kenseth03

I read something online from Sheldon Brown about some people are starting to use singlespeeds for touring. I was just wandering if anyone here rides a singlespeed for touring and what do you think of it. I may use my singlespeed for some short touring. I live in a area where there are alot of fairly flat roads so the lack of gears may not be such a problem.

cyccommute 

Are you planning to only touring around home? Or Holland? The rest of the world is far from flat. I'm a strong rider but I'm also smart about it. The gears on a bike are to help you get you, your bike and your gear to the top of that surprise hill. Yes, you can walk but are you prepared to walk for miles? If so, why not just hike? Trust me, you can end up climbing hills, even where you least expect them, for more miles then you think. Eastern Washington is flat...sorta...but it has hills that even kicked my mountain trained butt!

Single speeds are a fad and rather limited. There's nothing wrong with them (I wouldn't use one) but you'll find that you'll find their limits pretty quickly. In the long run, a multigeared bike will be more useful and if you want a single speed...don't change gears

nun

I credit card tour on my Quickbeam, works out very nicely for trips around the flatter parts of New England.
Here is an inspiring blog for you to read

https://pompinos.blogspot.com/

NoReg

My parents toured on single speeds and 3 speeds. It may be an "extreme" fad based on the direct drive track bike, but it was once what cycling was all about (and I am not going back).

Good reading includes the online available book by Thomas Stevens on cycling around the world on a penny farthing.

also this: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?...er&context=all

Sigurdd50

I've read jounals by two fellows who FG'ed cross the states
I tip my hat to them.

I considered doing single speed commuting -- mostly over rail-to-bike path trails in town... I don't think I could do with out the gear changes even on that level.

Rogerinchrist

For journals go to crazyguyonabike.com & search "single speed", you'll get plenty of reading.

Chris L

A friend of mine rode a 900km tour from the Gold Coast to Sydney on a singlespeed. It can be done, but it wouldn't be my vehicle of choice. As others have pointed out, you're really limiting yourself to relatively flat areas unless you're prepared to do a lot of walking.

Rogerinchrist

There is this site too, just click the photos to turn pages.........

https://www.jamesmulry.com/cc04/

Machka 

Rowan used a fixed gear (fixed gear, not single speed) on our tour of Europe. He seemed to like it, and it seemed to function just fine. Most of our tour was relatively flat, but we also encountered some hills along the way.

Most Randonneurs I know own a fixed gear. I've got one although I haven't tried it yet.

BTW - I was the one complaining about knee problems ... his knees held up just fine!

tuz

I've done it, although its not ideal as you might guess. I was overgeared for the rolling hills (nothing crazy, but my knees hurt a bit at the end of the day) and fine on the flats, with 25-30 pounds of stuff.

So perhaps a flip-flop wheel (55" for rolling hills and 63" for the flats, say, and forget about 8% inclines) is better, but then you might have well have a derailleur

So for short/light touring on relatively flat terrain, go for it it's fun Especially if it's your only bike.

sykerocker 

Wouldn't consider the idea. My singlespeed/fixie is something I put in the back of my pickup truck and drive over to Ashland to go play in town and on US bicycle route 1. It usually comes out late Sunday morning after I've done 30/40 miles on a REAL bike, over the hills I've got around my house - starting with "the driveway from hell", a very steep climb to get back home at the end of the ride.

Muttsta

I think I would be forced to kill myself by cycling headfirst off a cliff if I toured with a single speed
Unless the terrain you plan on cycling is deadly flat, I'd avoid it
I could barely make it up some of those 15% hills on my cyclocross bike, yet alone a singlespeed!

cyccommute 

There's nothing wrong with fixies nor single speeds. People may even like touring on them but I think most people would find their limits pretty quickly.

I have a fixie in my garage. I've ridden it. I find nothing magical about it. Around here they really appeal to the hip 20 something crowd. They just aren't for me.

I do find the fascination with single speeds and fixies rather interesting however. Geared bikes were looked down upon in the early years of the Tour de France...until a pudgy old touring cyclist place very highly in the final standing riding a multigeared bike. The next year everybody was riding multigeared bikes. (According to an article in Adventure Cycle magazine in June...I think)

Bekologist

single speed/ fixed gear bikes and touring? THAT'S HILARIOUS! I wish you the best....really.

I think the obsession over being trendy and riding a bike sans derailluer can be a bit over the top. despite Sheldon Brown's adulation of them and the trendsters trying to outdo one another with their social hipness factor.

I take all that back...Slackchains and Ordinaries are the ONLY way to travel!

Machka 

In addition to Rowan ...

... another friend of mine from Britain landed in Vancouver in 2002 and rode to Kamloops on his fixed gear. Then he rode the RM1200 (Rocky Mountain 1200 kms), with his fixed gear. Then he flipped the hub so it became a single speed and cycled across Canada to Boston. Once there he flipped it back to become a fixed gear again, and rode the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200.

He covered 8000 kms in 5 weeks on either a fixed gear or single speed ... across Canada (and part of the US) including the Rocky Mountains and the tall hills on the east coast.

And doesn't (or didn't) Kent Peterson do a lot of touring on a fixed gear or single speed?

It definitely can be done!!

I know of A LOT of long distance cyclists who ride them on centuries, brevets, and randonnees ... and just for fun.

As for the fascination ... there is something fascinating about riding a simple bicycle. As I mentioned above, I haven't tried my fixed gear yet, but I have talked to many riders who ride them, and spinning class bicycles are fixed gears. It is my impression that they aren't as difficult to ride as some would assume.

And it's hardly "trendsetting" ... people have been riding fixed gears and single speeds for many, many, many years. And heaps European riders, in particular, still ride them for everything. Some of us in other parts of the world are just revisiting it.

I figure if you are interested in doing a tour with a fixed gear or single speed ... go for it!! All the best!! You'll be in good company.

Cave

Interesting thread - there are certainly some people who tour/ride long on fixed/single. One guy I know does about 12,000 km/year fixed. At least one person did the last Great Vic bike ride on a singlespeed (don't know if it was fixed or not).

I think you'd have to be a strong, fit rider, travel very light, and be geared on the lowish side.

Why not try an overnighter with a minimal load to see if it works? As Machka mentions, Kent Peterson has some interesting articles and blog entries; he travels light, fast and fixed.

Bekologist

Trek is introducing a new slackchain touring bike for the 2008 season.

yes, people have toured on ordinaries too. a guy rode across america in the 19th century on one, on dirt roads. does that mean someone doing the Rockies should consider riding an ordinary?

trendsters. I'd reconsider the 'good company' statement, machka. likely the single speed tourer would be a)left behind and b)struggling to keep up with geared tourers.

maybe uberstout randoneuers that ride 1200k brevets could ride a fixed/free bike across canada in 5 weeks, but that is not the norm. freaks of punishing endurance is more appropos.

'starting' to tour on singlespeeds is a misstatement by Sheldon. There are very good reasons the derailluer was invented.

Sheldon Brown

If you're going to accuse me of a "misstatement" could you at least have the courtesy to give a specific reference?

Sheldon "Huh?" Brown

Bekologist

Sorry, Sheldon, the OP made a claim about people 'starting to use singlespeeds' for touring,and attributed it to you.

I didn't 'fact check' the accuracy of that statement, but recognize bicyclists have been touring since before the invention of the safety bicycle and multigeared bikes.

Machka 

a) so what if they are left behind or struggling to keep up with geared tourers ... last time I checked touring wasn't racing.

b) in actual fact, they probably wouldn't be left behind or struggling to keep up with geared tourers. Rowan had no problem at all keeping up with me on his fixed gear last month.

I certainly won't reconsider the "good company" statement ... I have quite a crowd of good friends who ride fixed gear and single speeds.


BTW - speaking of those who tour on single speeds .... are you familiar with the name Lon Haldeman? I'd put him in the "good company" category.


(And also ... why shouldn't someone consider touring the Rockies on an Ordinary if they wanted? I met a guy going around the world on one in 2003. )

kenseth03

Sorry if I created a problem here. I am still learning a little about this fixed gear/singlespeed thing. The article I read was entitled "Paris-Brest-Paris 2007 on fixed gear" . Sorry to Sheldon Brown for being unclear on this.

late

I'd love to watch a fixie in Cape Breton. I've never seen a head blow clean off the shoulders from blood pressure before.

sykerocker 

Don't panic. If there is a flashpoint in cycling nowdays (other than racing and doping) it's fixies - mainly because of their sudden(?) hip factor amongst the college crowd. None of whom would probably be caught dead on a bicycle if that model hadn't become a necessary part of the college crowd's jewelry.

Their behavior in traffic doesn't help matters, either. Not that I'm one to talk, still having wonderful memories of that day I combined my best friend and constant riding buddy, a Bianchi track bike, my Chevy Vega GT, a stretch of I-90 outside of Erie, and a couple of hits of microdot . . . . . . . . .

Bekologist

uh, common sense?

staehpj1

Don't forget that this could be said about ANYONE riding a long tour on a bicycle. No long distance bike tourist is the norm. Heck, driving a car across the country is not the norm. If someone wants to ride a fixie over the Rockies, more power to them. I will never do it, but I admire those who do.