Cyclocross - stem shifter. no I'm serious.

question is, is that crazy?

I have two old shimano groupsets -- "Z" something or other -- thought I'd maybe rock a stem shifter rather than shelling out for a bar end shifter.

I mean, why not? I'll basically have a 6 speed rear and be throwing it back and forth between hi and lo and wherever.

Race day is 1 month away, and I'm picking up a bunch of parts that came in at the shop tomorrow, but I'm still not set on whether I'm going to just say screw it and go single speed.

i vote downtube. ride it like a single speed and use the shifter as a bailout.

The stem-mounted shifters that I've seen can end up pointing in dangerous directions that could cause significant pain when crashing and landing with tender parts of your body on the shift levers. Ouch.

word. DT as bailout makes sense.

I was on the fence, though, and I wound up making the call on going SS. I just came home with some 27" CR18 / Formula sealed bearing Flip Flop Rims.

Now I just need a freewheel, and to try and turn one of the old doubles in the parts bin into a single and I'm good to go SS.

I might throw a BMX freewheel on, since I have a few dumpster dive BMX bikes around.

Or get this.

http://kellybike.com/images/kelly_takeoff_photo.jpg

+ Single speed !, when you bog down, on an uphill slope, shoulder the bike and run.

If you had gotten 700c CR 18's the tire selection is better.

right, but I don't trust cantis to work with a 700c conversion. And for SS, tire selection must also not matter quite as much since there's more running in the hard bits.

Problem is, I am definitely a better rider than a runner.....!