Any rigid riders here?

monkeypants

Due to various reasons, including obsessive drivetrain cleaning, I'm having crazy ideas about getting a rigid singlespeed as my bike for the next year or so.

I ride mostly trail centres in the North West, with a few trips to Wales/Scotland throughout the year and maybe even the odd 'off piste' ride on occasion.

I'd like to know if anyone here rides a similar bike and can comment on its ability to handle such trails. I know it will be much slower and it'll mean I have to put in a lot more effort, but hopefully it'll increase my skill and fitness and mean I spend less time scrubbing dirt from my cassette in future until I get over my afflictions.

So, any other crazies out there?

Oxygen Thief

You can use the time saved in getting around in a much quicker time, or around at all maybe to clean your cassette.

peter413

Or buy a really cheap cassette and then you won't care and run a dry lube like squirt.

Haven't cleaned my cassette, chain or rings in ages and they still shift as crisp as the day they were new

.blitz

The singlespeed has its advantages in deep mud - you will get at least 200m further along the trail before the rear triangle clogs up and you have to find a twig to clear it all out. Of course you won't be able to get started again because the single gear you have is much too hard and you either spin out or your legs can't turn it. By this time the person on a similarly clogged geared bike will be walking up the hill alongside you.

clanton

I have a rigid single speed bike but this is purely for the stuff in my local woods in Surrey - lots of mud especially in winter means it makes sense locally. For trail centres I have my 27 speed, Fox-forked bike!

I have a mate who rode a ti rigid singlespeed with cyclocross tyres EVERYWHERE. He beat me down the final descent of the climach-x trail when I was on a borrowed Orange 5 (and I'm not THAT slow!) so it can certainly be done if you have the skills and the balls.

monkeypants

You guys are focussing too much on the lack of gears! I'm more concerned about the lack of suspension at the moment. I'm not worried about being shaken around, more that the bike will complain and break before I learn how to absorb all the bumps myself.

Kiblams

Not SS (too fat) but I ride rigid (see sig for pictures)

As long as you have the body language, you will find that you're not that much slower than the people you ride with. though riding with a rigid front end will mean you tire out alot quicker than those around you from a mixture of bumps and moving around over the bike.

cee

a mate of mine occasionally single speeds his chameleon, although not a rigind fork.

I reckon it makes climbing faster, as you either have to maintain speed, or you are walking. He got better at maintaining his speed, so when we were downshifting...he was still flying..

He has cleaned the red route at glentress...yes..all of the climb..singlesped.

so it CAN be done. go for it.

nickfrog

Couple of guys I ride with have rigid and / or SS and they are as quick downhill than most skilled riders on the South Downs. They destroy pretty much anything uphill, even light HTs. It is depressing when you're spinning the granny and they zoom past you out of the saddle.

On the very technical bits they run down and carry their bikes which is MUCH QUICKER than the way loads of people ride their bike down, and that includes FS. Again, very depressing.

roger_merriman

i spent years on rigid MTB's though geared. you'll learn to chose your line. and ride light.

the single speed could be fun, but to be honest unless it's flat could be a struggle.

for non clogging in thick mud, your weapon of choice is a full on mud tire, which will not clog.

robertpb

Spent 24 years riding rigids, only stopped 2 years ago for the sake of my knees.

Every time I go in the shed where my two rigids live they keep whispering "go on dare you, get on and go for a ride".

It's also nice not having your eyesight scrambled on fast vibrating downhills.

Raymondavalon

Got a rigid MTB commuter, it's a Diamondback MT40 with eXotic carbon rigid forks.
I really do rate it, I'd love to try it out at Cannock one fine day, but for road/pavement/cycleway commuting it's awesome

Anonymous

nickfrog wrote:

On the very technical bits they run down and carry their bikes which is MUCH QUICKER than the way loads of people ride their bike down, and that includes FS. Again, very depressing.

That's just not mountain biking though is it? Where's the bloody fun in that?

If you're fit enough to be able to get up really steep hills ona singlespeed, then it stands to reason that with a real bike, you'd be faster still.

Red Route

I went round Follow the Dog & bits of The Monkey Trail at Cannock twice in a day recently on my dearly departed Carrera Subway 2, with MTB Tyres, if that helps?

Kiblams

Just for point of reference, I have hammered down the chainslapper (RIP) on FtD with very little use of breaks on my rigid bike and have done Llandegla without any trouble.

I am confident that Glentress red and Innerleithen could also be done without trouble too, but I had the Tora's on when we went last year.

Worth pointing out that I do ride with chunky 2.4/2.5 tyres on the front.

Thread8

I ride a rigid singlespeed for my commute, although I have to confess its a BMX :oops:

Anonymous

Kiblams wrote:

Just for point of reference, I have hammered down the chainslapper (RIP) on FtD with very little use of breaks on my rigid bike and have done Llandegla without any trouble.

I am confident that Glentress red and Innerleithen could also be done without trouble too, but I had the Tora's on when we went last year.

Worth pointing out that I do ride with chunky 2.4/2.5 tyres on the front.

When I first read that, I thought you meant without brakes! :shock:

Llandegla is fun to do as fast as possible but trying to not touch your brakes at all.

tptvmbircn

I ride a full rigid (geared) Salsa Ala Carte, how much fun?

monkeypants

stealthelite1986 wrote:

how much fun?

You tell me, that's why I started this thread

Splottboy

Are we talking "Viagra" here?

Oh, rigid as in forks!

Yep, been using a Norco Big Foot with a steel Kona fork for over 9 months.
I'm amazed at what it can get up/down, with a bit of skill - I learnt on a rigid, racing the Essex, Kent, Suffolk races and loads of the Schmoos S.Wales series, 80/90's.

Great tyres such as Spec 2.0 Fast Tracks and a Thudbuster have helped too.

Mrs been using it lately to take her Fitness Ladies group out riding locally.

jairaj

My 2nd bike is a rigid, I use it for commuting and riding the single track in the local woods. The terrain is not too technical and I seem to manage fine, I really enjoy the extra effort you have to put in, such as choosing your lines, riding smooth. It works really well as a training aid too.

As much I love it round the local stuff I'm not sure id like to use it for much more technical stuff or on rocky ground where it could get uncomfortable but each to their own.

CycloRos

I use my rigid/SS/29er mainly for commuting and local trail duties but I have ridden it on more demanding terrain such as Sherwood and Dartmoor.

It's a totally different riding experience to my other rig, and I do genuinely enjoy it! It is true, you do tire quicker for obvious reasons but its great at sharpening up your trails skills.

diddyfunk

Hi Guys

I have been riding a rigid on my local trails for about 3 months now and love it but when im going down decents over roots or stones my feet shoot up off the pedals.

Apart from the obvious "try SPD's", would a wider tyre up front at a lower PSI do the trick?

I currently run a Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1 at about 40 PSI up front and weigh 10.5 Stone.

Many Thanks

bike-a-swan

try spds....

To be a little more helpful, you could probably get away running the fire softer- I find that up front it tends to be soft enough that it starts to fold before pinch flats become a problem (I'm 12st), although with a rigid fork I imagine it'd take a bit more punishment.

pypdjl

Suspension is for the weak, just do it!

Northwind

Kiblams wrote:

I am confident that Glentress red and Innerleithen could also be done without trouble too, but I had the Tora's on when we went last year.

Glentress red and almost all of the black would be no bother. It'd be hard work on the braking bumps and the lumpier surfaces on the black in places but that's about it. Innerleithen, well, depends on the lines you choose and the forks you have, I wouldn't do the big drops on mine. Then I'm a big coward.

I don't have a rigid bike, I just have a spare set of forks for a proper bike, since you can swap over in about 10 minutes and get a totally different riding experience. It's got them on just now, I love the way it makes old trails new again, on the local XC stuff it's just like turning up the difficulty level, which is handy. I wouldn't have one as my only bike though, and I won't be taking it to fort william Though, it'd be good on the world cup XC route I reckon.

People take suspension for granted, it's really cool taking some time off and losing the familiarity for a bit, then finding again what it feels like after. Also I reckon it teaches some good tricks, on rough stuff you really need to watch your weight on a rigid.

But singlespeed? **** that.

Rindle

I rode most of the trails centres in wales on a rigid bike. I really enjoyed it. I just took a second to plan my decents and then got on with it.

Like most things though there are rigid forks and rigid forks. I imagine the goods ones are fairly well designed to hve some shock absorbing properties.