Fixie's and road bikes?
 

How come I mostly see all SS and Fixie bikes on road bike frames with no suspension. Who out there has there SS on a mountain bike...like a specialized...or anything in that realm. Anyhelp would be gladly appreciated.

only a guess, but I would venture to guess that the reason you don't see many fixed mountain bikes, is that fixed gear is probably bad for mountains. only being able to stop at one point in pedal rotation is probably not so good for rolling over logs, not to mention having to pedal over some quite rough trails. fixed gear tends to be about efficiency, and a mtn bike on a road is not quite. Road/track bikes, however...just ducky.

We're everywhere. It's no harder to fix a mountain bike than it is to fix a road bike.

He's not asking about fixed, he's asking about SS. Single speed. And there are SS mountain bikes out there, although I don't know about ones with suspension.

Hell, those are even easier. Any mountain bike can be a singlespeed if you use a tensioner.

There's all kinds of useful information at http://www.mtbr.com/faq/ssfaq.shtml .

There are a lot more good, cheap road frames.

i have an SS mountain bike.

actually, if i had to pick 1 bike on which i can only have 1 gear, it'd be the mountain. my ride was cut short today because my buddy banged his derailleur hanger and broke a derailleur jockey wheel

i wouldnt mind having a multi-speed campy road bike, but my MTB will always stay rigid and fixed.

I too have an SS mountain bike. Currently I'm riding a converted Kona Lava Dome. The link to the MTBR.com's FAQ is a good read should you want to venture into the SS MTB world. Very helpful people over there. You're probably not seeing any SS/fixed mountain bikes since you're not looking in the right place. Most SS mountain bikes are geared pretty low to allow for easier climbing rather than straight away, between a cab and a bus sprints! Riding my Kona on the road SUCKS! She's better pointed at the rocky trails here in NEPA, rather than the asphalt jungle.

As usual the Europeans are far ahead of us though, two words: cyclocross bike.

SS Mountain bikes are more common than some might think.

BIANCHI has been making stock high end SS MTB's for years (WITH Suspension).
CANNONDALE has a SS MTB with Suspension
KONA has also been doing SS MTB's for years (with and without Suspension)

I have had a couple SS MTB's, although I kept them all old school (hard tail, no susp.)

You know that cyclocross is getting huge in North America too right? The cyclo season starts in Sept.

Man oh man. Matt Chester.

http://www.mattchester.com

Mmmm, his stuff is beautiful. If only he didn't make his bikes for those silly big wheels.

559 forever!

I probably don't want to know what kinds of prices Matt Chester gets for a titanium bike.

Jim-bob wrote:

"If only he didn't make his bikes for those silly big wheels."

Tell me what makes big wheels silly.
I don't know very much about mountain bikes.

Here in Bend, we have a large community of serious mountain bikers who ride what one would expect.
However, we also have a few rigid fixed gear riders, and that appeals to me.
Actually, given my style of riding (not so much in a hurry anymore), a rigid fixed gear mountain bike with just a front brake sounds very nice.

Anyway, one doesn't see that type of bike on the street very often because of the low gear.
Kinda slow.
I guy would get on his other fixed gear bike if he wanted to get somewhere on the street, eh?

So, does anyone make an off the shelf rigid fixed gear mountain bike?

Does anybody have a pic. of there offroad ss?

I have a SS mountainbike, a Specialized P.1. It's stock SS, but here goes:

http://oz.losing-ground.net/pics/1545.JPG

Here's my MB-2, fixed (for road) and free (for trails).

Ken - I was mostly just being snarky. Being a short guy, I've grown pretty fond of 26" wheels for all things, and felt the need to poke at the 700c/29" thing he's doing. There have been many debates over the effectiveness of 29" wheels (which are just 700c rims with big fat tires on 'em), and if I had the dough, I'd probably have one. Since most of my bikes are 26"-wheeled, I have very little incentive to introduce a new wheel size into the herd.

My main bike is a singlespeed mountain frame, front and rear cantilever brakes, riser bars, all that good stuff. It alternates between a set of slicks on fixed wheels and a set of knobbies on coastie wheels, and the gearing alternates with the wheels. Fixed, I run 38/15 or 38/18, freewheelin' I run 38/17 or 38/20, depending on where I'm riding. The dropouts are long enough to handle the 5 tooth difference, and I've got a feeling they could deal with up to a 7 tooth difference if I felt like getting more or less macho with my rear gearing.

I'm probably slower than some of the 700c "streettrack" riders out there, but not noticeably so in traffic, and man do I love the way this bike rides.

Surly, I'm reclaiming the 'steamroller' title for this thing :
http://entirely-adequate.com/cherrybomb3/sideslicks.jpg



(It figures Ken would be the guy to get more than a short paragraph out of me. I'm shamed by his well-written and well-thought-out posts on a fairly regular basis.)

What's the frame? I see it has Sub-11.0 ends on it.

It's a "velo-city" frame. My old boss from the bike shop found himself a framebuilder up in chico and talked him into making some bikes for him. Handbuilt, fairly light, handles like a dream.

I think the geometry is pretty much ripped verbatim from the early nineties Kona frames, before they got all "eXtreme".

http://www.63xc.com/adamvalue/adamgear.jpg
http://www.63xc.com/adamvalue/adamgear.jpg
Check it out! Dude fashioned Toe Straps out of BMX Chain

It looks great but I wonder how well it works!

I ride fixed off road with no problems really. Just use shorter gears. 63" does it for me.


Smooth seas never made strong sailors

The SS MTB venue is expanding. I'm currently building a SS MTB. I'm using a 2000' Raleigh M20 frame it is a cheap Cromo frame but it has horiziontal dropouts and no deraileur hanger. The frame tubes are pretty beefy. I have an older Manitou Three fork and will use it with a 1" Aheadset. The wheelset is an Equation Race 559 set radial front and direct pull three cross 32 rear. I have the necessary spacers and cogs to use the cassette body and precisely align the chaineline. The BB is a sealed Shimano and the crankset an older Deore 110 BCD with a 34t CR. Brakes are Deore and the levers also. Truvative stem shimed to fit 1" and a Truvative XC riser bar. KMC chain and a generic Kalin seatpost, odd size post 25.6. WTB Speed V seat. Tires are undecided but may well be some WTB Weirwolfs 2.1. EggBeater pedals. I should start assembly tomorrow.

Question? What is a good selection for gearing? The single track here is pretty flat stuff with some short but steep hills. Mostly loose dirt lotsa roots with muddy sections after a rain. Would say a 60" gear work? Where should I start?