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See, it was an enlightening debate, after all. Perhaps not the one I had in mind, but glad to have started it anyway :-)

FWIW, I ride singlespeed 'cos I don't like changing gear, don't like cleaning/maintaining gears and like the elegance of a simple design.

I don't subscribe to this 'my way's the best way' mentality so prevalent on forums, particularly when people get so agressive against the 'other side' which threatens their way of thinking (eg Mac v PC). If you're really sure that something is best for you then that's cool; who cares if people don't agree with you.

So, in summary, I don't have gears. Some other people do have gears. And I still like them (unless they're a tosser for other reasons).

Simon

had to drag my grifter out of the garage while my usual bike was busted last week funnily enough. enjoying the nostalgia didn't last out the 18 mile ride, especially after the f'in thing threw me out of red (that's a gear, btw) halfway up a hill.

I'm gonna do the same route by bus just to check. I think the Milland bus goes on a Tuesday and the one I need after that goes on a Friday.

I like this forum and I've enjoyed some good banter on here but maybe I'm not in the right frame of mind tonight. I just found myself wondering how my time singlespeed compares to the times of people with gears, and I thought it was quite an interesting thing to muse about on here. If that opens me up to ridicule then fair enough I apologise.

Do I detect that you're taking the piss fruitbat? Just trying to ask what i thought was an interesting question...

Hi,

I entered a local 25-mile race this morning. I was the only singlespeeder as far as I could see.

Put in a time that I would have been happy with on a geared bike, but it got me thinking about how much extra time we should 'allow ourselves' for only having the one gear. This was a pretty hilly route, so it has to make a difference.

What do people reckon, percentage-wise?

Cheers all.

I checked out the Sigma wireless in a LBS but after all the trouble they've gone to making the unit look good (alright anyway) they've constructed the naffest huge mount with a big round knob hanging off it for the bars/ stem and a wireless sender larger than the unit itself.

I found this one at ChainReaction last night, which looks subtle enough if I can shorten the cable so there's not loads of slack hanging off:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=17155

I'm entering a 25-mile race next month. Not expecting to win (will be only SS there after all) but it'd be nice to go along knowing what speed I should be aiming for.

Yep, that's the things. See, there's the marketing again. Computers ffs. Can you surf the web on one? I think not.

In a world of insipid marketing I like to keep my bike true and brand-free.

Which is why it's impossible to find a speedo I like. I don't need a screen bigger than my telly and I know when my heart's going too fast 'cos it's in my chest and I can feel it. I just sometimes like to know how far I've gone and/ or how fast.

The wireless senders are massive and look like they're about to jam in your spokes and to add insult to injury the manufacturers splash their brand name in huge letters across the front, the tossers.

You can tell this is making me cross. I had an old one (pre 'designer' branding days) which I quite liked but I broke it today moving it to my new bike. Bugger.

Anyone found a decent simple one which doesn't look totally shit?

Cheers,

Simon

Don't start thinkin you've got three lives when you're on the streets though

Cheers 4c you've just made me feel much better about all the money i've spent building my Condor. However much it is (I've stopped counting) I'll always know it's less than that cost you ;-)

That's exactly the reason it is SS/fixed territory :)

Ha yeah I know what you mean. There's something about being up out of the saddle on a climb, putting all your weight and leg power into each surge on the pedals and pullin' up on the bars. Blimey that's got me all excited first thing in the morning. And the sun's shining and I have a day off, so I'm off to Harting down today :-)

Oh, and I forgot the 80s Colnago which I rescued from my LBS last summer for £200. If I flogged the Campag groupset off that it'd be a lovely chrome-lugged Colnago frame for free (doesn't even need painting) but all of you lot told me not to do it - sacrilege on something so classic and orignal - so it lives on as a gearedspeed. Obviously, I never change out of fourth.

My condor SS has a 531 competition frame c. 1991 and I love it. It cost me £85 out of the local paper in need of a respray. So in answer to the OP decent steel frames are still available from eBay, loot etc. at reasonable cost especially if you buy a complete bike like I did and sell all the geary shit. Reynolds 501 is also alright, like they used on a lot of 80s Peugeots and the like. It ain't as easy to find cheap frames as it used to be but if you keep looking (and use a bit of lateral thinking) they are out there.

I bought a Cinelli with Columbus tubing for £75 the other day (admittedly with a sizeable dent in the top tube, but it rides OK) but it's way too small for me. Shows it can be done though.

S

Nice one aidan, petersfield is on one of my regular rides over Harting down. It ain't the best singlespeed territory tbh what with the hills and all but there's something about changing gear which just don't do it for me. I'm doing the Liphook 25-mile race on my stealth Condor next month and I'm guessing I'll be the only singlespeeder. Not sure how much of a time penalty that'll give me but I'm banking on being fitter than the rest...

I rate my Shimano MT20s. They're stiff enough but comfortable and look like (admittedly fairly naff) normal trainers.

Lots of you probably hate them and will laugh generally down the A3 in my direction. But I don't care. Cos ya mama.

S

That is, literally, the most annoying thing I've ever used in my life.

I'm on there now though. You'll need to zoom out a bit. No-one move me back to Hoxton, for Christ sake.

Simon

Cheers guys. Went for the Fizik in the end; it had most votes and Wiggle sell it and take PayPal in which I have some cash to spend :-)

Took my Condor stealth bike out for its first run since my sprained shoulder recovered today - had forgotten how sweeeeet it is. And the new Nitto bars are just where my hands go, which is a big improvement from the old ones being a bit further forward and lower down than my hands...

Cheers Andy. I'm out in the sticks (Sussex) so it'll be a mail order job. It's the having to wait for everything...

Cheers I'll check out the Fizik and Stella.

I had Velox cloth tape on the old bars; it looked cool but too much impact through the pot holes for my old hands...

I ducked. What was it?

I need some good bar tape to go on my lovely new Nitto bars.

Like to keep my bike brand-free so I want something that doesn't have the manufacturer's name splashed all over it.

I fitted Outland tape (from Parker) to my gf's bike yesterday and it's OK but a bit thick so bunches up and looks s**t on the corners.

Any suggestions?

S

Mine's in my cupboard. It's a good one though, so I should be alright.

I suspect there's far more dangerous things in life than cycling. Like not cycling and getting fat, for example. The media and companies like to make us feel scared so they can sell us stuff like helmets, though (imho).

S

Don't worry, just discovered the Nitto Techomic on hubjub and it looks sweet so ordered one of them. That b***er should be long enough I reckon!

Sorry to confuse. The SR stem is a 22.2mm - it's just that the quill part (i.e. the lower part which the bolt threads into) is a smaller diameter than the stem itself, by design. This means that it doesn't seat terribly well. Hence the creaking, presumably.

I've dug out all my spare stems and none of them is tall enough to get the bars where I need them. This is a slightly strange frame which is longer than it is tall, so I need a fair bit of seatpost and stem to make it fit me.

I did wonder about converting to threadless to give me more stem options, but it just looks wrong on a retro machine...