I should really read all of the posts in here before I write my own thoughts, because any insight I'm about to offer has probably been repeated ad nauseum already. And yet, here I go anyway.
Firstly, I live in a mountainous area and single speed doesn't really make sense here. And yet, I've had a couple, and I've also had a couple fixed gear bikes and there is a pretty thriving fixed gear scene here (of which I am not even remotely a part of, but I appreciate that it exists). When I ride any of my geared bikes, I can't imagine having a single speed, because I use the heck out of the full range I have available to me - it doesn't seem to matter how big the range is, I'm going to use all of it. And yet, for reasons I can't explain, when I ride a single speed, it's pretty much fine that I don't have other gears. You just sort of put it out of your head that different gears exist on some bicycles, and removing the thought of shifting from your riding is a noticeable and enjoyable simplification - now you just pedal, steer, and brake. Of course, you also strain to grind up some hills and hope your knees don't explode, so it's not all rainbows, but removing the complexity of worrying about what gear you should be in has a surprisingly profound effect. Of course, the limitations often outweigh this benefit, particularly if you carry varying amounts of load - so I don't have a SS bike anymore :D On Wednesday, 21 April 2021 at 18:28:51 UTC-7 Roberta wrote: > Thanks. All so interesting. When I had the Raleigh for such a short > amount of time, I also found it so much fun, but I couldn't explain why. > > CapNMike--were you on the G&G customer ride a year before they moved? I > was there and if you live in those parts, those are MOUNTAINS to me, with > only the beginning of the ride rolling hills. I am impressed. > > Eric--Philadelphia downtown and south would be a good place to do > fixed/SS. I notice a huge number of fixed/SS gear commuters. I love the > shades of grey in your photo, and go over that bridge to NJ's Wiggins Park > often, one of my favorite rides. Certainly on the other spectrum of the > Appa, so that probably is why Will suggested it. > > Perhaps it's in the future for me. It's nice to know so many have a truly > different bike that you a different thrill than geared bikes. > > On Monday, April 19, 2021 at 7:14:43 PM UTC-4 Patrick Moore wrote: > >> From BS's today's post, describing a current electric shifting system and >> comparing it to the needs of ordinary riding. Thoughts like this make me >> appreciate ss/fixed even more. >> >> *Speaking of the app, it’ll provide all the analytics and customization >> features with Rival AXS as it does for SRAM’s other AXS groupsets, such as >> time spent in each gear, battery life, and component usage. Or if you don’t >> want to bother, that’s also fine, but it’s nice to know the information is >> there if you want it. Firmware updates are also done wirelessly.* >> >> *Do you really need to know how much time you spend in each gear? It’s >> amazing how much tech exists purely in service to itself, and does nothing >> more than look up its own ass. They should really be careful though, >> because if your components tell you how much time you spend in each gear >> you might figure out how many of them you don’t need, and next thing you >> know you’re riding around on an old mountain bike with seven speeds and >> friction shifti*ng. >> > -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/609612ee-71c7-4abb-8db7-59b87e177782n%40googlegroups.com.
