chain slipped and I ended up hitting my knee on the handle bars, ( there were many other similar incidences with this bike ) and me rolling on the floor clutching my knee swearing a lot. ss doesn't slip, there's no faffing with gear set up, and fixed scares the living crap out of me right now.

I agree with you on the SS and running only a front brake, perhaps so it looks like a fixed, stupid.

I'm gonna be charitable, I bet lots if not most of the freewheelers with one brake aren't trying to pretend it's fixed, just that they've seen lots of people with drivetrains that look like theirs with just one, they don't know why but it's obviously the done thing.

I ride in london, mostly on my commute to work, Ive used geared mountain bikes geared racers, a ss hybrid and now a ss road bike.
Gears piss me off, it takes forever to set them up properly so they don't slip, so they use every cog, so they change smoothly and quickly.
The final straw for me was when I was about set off from some lights, stood on the pedals and the chain slipped and I ended up hitting my knee on the handle bars, ( there were many other similar incidences with this bike ) and me rolling on the floor clutching my knee swearing a lot. ss doesn't slip, there's no faffing with gear set up, and fixed scares the living crap out of me right now.

I have never had the gears slip, fall off (unless the bits were knackered). Indexing took me about 30 minutes to figure out, and is turning the H and L screws the right way, really that difficult?

If i had to run one brake with a freewheel it would be the back, because you can use properly it in corners and low speed manouvers, and if it locks up you aren't fucked.

Its like on a motorbike, you use the front 90% of the time, and only use the rear for corrective braking in the corners, but it is this that makes you able to ride the bike safely. A lot of custom bikes only run a rear brake to achieve a clean look ( a bit like fixed gears), but use a big un and it its perfectly good on the road, though you do sacrifice some ultimate stopping power

Or just maybe learn how to use your brake? I don't ever lock mine up and I don't brake on corners as that is just bad riding.

Saying that, on BMXes I always just had a rear but BMX brakes are hopeless anyway and more for very slightly slowing rather than stopping!

Its not about learning to use your brake, its physics, and when riding around london uses your brakes on corners to avoid incoming peds etc is and every ride necessity - one of the main benefits of fixed is the abililty to subtly modulate rear wheel speed much more effectively than a rear brake.