Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - singlespeed?

why do people run SS's?
which rings/cogs?
what other parts needed?
any advantages/disadvantages?
what style of riding?

Fun!
Strenght. What better way to build up strength then only having one gear.
Retro.
Because they want to do something with that old bike you can't really find parts for and can't be bothered fixing up, so turn it into a single speed (I have an old mtb I will be doing that to)
Cause they want to!...

people suggest a 2:1 cog ratio... does that sound about right?

i am turning my 4130 frame into singlespeed, although the geometry of my frame is more XC than freeride.

Perfect for off-roading in Flatland, esp in muddy terrain.
Where I cone from the clay mud can add a couple of pounds to a bike, so ultra-light stuff is a waste of money. There are no real hills, so lots of gears ore unneccessary.
Other mud-modification include
fully sheathed brake cables
disk brakes
deeper section rims
ridgid forks (Pace carbon??) cause mud is soft.

Did anybody say fun and low maintenance??? ;)

Well then... fun and low maintenance!

..proud papa of an '89 stumpjumper ss

i got my bianchi c.u.s.s. to improve my trail riding. with only one gear you really focus on riding, picking lines, watching trail ahead. you have to use your momentum to make it up hills. it's a blast.

what kind of setups do you guys run? i mean by the rear derailleur/dropout? should there be something there? like a singleator or what other setups have you guys rigged up?

turns out i am not going to get a singlelator or any other device... but the rear cog and the chain ring up front arent matched. is there some way to shift the rear cog outwards a little bit so that it matches the crank? oh yeah and the cog is from a 7speed body(probably before the era of cassettes, so i don't know what to call it).

Have you tried using spacers?

i don't know what spacers are... i guess my question is whether or not i can take apart the cog body and move the cog outward, right now it's as it it's a cassette but it has only one cog on it. dont know if i can take out the spaces individually or not. might bring it to the lbs but that defeats the purpose of rigging up a singlespeed, doesnt it:(

wat would be involved to make my current road bike with 6 speed cassette in the rear a single speed. I would need horizontal drops wouldnt I?

ideally, yes. But you can just use a chain tensioner as discussed. Buy spacers to position the single cog on your freewheel, remove your rear derailleur, and you're in business :)

My roomate rides a single speed redline for fun (he named it Blake). He's just starting to learn trials, so he wanted a bike that was cheap, indestructible, and light. Plus, eliminating the derailers gives you wicked acceleration. It's fun to launch it at red lights just to have the thrill of out accellerating a car to 15.

my singlespeed project should be good to go this weekend. it was a headache but also good learning experiences building it up. 36/18 ratio, no tensioner/derailleur because the frame has horizontal drops. its basically rigged using old school xt arms and first gen xtr cassette with only one cog. then i just lined it up as straight as i could. the only thing it needs now is a pedal on the right(cant remove from old crank arm, try tomorrow) and also a new stem. right now the stem is not allowing me to lean forward as much as i'd like to:mad: . probably get a threadless converter then slap on a new stem. cant wait to ride it!

I turned an old trek 7000 into my first ss a few days ago. All I did was get some spacers and a six speed cassette, (this type screws together, so it easily comes apart). Use the spacers to align the rear cog and front chainring. If you dont have horizontal dropouts, either buy a tensioner, or use an old derailleur, just set the high limit screw on the derailleur so it is aligned with the sprocket. It works great, havent had it derail my chain yet. The extra gears from the six speed cassette can be used to re gear the bike for changing conditions, as it only takes about five minutes to change.

Oh yeah, they are fun! every one should try one!:beer:

If you want to try single speeding a MTN bike, particularly one with vertical dropouts, find a gear that works for everything and don't leave it. Once you know this is the one and are commited, use the range set screws to fix your front and rear derailleurs in place. Then go ahead and remove cables, shifters, housing, etc. You can leave the front derailleur on as an anti-jump device and you have just turned your rear derailleur into a singleator. Anything else you do from now on is for weight savings or aesthetics. GO HAVE FUN.

SS mountain bikes are great for the east coast where the the terrain is much more rugged than out west (think on this one...) and there is rarely a place flat and smooth enough to use the big rings. You are so often using an easy gear to climb out of holes that you might as well skip the other gears.

Ask Eric Roman of Mount Nittany Bicycles in State College PA. Also check his blog.

one word of warning... im my experience ramped cogs out back are not to be trusted!

the chain will derail on you when you least want it too!

buy one of these! save you knees from slamming the bars when you pop out of gear on a steep climb.

http://www.alansbmx.com/images/shimano_cog.jpg

and unlike what it says on the package, it will work on any shimano type hub.

oh, one more thing... the most singlspeed mtb advice i have found on the internet is over here:
http://forums.mtbr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=46

not that these guys here aren't lovely, just most of them ride fixed gear bikes on the mean streets.

I built this over the winter:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/548267469/2244947620068014369ZmdEeX

It's the first ss I've built. The cog is a Surly and the ring is an old XT with no ramps or pins. I found the magic gear, so no chain tensioner. I can even use a qr rear hub because all it does is keep the wheel from falling out.

It's all I ride any more. My geared bikes are just gathering dust.