SINGLESPEED Machines

AORboyo

Howdy!!!

Fancy trying my hands of commuting to my daily workplace on a Singlespeed, normally ride my Giant CRS 1.0 on this jaunt in winter & bad weather, just fancy a change........what would folk recommend???

All comments / advice greatly appreciated.

supersonic

Depends on your budget! What can you spend? Also is it a road singlespeed with dropbars you are after?

AORboyo

I would spend say upto a £1000 give or take, make NO odds regarding drop / straight bars.....See what folk recommend & take it from there, only really gonna use it for work commuting.

Big_Paul

I built my own, got a Evil Resident frame from Wiggle, the rest came from ebay and a mixture of new parts and stuff I had lying about. It's great fun and I have the satisfaction of thinking "I made that"

ror3h

I just picked up a Genesis Flyer a couple of weeks ago for my slightly hilly commute. So far it's been as fast, if not faster (mainly on the short uphills as you have to get out of the saddle early and power up them) then my old commuting bike (Spesh Tricross), and it's nice not having to think about changing gears. Bike was £500 and while not the lightest, it absorbs bumps nicely and handles really well. The saddle has to go though IMO but that's a personal thing.
I got mine for £500 as it was last years model, so a bit of a bargain, but it's still a great bike for the RRP. Highly recommended!

Koncordski

ror3h wrote:

I just picked up a Genesis Flyer a couple of weeks ago for my slightly hilly commute. So far it's been as fast, if not faster (mainly on the short uphills as you have to get out of the saddle early and power up them) then my old commuting bike (Spesh Tricross), and it's nice not having to think about changing gears. Bike was £500 and while not the lightest, it absorbs bumps nicely and handles really well. The saddle has to go though IMO but that's a personal thing.
I got mine for £500 as it was last years model, so a bit of a bargain, but it's still a great bike for the RRP. Highly recommended!

+1

dustinseymourhoffman

Hi,

I currently cycle to work on a specialized langster 2011. I got mine for 350 reduced from 500 and honestly its fantastic! Its really light and perfect for a fairly short commute and city riding. On my way home from work its up hill most of the way and it isnt too bad at all. The only time i wish i had gears is when you are going up hill and its windy... thats pretty grim! I recently did a 40 mile trip on it and it was great except for a massive climb where i had to get off and push :oops:

mountaincookie

I built a ss from an old dawes frame (reynolds 501), I reckon the satisfaction of building your own is unrivalled - that is, if you like building bike ( i love it).

I'm running a 70" gear, which basically means it's a slightly bigger gear than what stock SS come with. It's great for my 3 mile commute. I have used it for some ''long commutes'' as well, where we averaged 20mph - managed, but tough work keeping up with geared bikes.

Good points for SS: Beautiful simplicity, theres a real elegance about one gear. Low maintenance. Lighter weight. Cool 8) Builds strengh - a ss really makes you work hard from stop to go, and I've noticed a sizable difference in strengh
Bad points - takes a bit of grunt to get going so when you tired or bad day or windy... :x Hills? I don't bother, for me I want speed on the flat so (for me) my gear is too big for any proper hills

passout

If you want a single speed MTB for commuting then I think the Vitus Vee from Cahin Reaction Cycles is best and well below budget. If you want more of a road bike the CRC were also selling dicounted Kona Band Wagons a while back. The Genesis looks good too. You might want to consider if you want a bike with mudguard mounts or not.

clarkey cat

if you've got £1000 a spend take a look at the Condor Tempo.

extravagent, but nice.

Mark Alexander

mountaincookie wrote:

I built a ss from an old dawes frame (reynolds 501), I reckon the satisfaction of building your own is unrivalled - that is, if you like building bike ( i love it).

I'm running a 70" gear, which basically means it's a slightly bigger gear than what stock SS come with. It's great for my 3 mile commute. I have used it for some ''long commutes'' as well, where we averaged 20mph - managed, but tough work keeping up with geared bikes.

Good points for SS: Beautiful simplicity, theres a real elegance about one gear. Low maintenance. Lighter weight. Cool 8) Builds strengh - a ss really makes you work hard from stop to go, and I've noticed a sizable difference in strengh
Bad points - takes a bit of grunt to get going so when you tired or bad day or windy... :x Hills? I don't bother, for me I want speed on the flat so (for me) my gear is too big for any proper hills

20mph on a 70"? you must be spinning like a nutter. I find a 70" 48x18 a right pain, too small, but I managed to keep the Tri bloke on tri bars behind me today. Haven't been beaten yet. I have a vote for a Pompino (On One). I think I'll need a 17 on the back.

mountaincookie

Mark Alexander wrote:

20mph on a 70"? you must be spinning like a nutter.

Yup, tbh on the fast (23-26 mph) sections I don't mind, I'm not spinning out, however any hill or acceleration from nil is tough

fossyant

SS is useless. Go FIXED !