Im intrigued....

[chaos]

And kinda amazed that some of you can ride SS in the woods. You guys must have machines for legs!

What do you do when you come to an hill? I imagine a small hill can be done by getting speed up and using momentum. But how do you do those long climbs? Do you go as far as you can then carry the bike or do you push through? If so your legs must absolutely be on fire!

I dont knwo why but the thought of a SS'er intrigues me. I have a nice GF X-Caliber 29'er and I am considering trying it out. Getting a nice lightweight wheelset and doing the changeover.

I dont know....I have only been MTB'ing for a year. Should it be reserved for the more experienced riders?

[bdee]

Long story short you simply adapt and climb a little differently. The upper body is used a bit more to muscle the bike and, if you exclusively ride a single speed, you will develop your leg muscles a bit differently as well. The easiest way to try it out is to pick a gear and keep it there. This allows you to experiment with gearing on your cassette without the hassle of buying and swapping multiple cogs. Go for more than a few rides in different combos and see how it feels.

On a 29er the below seem to be good starting points with regard to gear ratios:

32x18 = a 32x16 on a 26er. This is a steep gear on a 29er and if things are fast, flat and flowy then go for it.

32x20 = a 32x18 on a 26er. This is a good starter gear for those of plagued with punchy climbs and some longer grinds.

32x22 = a 32x20 on the 26er (see a trend?). If you climb, a lot, and your descents are coasted and ripped with little pedaling then this may be the ticket.

[Wheeldog]

For this season I converted my Superlight to a 1x9 setup. I've been riding a few years but I'm not quite ready to man-up to singlespeed. I've done 5 or 6 rides so far, most of them on my home turf of Penwood, and I really like the simplicity of it. For me, I was always finding that the small ring screwed me up more than it helped me, and the big ring was just becoming a bashguard anyway after I'd flattened the teeth on the opposite sides from going over ledges and such.

There's so much overlap that you only really lose four or five gear combos going from 3x9 to 1x9.

[agabriel]

I demoed a GT Peace 29er SS last year when my Yeti was out of commision and it was alot of fun. I didn't really want to buy a new bike, so I ended up rebuilding an old Kona Cinder Cone; its a ton of fun. Its a 26er and I went with a 32-17 (worked out to the same pull per revolution as the GT) and I'm thrilled with it. Anyway, take one out for 40 - 50 miles, you'll be hooked. With that said, I wouldn't take it out for a really hard miles, especially at first.

[PutAwayWet]

It's a little known fact of quantum physics that when you remove the weight of deliberating gear shifts from your thoughts, the resulting lightness of mind works as an anti-gravity mechanism that gives you super-powers when climbing hills. That's why you often see SS bikes made out of steel - the weight can help counteract too much lightness of mind, which of course would cause you to float off into the sky in a state of ultimate bliss. Those people riding the super-lightweight blinglespeeds are grounded by the ash buildup from having money to burn - that, or their wheels roll fast enough to generate their own gravity. The jury's still out on that one.

On a slightly more serious note, trying to ride a SS like you ride a geared bike IS hard. Stupid hard. I don't know many people who sit down and push 32:18 up any sort of substantial hill. Like bdee said - it's more of a whole body thing. A lot of times on steep climbs you're pushing so hard on the pedals you really have to pull on the handlebars as hard as you can just to keep yourself on the bike. You also learn to shift your weight at specific points in your pedal stroke to help your legs get around to the next power position. When you need power, you stand up and mash. Then you sit on the flats to rest :p Standing and using your legs like they were meant to be used to turn the pedals is a good way to avoid potential knee issues, too.

I started out by not shifting on a geared bike, but sometimes it's hard to be that disciplined. Make sure you give yourself an honest chance at riding in one gear, it takes a little while to get used to it. Once you get your first real SS though, and the whole thing is quiet and simple, challenging yet rewarding... you may never want to go back :)

[woodsguy]

I value my knees too much to ever to try SS. I could do 1x9 with my 32 ring and 11-34 cassette tho (right now I still have 3x9 but the big ring in unusable and I almost never use the small ring). I consider myself a pretty good climber but I can't see climbing with a 32-17 setup without destroying my knees . I'd gladly carry around the extra pound for the ability to sit and spin up a long climb. Spin to win baby!

[PutAwayWet]

For the record, I've only ever had knee pain when I try and ride my SS like a geared bike - that is, sitting and trying to push the gear uphill.

That's also the reason you see so many rigid SS bikes. We'll all tell you the rigid ride is more pure, more fun, more challenging, more babe-magnetizing. But the truth of the matter is that when we put a suspension fork on the bike, we get lazy and sit down when we should be standing. In order to preserve our knees, we stick a rigid fork on the bike making seated riding uncomfortable enough that we have no choice but to stand up and save our knees.

And besides, we get all the practice spinning we need on long flats :p

[Gimpy00Wang]

To echo the points that bdee and PutAwayWet have already made...give it a try on your current bike and understand that riding style is a bit different when in SS mode. Standing and mashing up hills is your friend.

Where are you located? If you're in western MA I could give you a tour of some "SS-friendly" locations.

- Chris

[agabriel]

I value my knees too much to ever to try SS. I could do 1x9 with my 32 ring and 11-34 cassette tho (right now I still have 3x9 but the big ring in unusable and I almost never use the small ring). I consider myself a pretty good climber but I can't see climbing with a 32-17 setup without destroying my knees . I'd gladly carry around the extra pound for the ability to sit and spin up a long climb. Spin to win baby!


I'm not sure your thinking about it right. If you don't want to hit hard climbs - don't. You can change your riding patterns up a bit and goto different spots. I'm not sure if you have ridden Mines Falls in Nashua, but its a perfect place to break yourself in to a SS. Its a bit flat and truthfully boring on a decked out bike, but on a SS its a ton of fun. You don't need to do the same loops, the same features. Terrain that I don't even think about on my Yeti requires thought on a SS.

Spin to win is exactly right; you want to go fast on straight away - spin faster. I took the FS bike out yesterday and I found myself spinning much harder through tech and making more stuff that I hadn't cleared in the past. I don't expect my SS to do the same terain as the Yeti but it does help me get better and hopefully faster.

[Jisch]

I have a 29er that came with a 1x8 and I rode it like a SS when I first got it - that is I didn't shift. I get the uphill thing and I see how you make it work, I actually liked those first few rides. The thing I don't get is going fast when you're going down or on flat land. I'd much rather have gears and be able to crank up.

John

[Evil Chocula]

You get used to it very fast. I highly recommend it if you have two bikes; riding long group rides with geared folk as the only SS rider can be tough.

Go out to Southern California where people ride singlespeeds on rides with 5000' feet of climbing, then take a look at that 25' hill in Harold Parker. Its not that hard.

[leebo]

We only have little hills and ridges here in eastern ma. Keep up the momentum, spin, spin, spin. 32-20 is a good place to start for 26" wheels.

[chaos]

Thanks everyone....

If its that tough on the knee's Im wondering if I should bag the idea. I had my knee fully reconstrucred 18 months ago. I am having no problems at all right now but I dont want to push my luck.

Oh I dont know.....theres nothing wrong with what I have now. Maybe I can convert an older aluminum 26 I have hanging in the garage.

[agabriel]

Why not convert an old bike; thats what I did and I like it. You can also demo one and see if you like it.

[chaos]

Why not convert an old bike; thats what I did and I like it. You can also demo one and see if you like it.

I fo have an old aluminum 26 Wheeler I could try. It's a tank, but may be worth a try. Though the thought of an aluminum HT 26 means I'll really have to man up.

What do you do about chain tensioning on a converted SS?

[TheSlav]

What do you do about chain tensioning on a converted SS?

My personal favorite is the 'ghost chainring'. Google it, very interesting.

I tried it once but it didn't work that well.

easiest would probably be to buy one of the many SS chain tensioners on the market now that just screw into the dropout like your old derailleur.

[bdee]

I fo have an old aluminum 26 Wheeler I could try. It's a tank, but may be worth a try. Though the thought of an aluminum HT 26 means I'll really have to man up.

What do you do about chain tensioning on a converted SS?

The cheap route is to use an old derailleur. It's a fashion faux pas but who cares?

[Aging Wannabee]

I tried making an old Kona into a SS, using the derailleur as tensioner. It worked, but I didn't like it. One of the best things about SS is the fact that you don't have the most fragile part of the bike hanging down right where the rocks are. I'd get a bolt-on. Cleaner, more efficient, less damage-prone. Who wants all that extra chain anyway?


I bought a rigid 29er SS last year and it didn't get much use, but I've taken it out a few time this spring and I can climb almost everything I can climb on my geared bike. It's more like the kind of riding I did as a kid. You're kinda all over the bike; left, right forward, back. Whatever it takes. You try to take momentum into climbs but when that runs out you just stand on the pedals one at a time. Grunting and yelling help get you over.

My full suspension geared bike barely allows me to stand up, much less get anything out of a standing pedal stroke. I HAVE to sit in the saddle and burn my quads in granny gear, but then I can recover once I've made it to the top.

When I ride the SS I don't realize how tired and sore I'm getting until the end of the ride. On the fully, I know exactly how tired I'm getting because it burnzzzz. It's two totally different kinds of riding. Each makes the other more fun.

[agabriel]

I use a cheap tensioner. I will prob switch to a surly tensioner when this one dies. Surly makes real nice parts.

[Evil Chocula]

I concur with this statement:


It's more like the kind of riding I did as a kid. You're kinda all over the bike; left, right forward, back. Whatever it takes. You try to take momentum into climbs but when that runs out you just stand on the pedals one at a time. Grunting and yelling help get you over.

My full suspension geared bike barely allows me to stand up, much less get anything out of a standing pedal stroke. I HAVE to sit in the saddle and burn my quads in granny gear, but then I can recover once I've made it to the top.


As for your knees, I've heard that singlespeed is actually good for them. Can't comment accurately as to why, but a google search may yield better information.

[Aging Wannabee]

Makes sense to me. You're using your full leg and most of the rest of your body to pedal, instead of isolating your quads and knees.

[AA]

SS riding and knee pain is mostly a myth. Knee pain caused by cycling is generally a combination of poor bike fit, (that includes shoe and cleat adjustment as well as saddle height) and turning over too hard a gear while seated. As stated before Singlespeeding forces you to get out of the saddle and you are varying the extension of your legs.

Bottom line is SS riding is fun and not as hard as you think. It will make you a better all around rider, give it a try.

[Zeena]

Agreed. People who say singlespeeding is bad for your knees are people who don't ride singlespeeds. And it's good for your body to mix it u - use different muscles. I love riding my SS, but I wouldn't want it to be my only bike.


SS riding and knee pain is mostly a myth. Knee pain caused by cycling is generally a combination of poor bike fit, (that includes shoe and cleat adjustment as well as saddle height) and turning over too hard a gear while seated. As stated before Singlespeeding forces you to get out of the saddle and you are varying the extension of your legs.

Bottom line is SS riding is fun and not as hard as you think. It will make you a better all around rider, give it a try.

[favabean]

Single speed hurts my knees if I have it geared to high and push too hard. I rather push a lighter gear like 32-22 or 32-20 on my 29r.

[CTMBRer]

I got knee pain from geared riding but not SS'ing. In fact, all I mostly ride is SS on trails and fixed on the road. Of course, I think one of the things that helps is that started taking glucosimine two years ago and my knees are really strong now.

[chaos]

I'm back with a little update.....My ghetto attempt at a SS was a success.

For the last 2 weeks(42 miles) I put my bike in a gear and I stayed with it, no changing. I was surprised to see that my riding was faster. Climbs were not as hard as I thought. In fact, with the exception of a few real steeps, climbing was easier. At the end of the rides I wasn't as tired. It makes sense to me now because instead of using just your legs to power out, your now using your legs,upper body and weight to make the energy. For me a geared bike allows me to be lazy and instead of using leg power I would down shift.

As for impact on the knees....well I have about as bad a knee one could possibly have. SS is much easier on your knees as long as you don't try powering out while sitting. Standing up and doing it right it's a breeze on the joint.

My only complaint is....on downhills and road riding, or fast fire roads I found myself burning out a bit. One ride I did had a 7 mile section on road and I was wiped after that.

One other weird thing I noticed was on sandy loose trails for some reason the SS worked very well.

I'm gonna make the conversion. I'm glad I tried it.

[Jisch]

Your experience sounds similiar to mine - I really liked it for the most part - the parts I didn't like were when I wanted to shift up higher so I wasn't spinning like a hamster in an excercise wheel. I run a 1x8 on my HT now and that forces me to not sit and spin on the hills (too much) but allows me to grab a harder gear when I want it.

John

[JBH]

I've got a s/s 29er and a geared full suspensions bike. The only time I ride my full suspension bike is if I am going to play on rocks or if I go to Killington or KT. I find that I am actually faster on my s/s. Different strokes for different folks. Glad you had a chance to try it.