Back when I rode mountain bikes more than I do now I loved to ride a single speed...actually, a fully rigid single speed. I have a Niner Sir9 setup single speed with the RDO fork they offer. Great light mtb. It's lot of fun and while technically "harder" there is just something about the simplicity that is appealing...maybe the extra challenge of picking the right lines for a rigid bike and for rear wheel traction while standing while pedaling made it more fun. For a while there I completely preferred to ride a single speed mtb over anything with gears. The trails aren't particularly flat either with lots of really steep short climbs that you have to use momentum and technique (and stand up power) to get up.
Last year I bought a used Frank Jones Sr. and have been riding some on the back roads during the pandemic. I like it a lot but most of the routes I take with it are fairly flat...more out of laziness than anything. It's a great bike to just cruise around on and I don't have to care at all about shifting. Just pedal and go. It's also a beautiful bike and has a lively ride, which make the experience more pleasurable. The key to having a good time on a single speed is to find the right gearing for you so that you are somewhat comfortable most times. You will always be in the wrong gear, but it's more tolerable when you aren't spinning too much on the flats or grinding away on the flats. When you do encounter a climb, you stand up and use your body weight...and shift your body weight to retain traction. If it comes to the point where you are grinding too much, you hop off and walk it. Nobody can really give you much crap for that since you are riding a single speed. ;) Going down...you do a lot of coasting. (I never really got along with fixed gear bikes because I like to coast when I can). A true single speed, and not one that uses a chain tensioner like a Paul Melvin, feels like every watt you are putting out is being put into making you go forward. There is a simplicity in the whole drivetrain that you can actually feel while riding. Plus, maintaining a single speed bike is stupid simple and cheap. Also, I think bikes look better without all that shifting stuff hanging from the tubes. If you are on facebook there is a group called Single Speed or Death and it is filled with people addicted to the single speed bike. Some of them take that whole single speed only a little far, but it is a good group for the most part. On Sunday, April 18, 2021 at 10:55:54 PM UTC-5 Roberta wrote: > I am truly curious. How is it different than just not shifting? How is > it more fun? When I was looking for a second Riv, Will (at Riv) suggested > their single speed (I didn't do it). > > I had a 49 lb Raleigh LTD-3 for a few months prior to Riv, which had been > converted it to a single speed. I rode the bike around downtown for > errands. It was tons of fun, but Philadelphia is flat downtown, so SS was > OK. I'd be concerned about any hills. > > Roberta > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/acf857e3-09bc-4d47-8f9f-d10a5705ff62n%40googlegroups.com.
