All the bikes! Geared and single speed,

I do like my Cinelli Mash Work, it is a fantastic single speed. But I also really like my geared bikes as well. Get what works best for you and your riding and your area.

Yeah, I’m liking me some single speed once again. Not sure why I put gears on a couple of years back.

Anyway, the last nine months I’ve had both bikes set up that way. It changes my state of mind. I enjoy addressing the challenges of hills and headwinds with position, effort and attitude, not lower gears. I’ve also just been having a lot of fun riding like a kid, so to speak.

I have increased my typical ride length, which may relate to fun and may also be related to the relative comfort of spending more time out of the saddle. Bear in mind, my rides are just fun and conditioning. No races, no touring and no groceries. Gears are awesome for so many purposes, just not the ones I need at the moment.

Otto

I've become so in love with one gear that I'm thinking about converting my carbon '17 Diamondback Podium Disc with a Paul chain tensioner, SRAM Force 1x crank and S500 road levers because I never ride the bike anymore. That would probably be a 15-16lb bike. It has the block off plates for an electronic group so it would look really clean.

I love my Cinelli Vigorelli and for sure they make great bikes. But. You will be paying a fair chunk for the brand and they're plenty of other brands that offer better value in the fixie world. Single speed is great on a city bike. But. Bikes with gears are better because, well, they have gears! Personally I wouldn't recommend fixie for starting out or getting back into riding. A single speed city bike, sure, but even then 3 or 7 speeds come in real handy. I love my fixie more than my geared bikes but I'd still say, start with gears.

Have you considered a Folding bike?

I love the look and idea of single-speeds and used to ride one in the early days of my cycling rebirth, but I'm a little worried about my knees. Sometimes I experiment on rides where I do more more mashing than spinning, getting out of the saddle more. The next day my 60-year old knees feel like they have a few more twinges and niggles than usual, but I may be imagining it.

I have a belt-drive bike (probably my favourite for multiple reasons) with a Nexus 8-speed IGH. It feels like 8 different single-speeds rolled into one bike. Feels great.

That has nothing to due w/ track racing, and it's obvious you don't have any experience with it at all.

I would one day like to setup a 1x3. Single chainring with 3 cogs in back. Friction shifting with wide spacing. Only concern is being able to set hi and low with such a narrow cassette. It would be absolute no brainer shifting and you could easily swap out whatever gearing you wanted.

John

I seem to recall running 1x4 and 1x5 within the last couple of years, though more typically I’d just run a 12-28 7 speed cluster and only use the 16 and 21. That’s what I did the previous winter and spring before going SS again last summer.

I’d definitely want to find a very light vintage derailleur (like one from the 5-speed era) in good shape. I could see maybe 42/14-16-18. Or maybe 13-16-20. Only a middle shift would require any skill.

Otto

I’m almost that age, and what seems to help me a lot is to drop my heels when I’m pedaling slower, whether standing or seated. It reduces the angle of knee bend at the top of the pedal stroke, and that seems to protect my knees. My knees seem to be at least as happy as they were with multi-gear setups. YMMV.

Otto

All City SS (40 x 18):thumb:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3ad7068c5.jpeg

I’m thinking 46/12-20-32

Someone could even run a 6 speed thumb shifter if finding the middle cog with 5.5mm ctc required “too-much-skill” ... lol.

John

Someone needs to make an old school setup where you have a few cogs in the rear. You manually put the chain on the cog and adjust chain tension with a lever.

Geno Bartali won the '38 TDF on this four speed bike:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...hisallo_17.JPG

I’d want a dropped seatpost to get to the lever... lol!

The idea for 3 speed came about because a neighbor rode a single speed mtb. He said he got tired of fiddling with the RD. The only issue he has is not enough top end and occasionally having to run up a steep climb carrying his bike. The guy is a beast.

I told him if he ever wanted to try it, I could see if I could set the limit screws to run 3 cogs with friction shifting. He would need to get a hanger setup for his single speed. It never happened, but it was a project I always wanted to try.

John

You can get a dual cog freewheel. Only one short of three.

Bikeman White Industries DOS ENO Freewheel, 16/18

You could go with a Dingle speed.
I have a 17-21 2 speed freewheel using it with a 49x45 Chainset gives 2 nice GI ranges of 80 and 59.5,
or with 46x42 which gives 75 and 55.5 GI. the nice thing about this is the chain length is the same for both settings. I also have a Surly double fixed cog with 17-21 teeth.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...633c13dadc.jpg

It depends on your riding situation. I live in a city on a hill. I could never survive on a single speed.

There was a time when cars and trucks came with only a single speed. This was okay for flat city streets crowded with pedestrians, horses, and stray dogs, and when it was not necessary to go more than 15 mph. But why buy a car or truck which can go no faster than a horse or horse-drawn conveyance? Especially when these could climb inclines and hills better? Adding gears to cars and trucks increased speeds, and made hills easier, this was called "innovation" and "progress." As decades passed, more and more gears were added, and modern cars have a much larger number of gears than they did a generation ago. This wider range of gearing greatly improves efficiency, mileage, and reduces emissions. Where I live in Tokyo, there are some pretty good hills, and you will often seen young men (and women) walking their single-speed bikes up these hills are they are incapable of climbing them. The Keirin racers here in japan have training facilities which include a small hill, and part the training is to accelerate over a flat surface for a certain distance and then climb as far up the hill as they can. Many racers are not able to get to the top of the hill, which any high school kid in a multi-speed bike could climb without breaking a sweat.