Originally Posted by
well biked
+1....Interestingly, I've known quite a few cases of riders finding a "magic gear" combo on bikes with vertical dropouts that works great for them, including singlespeed mountain bike and cyclocross racing. FWIW.
Absolutely. I had one a few years ago. I still have the 43t chainring that was necessary to make it work. If you can find the combo that allows a tight (but not too tight!) chain, and a reasonable gear inch, it can be great. It's just a bit limiting, and as I said, it can be maddening if you just can't make it work.