Single Speed Commuting

canoas

I been commuting on a Ridley carbon Cross bike for 6 years, about a 15 mile journey each way everyday. I cannot remember when I last used public transport to my office. I find my cross bike very useful for potholes (sturdy), high clearance for mud, rain etc, riding on pave even in rain i.e - jumping up on the Embankment cycle/walking path whilst the London traffic behaves the way it does. The tyres I use Vittoria touring 28 didn't get a puncture all winter through London, though I remove splints every weekend, the tyre kevlar belt is so thick it would take a serious sharp object to puncture these tyres make you work harder.

Problems with Cross bike - moved from yolk brakes to cantilever a pain and even with TPR not that great, need adjusting all the time. Moved to a compact 50/34 from cross standard with a 11-25, sick and tired of cleaning the drive chain, rather do this with my race bike!

My plan - to buy a single speed. Less maintenance #1, produce a more efficient pedal stroke #2, needs to be a carbon if possible#3, thinking of a 48x18.

Any bike anyone would suggest, I go reasonably hard when I can, my commute when I can is like a training session. I checked out Condors and Cinelli but they are all Alu any carbon I prefer or alu/steel with carbon fork. Any commuters switched to SS and happy?

arthur_scrimshaw

I converted my daughters Allez to SS, she's a good rider but mechanically hard on components and I got tired of maintaining the bike. I bought a 48t Stronglight chainring from Spa, a tensioner, single speed chain and a cassette conversion kit from Planet X for a cheap solution as I wasn't sure how she would take to it. Removed all the gear cables, FD & RD and the inner chainring. She really likes it and it's nearly zero maintenance. She's running a 48/16, she likes pushing big gears and it's pretty flat on her commute.

cookeeemonster

Ask this in commuting chat forum - a fair few on there have done this, all seem happy

canoas

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

I converted my daughters Allez to SS, she's a good rider but mechanically hard on components and I got tired of maintaining the bike. I bought a 48t Stronglight chainring from Spa, a tensioner, single speed chain and a cassette conversion kit from Planet X for a cheap solution as I wasn't sure how she would take to it. Removed all the gear cables, FD & RD and the inner chainring. She really likes it and it's nearly zero maintenance. She's running a 48/16, she likes pushing big gears and it's pretty flat on her commute.

She really likes it and it's nearly zero maintenance

canoas

CookeeeMonster wrote:

Ask this in commuting chat forum - a fair few on there have done this, all seem happy

yes should've thought about that forum, will do

arthur_scrimshaw

canoas wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

I converted my daughters Allez to SS, she's a good rider but mechanically hard on components and I got tired of maintaining the bike. I bought a 48t Stronglight chainring from Spa, a tensioner, single speed chain and a cassette conversion kit from Planet X for a cheap solution as I wasn't sure how she would take to it. Removed all the gear cables, FD & RD and the inner chainring. She really likes it and it's nearly zero maintenance. She's running a 48/16, she likes pushing big gears and it's pretty flat on her commute.

She really likes it and it's nearly zero maintenance

It wasn't so much the maintenance aspect, I quite like working on bikes. What I hated was the amount of time I had to spend cleaning it before I bring myself to work on it!

canoas

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

canoas wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

I converted my daughters Allez to SS, she's a good rider but mechanically hard on components and I got tired of maintaining the bike. I bought a 48t Stronglight chainring from Spa, a tensioner, single speed chain and a cassette conversion kit from Planet X for a cheap solution as I wasn't sure how she would take to it. Removed all the gear cables, FD & RD and the inner chainring. She really likes it and it's nearly zero maintenance. She's running a 48/16, she likes pushing big gears and it's pretty flat on her commute.

She really likes it and it's nearly zero maintenance

It wasn't so much the maintenance aspect, I quite like working on bikes. What I hated was the amount of time I had to spend cleaning it before I bring myself to work on it!

Yeah same, cleaning currently is a nightmare, one of the main reasons I want to change even with summer approaching

pastryboy

There is a big thread in the commuting chat forum about fixed/single speed.

I did ride single speed for a while for commuting but, having tried out fixed, would never go back to single speed.

48/18 is a bit spinny if you're even reasonably strong. I find 48/16 good for my flat route in London. Not sure about there being many carbon options other than track bikes which won't be ideal for commuting and probably won't accommodate a rear break if you wanted to run single speed.