single speed

snig

yes or no?

tardington

You don't 'cope' with hills, you defeat them with a carelesss laugh - hence SSer's Hoy-like thighs.

Seriously though, you can cope with medium hills, but if you live somewhere hilltastic then noooooo.... The lightness of the child-simple drivetrain means you should be okay. Without proper luggage, anyway. (LiT is a pannier-wielding SS lady)

lost_in_thought

You man the frack up and deal with them!

To be honest, if you're somewhere seriously hilly then I probably wouldn't but if you're not your fitness will come on in leaps and bounds. Sure, it's harder than having gears, but if everything was easy life wouldn't be much fun, would it?

il_principe

snig wrote:

about toput my order in for a cannondale bad boy single speed but think i might be chickening out a bit,anyone regret getting a ss,how do you cope with a head wind ,hills etc my reasons for getting a ss are lightweight ,not slipping of gears,less problems,smoother ride,are these enough reasons to go SS cheers

Just one thing Snig - don't, please don't get the Cannondale! There are far better SS's to be had - On One Pompino, Surly Steamroller, Pearson Touche, Decade Convert. The bad boy looks hideously over priced and you really don't need disc brakes on an SS - overkill and they add loads of pointless weight.

I bought my SS direct from Pearson and they specced it up to my requirements, far more satisfying than buying off the peg, cheaper than the 'Dale, and Pearson will chat to you and help you select the gearing you need, the bars you want - flat, drops etc, even the saddle etc etc. Oh and it'll most likely be cheaper than the 'Dale and lighter.

Christophe3967

Il Principe wrote:

snig wrote:

about toput my order in for a cannondale bad boy single speed but think i might be chickening out a bit,anyone regret getting a ss,how do you cope with a head wind ,hills etc my reasons for getting a ss are lightweight ,not slipping of gears,less problems,smoother ride,are these enough reasons to go SS cheers

Just one thing Snig - don't, please don't get the Cannondale! There are far better SS's to be had - On One Pompino, Surly Steamroller, Pearson Touche, Decade Convert. The bad boy looks hideously over priced and you really don't need disc brakes on an SS - overkill and they add loads of pointless weight.

I bought my SS direct from Pearson and they specced it up to my requirements, far more satisfying than buying off the peg, cheaper than the 'Dale, and Pearson will chat to you and help you select the gearing you need, the bars you want - flat, drops etc, even the saddle etc etc. Oh and it'll most likely be cheaper than the 'Dale and lighter.

+1

Richmond Park is fine on a SS fwiw.

symo

Anyone seen the boardman ss? Even the Halford muck up merchants can't screw that one up.

No no

Not seen a Boardman ss but would totally recommend the Pearson Touché as a great bike. Love mine. The guys at the shop make sure you get a great ss that suits you.

singlespeedexplosif

Seriously though, you can cope with medium hills, but if you live somewhere hilltastic then noooooo.
meh. Hilly areas are where they are at their best. Love riding mine in the Peaks

il_principe

singlespeedexplosif wrote:

Seriously though, you can cope with medium hills, but if you live somewhere hilltastic then noooooo.
meh. Hilly areas are where they are at their best. Love riding mine in the Peaks

Anything is doable, just get the right gearing...

I run a 50/16 in flat London, any decent hill would kill me!

As a commuting/hack machine an SS is unparalleled.

Pic of my Pearson in my sig!

monkeysm8

+1 for the Pompino here. It's my first road bike and I jumped straight and rode it fixed and I am glad I did. I do 29miles a day on it with 48:18 ratio and it's grrrrrrrrrreat

il_principe

Some pics of alternative SS bikes compared to the FUGLY 'Dale:

Decade:



Pompino:



Poacher:



Flyer:



Touche:



BadBoy:



:shock:

No no

Nice pics. On the Decade, how do those drop out work? They look odd...

il_principe

No no wrote:

Nice pics. On the Decade, how do those drop out work? They look odd...

They're swappable, so you can run track ends or mount a derailleur:





Clever eh?

No no

Very clever - thanks.
Not so 'clean' looking though, and that's one of the great things about ss bikes I think. Less is more.

il_principe

True but it looks great in the flesh and most will be hidden by the hub anyway. I'm in the process of getting quotes for a build. Ultimatley I'd like one of these:







But I don't have a spare £1500 knocking about!

Feltup

Mmmmmm they are nice but £1500 quid! Ouch.

No no

Very beautiful. I've also seen great looking frames from Mercian and Bob Jackson.

fossyant

I live on the edge of the Peak District and run a 70" and 74" - mainly 74 for work then flip to the 70 if I head out into the big hills.

I'd go for Fixed though, single speed seems pointless.

No no

London traffic and the ability to freewheel through tight gaps along the curb keep me from going fixed. I think if my ride was less hectic I'd give it a go.

jeepie

I really like the look of the decade and some of the flasher track style bikes, but the brakes are a no no aren't they if you like using the drops? Can you get the decade or track style bikes like this puppy http://www.fatbirds.co.uk/detail.asp/sk ... 2-54-56-58 with "proper" shimano ultegra brakes on the drops.... Too scared to ask in a proper bike shop!

il_principe

Jeepie wrote:

I really like the look of the decade and some of the flasher track style bikes, but the brakes are a no no aren't they if you like using the drops? Can you get the decade or track style bikes like this puppy http://www.fatbirds.co.uk/detail.asp/sk ... 2-54-56-58 with "proper" shimano ultegra brakes on the drops.... Too scared to ask in a proper bike shop!

Look at the pic of my Pearson in my Sig. I run a SS road with drops, the Decade I'm having specced up for me will have CaneCreek levers and Veloce brakes:





Mounted to drop bars. Any LBS worth their salt will build a frame to your spec, provided the frame/forks are drilled for brakes.

Oddjob62

Jeepie wrote:

I really like the look of the decade and some of the flasher track style bikes, but the brakes are a no no aren't they if you like using the drops?

The reason is because those kind of brakes can be easily removed (brakes are not allowed on the track)

Obviously if you aren't going on the track you can put on what you want.

jeepie

Obviously if you aren't going on the track you can put on what you want.

Ah ha - cheers jash and oddjob. Actually it wasn't obvious that you could put on what you wanted, but if it is easy then that's great! SS for next summer definitely - topping up the cycling pot weekly.

Cheers

J

snig

is the bad boy such a bad choice as I was likeing it up to now! is it just the price that makes it a bad choice as £700 seems about what the others are going for? anyone fancy giving me a run down on why its not a good buy as it seemed to have all the things I was looking for.

il_principe

snig wrote:

is the bad boy such a bad choice as I was likeing it up to now! is it just the price that makes it a bad choice as £700 seems about what the others are going for? anyone fancy giving me a run down on why its not a good buy as it seemed to have all the things I was looking for.

There's nothing wrong with it per se, but it is massively overpriced, underspecced and heavy for what it is. Disc brakes are pointless weight as well, and what's the point of the monofork?

If you like it then go for it, but I'd suggest at least looking at some other options as well, you might save some money - and IMHO get something that looks a little better. Much more fun to get your own specced up as well.

edhornby

ooh that columbus tubed cinelli is nice... mmm... Principe, have a look on the on-one site for the guerciotti frames they got a load of, they may have a few slot dropout ones left, v classy

oops sorry back on topic...

yeah the badboy, I think that the weight of it would be a neg point for me, one of the bonuses for a singlespeed is that they are light and this offsets the lack of gears

snig

on the bad boy site it says they will not print the weight of their bikes because others dont play fair with their wieghts but it now looks like that is rubbish and the real reason is it's heavy!!! I sort of see now that it is alot of money for vey little bike when you think that I got my GT 1.0 for less than £600 and that came with gears and forks! was just reading up on them brakes and they get mixed reviews,as said a good set of v brakes would have been better,that pearson looks good but I was hoping for dare I say it something a bit less racer looking.

biondino

Why as a matter of interest? Just doesn't suit your aesthetic? Or you don't want to look like a roadie poseur For what it's worth nice looking town/hybrid/mountain bikes *seem* to be the main targets for thieves rather than racers.

il_principe

snig wrote:

on the bad boy site it says they will not print the weight of their bikes because others dont play fair with their wieghts but it now looks like that is rubbish and the real reason is it's heavy!!! I sort of see now that it is alot of money for vey little bike when you think that I got my GT 1.0 for less than £600 and that came with gears and forks! was just reading up on them brakes and they get mixed reviews,as said a good set of v brakes would have been better,that pearson looks good but I was hoping for dare I say it something a bit less racer looking.

Well the beauty of buying from Pearson (or indeed any decent shop) is that they will spec the bike for you, so if you want the Pearson with flatbars and wider tires, they'll do it.

As I understand it the Badboy weighs in at around 9kg. That's a lot for a SS bike and more than both my geared roadies weigh.

Oddjob62

Just noticed with the badboy... why would you want a one sided fork? Guess it brings the weight down to very heavy instead of unbelievably heavy.

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Another vote for the Pearson here!

I ride mine in hilly old Bristol and still wouldn't go back to gears on my commute for any money. Your ride just... flows differently when you only have one gear to worry about. It also makes you fit: I have dropped a stone since going SS. You pace yourself differently for the hills somehow and (I find) tend to get up them quicker.

The only vaguely frustrating thing is the downhills where you can spin out. This is the main reason I read freewheel rather than fixed; it's no fun spinning away like a hampster on a 20% descent at 0730 on a rainy Monday morning!

One word of (kind of) warning: Speccing up is good, but the cost can mount. With all the various bits and pieces I specced (tyres, wheels, seatpost, brakes, chain, mudguards) or have subsequently upgraded (freewheel, chainset) on mine it's probably come in at around the £1k mark which is a bit of a jump from £600.