Why singlespeed?

[snowtulip]

We have lots of hills on all of our trails (and not rolly hills), so I'm going to start fairly easy with a 32 front and 20 back. They usually run a 2:1 ratio for gearing and so if I'm feeling I can handle the hills without killing my knees I might switch to a 16 in the back.

The difficulty with the 32, 20 will be smooth, slow pedalling on the flats since that is easy gearing, but I'm sure I can benefit from this as well.

My hubby is waiting on some horizontal dropouts and when those arrive, I'll be ready for single speeding.

There is so much info. out there it's hard to keep everything straight.

[fixedgeargirl]

All that stuff in the OP goes double for fixin' !!!

Is my handle showing ?

Here's my (heavily edited) take on things: Scorchin' for Starters

That's me on the left. The little guy on the handlebars is my now-6-year-old.

[Irulan]

here is so much info. out there it's hard to keep everything straight.

no kidding:
eccentric bottom brackets
tensioners
half links
cassette spacers
ratios
crank arms

...................................
someone just tell me what to do!!

[RoadRaven]

I am in complete awe of anyone who rides a fixed gear bike

One of the men in my partners training bike rides a fixie sometimes... and those guys cruise at 35-40km/hour on the flat and climb (and descend) some really steep hills...

Nah... not for me at all

Good luck all of you...

[tattiefritter]

The SO has recently gone mtb singlespeed, he bought a cheapie to try it and now has a very nice "Spot Brand" singlespeed frame with all sorts of bling on it. He has sold the cheapie to his mate and they now regularly ride it on our short midweek rides. It is true they have to attack hills all the time and on the shallower gradient climbs they can generally pull away though I tend to catch them on the 17/18% gradient hills as they weave all over the place. Seeing how much fun they have does occasionally tempt me to try it, however the long and/or steep road and offroad climbs that we ride our mtb's on round here kind of put me off (cos I don't want to go back to getting off and walking up them I suppose). I did consider buying a singlespeed for commuting to work in the winter as my route is fairly flat, however I was put off this by the SO who pointed out that I would struggle with riding into the prevailing wind all the time (I ride out to the coast), but the seed has been sown, maybe next winter. I will also be looking for a replacement mtb hardtail frame at some point this year and will probably go for an On One Inbred frame with sliding dropouts as it can be used singlespeed or with gears.

[CorsairMac]

Snow: let me know how you like the SS. I"m thinking very seriously about building one of my bikes out as either a SS or a fixie. I have a buddy here that rode a fixie all winter so he can teach me how to ride it - I'm leaning towards the "scorcher" LOVE the term FixedGearGirl!

[snowtulip]

Corair, I'll keep you posted, you're always welcome to borrow it (admitedly a little small, but you never know). Hubby uses his fixed gear to ride around town and he loves it, I'm not quite ready for that. But singlespeed, here I come!