to Single speed or not to single speed

[Turley]

I'm doing up an old giant acapulco and I cant' decide whether to go single speed or stick with teh old school 6speed cassette and above bar thumb shifter things. Whats the advantage of SS and do you find that it is better training? The bike will be purely an XC bike as it is rigid and I already got a Dh bike and a road bike. Suggestions appreciated.

[Arran]

Fark using old 6 speed shit! SS her up and you won't have any problems with gear shi(f)ting.

I have recently built up a single speeder and am enjoying the simplicity of it all! Any hard riding is good training and the only criticism on SS bikes for training is that you are forced to take breaks on an XC ride. Sometimes you just run out of legs, there's only so many RPM you can crank out!

[john]

i say go for it (even though ive got no idea/experience)

make th bike quieter, lighter, and funner - and probably make you stronger

the singlespeed will go well with the rigid fork i reckon, make it fully oldschool and unique

[carbonboy]

go singlespeed.

[Rik]

Rigid singlespeeding does wonders for your riding. Do it!

[Rexy]

personally i wouldnt go singlespeed. It reduces abiltiy to cover long distances, its not that much of a weight advantage and anyway weight isnt that important. single speed also has the disadvantages of not been able to put the chain back on easily and in snotty gravel, sand and hills purely sucks i know ive tried doing it and it aint much fun but if you are on flat gravel go for it, just dont plan on going through snotty stuff sand or going in sight of hills or you will be a bit stuffed

[luckyphil]

shuddup rexy. unless you've tried it, dont bag it.
u'll become much stronger if u ride ss. and less shit to break.
there are a thousand threads on ss, most of this stuff has already been covered.
do it.

[Rexy]

actually i have rode ss i owned a few single speed bikes, two to be exact and rode them for around two years so you cant say i havent tried them, i offered my opinion as i rode these in sand and off road everywhere and it was a total bitch unless you ride on the street and hills were nightmares, i have fallen in love with derauilers and have never looked back so i was helping out and giving an opinion, which was what turley was asking for in the first place so does that sound reasonable?

[luckyphil]

maybe your just unfit?

[Rexy]

im not unfit dude ss sucks except for djs an street, which it rules at but for xc just its not good, bikes have gears for a reason

[luckyphil]

so u can spend incredible amount of nothing just so u can spend the whole time worry whetherr or not your in the right gear? so u can take riding to a whole new, boring racing level. go to an enduro , or a ss race, and see what mtbings REALLY about.

[CHEWY]

I've been riding SS for about the last 4 months on my DMR.. I feel no desire to put my derailluer back on.
I've done a fair bit of everything on it.. XC, DH, jumping, street style stuff etc. The only time I really wanted gears was out near Torque riding to the DH tracks along bitumen roads with steep hills.. it always peddled out within 20 metres.

[Rexy]

you dont worry if you are in the right gear, you dont take riding to a whole new boring level, you make it easier to pedal and harder t pedal to suit the terrain on which you are riding. Notice how most mtbs are fitted with derauilers and there arent any ss races where i am so i dont think i will. mtbing isnt about what gearing system youre using anyway.
ss i trying to be like bmx, which is great for people riding skateparks and djs but how many xc riders do you see on bmxs?what that i hear? none
real mtb is about riding and the origanal mtbs had gears.

[luckyphil]

ss i trying to be like bmx, which is great for people riding skateparks and djs but how many xc riders do you see on bmxs?what that i hear? none.

i'm sorry, but that is one of the stupidist thing i've ever heard.

[CHEWY]

real mtb is about riding and the origanal mtbs had gears.


That was also one of the stupidist things I've ever heard.
Shut up Rexy, you just keep digging and you'll never get out.. :roll:

[Rexy]

well real mtb is about riding thats what bikes are for duh
origanal mtbs had gears on them, as do the majority of mtbs.
the whole idea of a MOUNATIAN bike is that it has gears so it can ride up mountains, or in dhers case fly down mountains.we have taken mtbs to a level where we do big jumps and drops, which ss is fine for but xc aint no jumps or drops.
ss is a good idea, im not saying that it isnt, im saying that for xc riding itis not very good, xc bikes have gears on them for a reason you know..........

[luckyphil]

dig dig diggn'...

[Rexy]

yep ill keep digging until the end of the world :evil: ....or when this thread gets locked. i am the terminator

[LordNikon]

You got it.