Single Speed

jpower

Probably such an over-asked question, but I was in bike shop yesterday and say the Quella single speed bike, damn they looked good and pretty cheap too, I thought anyway.

Living in a hilly'ish region (Chiterns), would this be a bad choice as a winter bike?

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Depends what your cycling legs are used to.

I found it ok cycling back home from work on my Tricross Singlecross, the final ~1 mile is ~7% gradient, but the bike itself was only ~500g heavier than my F5C and the singlespeed's gearing was the default (44x17T?).

w00dster

I love my single speed, am a fairly strong cyclist, but my single speed will never be my main bike. For training purposes its fantastic.
I don't think I would enjoy the single speed on really hilly rides during the winter. I generally ride about 50 miles with an average of 2400ft of strava climbing, my climbs aren't that steep so single speed is fine. Anything more than that I think I may lose the enjoyment.

iPete

Depends entirely on the hills, I ride fixed but its nearly all flat and when I do venture out, it isn't really more taxing than Box Hill which you can smash up with a big(ish) gear.

Do consider a bike that'll take guards if the aim is winter abuse.

andyoh

I recently bought a custom build Pearson Once More Unto The Breach single speed but use a freewheel rather than fixed as I can't get on with fixed. I live on the Essex/Herts borders, so relatively flat, and I can get up the hills in my area, there are a couple of 12 and 15 degree hills which are testing but it's out of the saddle and push like hell. My gearing is 48x17 and that's fine for me. I must admit I tend to ride the single speed more for shorter rides (35-40 miles) and use the geared bikes for the club runs (60-75 miles depending on where we're going on a sunday morning).

Also what iPete said, do think of a bike that takes guards if you aim to use it in winter. My Pearson takes proper guards and I take them off for the summer and back on again for the winter.

jpower

So over the winter I ride alot less, just enough to keep the legs rolling, so drop to once a week around 30-40k and strava claims about 1300-1800m elevation, there are some steep bits but quite short.

It def would not be my main bike, and I would most likely use it in summer too, just for a change up.

I've only ever bothered with a rear detachable guard which normally fits onto any bike.

I'm thinking if one came up cheap second hand maybe its a consideration.

This was just a thought to be honest, I'm sure my wife will kill me with the every growing bike collection in the family.

cougie

For the price of it you could probably get a cheap geared bike. And then dont change gears.

If you want a single gear -then go fixed wheel. Much better to climb with.

jpower

I'll be honest if there were gears I would use them :-)

47p2

Plenty Cat 3 and 4 hills around here and it doesn't stop me using my S/S in the winter. MTFU and go for it

jpower

my elevation def doesn't look like that :-)