Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - First ride. Woohoo :)

Oh my poor knees. Just rode 7 miles out-and-back for a paper on my new Fort fixie/SS, and my knees are killing me. I decided I'd ride the freewheel, so I had a chance to get used to the bike before having to get used to fixed (man that thing has quick steering). I really need to get in shape. And does anyone else find it really hard to keep a consistent speed on SS, or is it just me? But I do like my bullhorns though, it's so much easier to pedal with them than on the hoods of my drops.

I can't understand why my knees are hurting so much; they don't like my road bike much, but they hate this thing :( I have the same pedals, set to the same tension, using the same shoes and cleats. The seat might be a little lower, I'll check tonight, but the only thing I can think of is that the cranks are a bit shorter (165 instead of 172.5).

And the worst bit is, I split the crotch on my shorts when I got on outside my house. Every time I got back on it ripped a bit more, now I have a 3 inch hole right... there :eek: Hooray for linings though.

I just had my first few rides on my SS. You will get used to keeping a constant speed. Its really simple, much like holding a steady speed on the freeway in your car, just a matter of doing just enough pedaling to keep you moving. It really takes some getting used to. Im running MTB components on a road bike, so my cruising speeds are low, but the thing takes off like a dragster, and climbs really well.

If you're running shorter cranks you'll need to raise your seat up compared to your other bike. If your knees are bugging you, you might want to consider a lower ratio. It might help to play around with your position on the bike too. Is it both knees or just one? Bearing in mind that they don't like your road bike, it might mean that your road bike isnt' fitted so well to you either.

I would have thought it was easier to keep a constant speed on a SS, seems it is on a fix.

Both knees. I'll try raising the saddle a bit. I know my road bike is too big, that's probably not helping. But I seem to have a lot of knee trouble in my family, maybe I'm just prone :(

And the worst bit is, I split the crotch on my shorts when I got on outside my house. Every time I got back on it ripped a bit more, now I have a 3 inch hole right... there :eek: Hooray for linings though.
please tel me that the lining isn't vaguely flesh coloured?

fssb
sparky

Sorry, it's black and white. Gotta get Mother to stitch that up for me :)

How much float do you have on your pedals? I run my clipless pedals at the lowest tension it will go. Even then if my cleat isn't angled just right, my knee will hurt on longish rides.

Jonny -

The speedplays took care of my knee problems.