OneArmedScissor

so...just finished my first local cross race

on my singlespeed MTB
with BMX pedals.

Needless to say I did about as well as any of you would imagine
But not as bad as I personally had imagined!

now, the bike is not fitted to me yet, but I was thinking I might as well get it properly fitted (needs a new stem, probably new bars for me or at LEAST new bar grips and definitely I might want some different tires. I have big fat ones on there right now)

What should i do to improve it?

It's a hard tail no front suspension steel rock lobster mountainbike frame with horizontal rear track dropouts.

any advice?

OneArmedScissor

picture of frame for reference?


the yellow jersey was from a family trip to France during last year's tour. I was working

This year I might be going to see alpe d'huez. =)

Psydotek

That's awesome! Besides clipless pedals i'll say it's probably fine as it is. Get out there and enjoy going head to head with people on "better" bicycles.

c_m_shooter

Get a set of egg beaters. Probably need a taller gear than you would use for mountain biking. Make sure you don't have any water bottle cages to get in the way of shouldering it, and I think youre set.

Aeroplane

Aside from gearing and pedals, you may want to get some skinnier tires too. Those 2.5 Weirwolfs are killer on the trail, but they are kind of overkill for cross. Some 1.5's or so would make you a lot quicker.

flargle

I agree with others, gearing, tires, pedals, and shoes. Do all that, you've got a killer SS cross rig.

Read this:
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/singlecross.html

But remember when Tarik is talking a 2:1 gear ratio, it's for big wheels, so 32:14 might be a more appropriate gear for 26" wheels.

Fat Boy

What 1.5's and where do you get them? I've looked and can't really come up with anything.

FKMTB07

Did you by chance race at Memorial Park in Houston?

flargle

https://cyclocrossworld.stores.yahoo....cxprosp26.html

OneArmedScissor

yeah that was me.
I'm kinda bummed that my results weren't posted on the results page though. I'm kinda confused as to why. Either way, it was my first cross event...actually first race event at all and I was a little confused on how it all worked. I was trying really hard just not to crash or make sure I wasn't in other peoples way too much. I'm going to try to make it earlier next time. I got a little lost on the way there.

I hope I didn't make a bad impression

FKMTB07

I thought I recognized the bike in the pictures. I'm the dude with the old white Motobecane fixed gear with mustache bars if you remember.

That's a bummer about your results not being published. I'm sure they miss a few people each time, it looks kinda hectic at the start/finish line.

You coming out again next week? It's addictive ain't it?

Those 1.5's will definitely make your bike better for the course. I don't know if you were spinning out a lot on the flats, but it looks like you're geared a little low. I run 70 gear inches on the Memorial Park course and it seems to work out well such that I'm not left behind spinning on the gravel pathway and power line sections. Then it's just mash mash mash on the singletrack.

If you ever want to go for a ride in the Houston area (road, mtb, cross, whatever), hit me up. aLeach07 at gmail.com

-Andrew

Fat Boy

Very cool, thanks. Do you think these would be better than a 2.0 semi-slick (Schwalbe Furious Fred) on a dry course? Schwalbe make the argument that a wider tire has less rolling resistance. I'm just curious what the other findings are.