chargerfan

Hi
Brand new, and looking to buy my first road bike, which I'm going to make a SingleSpeed. Found a New Singlecross locally for under $600, and was thinking of jumping on it.

My needs will be urban trail riding, with occational road rides of up to 30-40 miles. If I change the tires to a less studded, smoother road tire, would you have any issues recommending this bike?


I'm also considering GF Triton, Langster (SF or LA), Masi Speciale, Trek District)


Figured I'd post here since the Singlecross is a CC bike. Please move if I'm wrong.

Thanks.

chrism32205

If your looking to do longer distances (you say 30-40 miles) I would look at something with gears. I have a tricross s-works I use on the road with road tires, and it has been great. The cyclocross bikes are great because they allow you to run different size tires, where the other bikes you mentioned do not have the clearence for larger tires.

For a first road bike purchase, I'd suggest going to your local bike shop to look around at what they have to offer, and they can make sure you get the bike that suits your needs and they can fit you to the bike.

If you know your size and your comfortable with ebay, then that is a good option too.

chargerfan

Thanks for the info. I just bought a Kona Paddy Wagon. Fit me great, and I think it will fit my needs. Oh, well, off to the Singlespeed forum. Ha.

Chris_W

Singlespeeds are good for track cycling and winter commuting, but are pretty rubbish in most other situations. If you're just going for a SS to be cool, then you need to reconsider your priorities.

robertv

Really, it's only good for winter or looking cool? I guess no one races cyclo on singlespeeds, ever.
I ride a geared crosscheck but my ability to maintain speed and cover large distances isn't really much better than it was when I rode a steamroller. I like the gears, but I also really miss riding singlespeed and fixed. I really don't think your comment was particularly helpful, in fact considering he just said he got a singlespeed you're kinda like that kid after Christmas who lets everyone know that their presents aren't good, are knockoffs, or etc... Theres nothing wrong with singlespeeds.
keep it classy man.

Captain Jake

I'm going to agree with the response on singlespeeds. They aren't the fastest bikes around, but they can really take a beating. If all of your distances are relatively short you generally don't spend much time changing gears. Shifters and derailleurs quite add a bunch of weight and hurt the reliability if you expect to use the bike mostly fort short rides and utility purposes.

Saddle Up

I'm just heading out the door to do a 60km ride on my fixed gear bike, I did a 2 day 220km charity ride on the same bike. I suppose I need to buy a new bike now because I'm a 51 year old guy and could not be any more uncool, winter is over and I bought a different bike to use at the track. I've had this bike for two years, I didn't know I was doing it all wrong.

Saddle Up

Troll. I should not have even responded.

knobster

This is a newbie statement and I know you aren't a newbie. On BF, of course you're doing it wrong! That is if you are doing it differently that anyone else.

That is one nice bike. I wish I had a frame like that to try single/fixed.

M_S

Yeah, I road 35 miles on my fixie yesterday. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to.