SS gravel grinder ......Thoughts
 

Is there anyone here who rides a SS on gravel?
I know it is uber limiting but I am debating adding new tires and give it a try.

I like to ride singlespeed gravel. My bike is a Schwinn Letour from the 80's, with a flip flop wheel (and 35c tires). One side is fixed, and the other side is a 17t freewheel. So far I haven't gotten stuck anywhere, or slipped. It is actually really fun!

What kind of bike do you ride?

Dave

My Single Speed/Fixed Gear RandoCross Fun Time Machine is excellent fun on all sorts of surfaces. It is running Challenge 700x36 Gravel Grinder Open Tubulars and is just a really nice smooth ride. I probably wouldn't do a long distance race on it but for just casual gravel rides it is a blast. I did fixed for a while but then I got a White Industries freewheel so I converted the Langster back to fixed and have the Cinelli set up as SS. I am considering getting her a nice new carbon fork from Whisky but I am worried about my Nitto rack at the front possibly stressing the canti studs.

There are always one or two single speed guys at every gravel race.

I briefly rode with a guy on a fixed gear Moots at this year's Southern Cross race.

I don't really think its any more of a big deal than single speed on the street is.


-Tim-

I do it all the time. Go for it.

This is my setup, also an old Raleigh. I dunno what the maximum size tires your track bike can take, but for dirt and gravel I would recommend at least 28 mm tires, preferably some tough ones.

I have tried riding my Continental GP 4000's in 28 mm in the dirt and gravel quite a few times, and have flatted almost every single ride. However, YMMV.

How big of a tire can you fit?

I put some 28mm Michelin road tires on my bike recently. On my skinny rims they actually measure a little under 26mm wide. I've only done a few miles of dirt and gravel but didn't have any flats. It's definitely not an ideal setup, but I had fun.

So, yeah, go as big as you can and give it a shot.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9e1e7de929.jpg

I ride fixed on 23 mm tyres on gravel, dry packed mud, field boundaries, river banks, etc. I lose traction in wet mud, of course, and I get more than my share of pinch flats, but what fun when it's working!

I set my old Peter Mooney up to ride the promised gravel of Cycle Oregon last year and did a trial run on the Trask River Trail over the Oregon coast range. Ran a 38c Pasela in front, 35c in back. Three chainrings, 44, 42 and 36. Flip-flop hub, fixed both sides, starting with a 17-21 on one side, 14 on the other. (The three cogs line up perfectly with the three chainrings. This is a 3-speed, not a 9-speed. All bulletproof 1/8". On the way up, I changed out the 17-21 for a 24. (Still too high a gear, I finally bogged down on an 18% stretch, rear tire spinning and me going over. Lots of walking the rest of the way up.) Coming down on the 14 and those big tires was a blast! Yes, just as much 18% coming down! Loved that big front tire. I could just lay into completely blind corners on the inside tire track of deep 1 1/2 to 2" stones and just trust the bike to do its thing. The grins were ear -to-ear.

If you can mount a tiny cog and get the gear ratio up, steep, loose downhills are far more secure feeling than anything you can do on a (non-suspension) freewheeled bike. (With good brakes, of course. This isn't about skidding or showing off, It's about control.) And a minor rant - this is where I think track ends suck. Wheel flips are so much easier and faster with road (horizontal) dropouts that open to the front (or even better, down from front like a vertical dropout where, once in, you can slide the wheel back).

Ben

I rode that trail last summer with 11 other riders. No tire 28c or smaller made it. Maybe half the 32s. I don't think anyone riding less than 35 made it flat free.

Ben

Why so skinny? Dude it is 2018 wider tires are proven better. Don't be a sadist any more and put something a little wider or get yourself a bike that can take at least a 28. Trust me you will love yourself so much more :love:

When I went from 23 to 25 I was already sold and then when I went to 32 I was in heaven and now at 38 it is ultra lux though my road bike and Langster are maxed at 28mm but still way better than the old stuff.

I bought the bike many years ago when 23mm was the standard. I lived in a hilly area and used it less than I had intended. I've only started riding it regularly since I moved to a flatter area. My next set of tyres will be 25mm, but there is very limited clearance on the frame. My other bike is a gravel bike with fatter tyres. The fixed is lighter, smoother and faster in many conditions but of course it's less versatile.

I find it amusing. In the 1970s, tyre sizes in the UK were 27 X ... and the width was in increments of 1/8 inch. General purpose was 1 3/8 inch, "faster" was 1 1/4 inch (28 mm) and real headbangers rode 1 inch (25 mm). So the keen beans back then saw it as a matter of pride to get down to the sizes that it is now fashionable to get up to.

The narrowest tyre I rode was a 20mm on my 700c unicycle but that was just silly. I had to pump it up to about 130 psi and it would literally burst if I hit a pot hole or pebble.

I agree that on the whole fatter tyres are more comfortable, and arguably even faster, but there is a certain something about riding a bike where it was not designed to go, and I have a lot of fun on the fixed on bridlepaths and the like.

I have not done this, but it seems as though a fixed gear would be really great for keeping my pace even, and my pedals turning.

Uneven pace has always plagued me, especially when I feel really good at the beginning of a ride. And when I ride distances I'm not used to, and start running out of energy, I tend to coast a lot, which I'm certain wastes energy when I have to spin back up to speed again.

You will never regret trying it. I was told 40 years ago by the club vets to set my second bike up fixed to improve my pedaling style. It did, big time. It also taught my body how to recover while pedaling. But that first rtide had an unintended consequence. I fell in love with fixed gears right then (even though I tried to coast and crashed mid-way through that 8 mile ride). I've had and ridden fix gears ever since. Now 3 of my 5 bikes are fixed.

Ben

I guess I'm on the right track then. I got back on my geared bike yesterday and had to really force myself to coast and to shift. I think I only shifted twice. My pedal stroke is really smooth now, spinning up for a sprint feels excellent, and I now run the seat about 1/2" higher on all my bikes.

Nothing bad at all to say about riding fixed, though I do think it is slightly more dangerous, as it adds more opportunities for things to go wrong in emergency situations, and stopping and starting at red lights is a major PITA when I have to unclip (working on my trackstands to remedy that). I think with more practice I'll be as safe as I am on my geared bikes.

It's a fun way of finding out just how good your road frame really is. Puts the quality of your frame front and center, with no gears to hide behind. And the silent ride is to die for, no one ever hears me approaching from behind.

I ride my old IRO Rob Roy on singletrack a lot and it works great on gravel although I haven't done much gravel riding on this particular bike. Most of my gravel rides have been in very hilly Northern NY and Vermont, so I usually take a geared bike.https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bfb618d7a8.jpg

The rob Roy looks sweet but you appear to have larger tires than my bike can handle 28-30 max,
I like the rob roy seat stay looks comfy but a William Wallace is far better.

Love that Rob Roy - RIP IRO...


But it is kind of funny that this subforum has turned into so much of a hotbed for fat-tire adventure, gravel, yama-yama-yama


Not too long ago - any mention here of riding fixed off-road was greeted with doubt & derision. Kind of makes me miss the old fixiefoo days 'round here :rolleyes:


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...41f9158ff9.jpg

Yep, they would have thought you'd gone full ******.

The place you ride does need to be fairly flat, and you definitely have to be more careful, but the advantage is almost nothing to break or go out of adjustment so you can just go for mile after trouble-free mile.

EDIT: Wow I learned a new "bad word" today, I feel so naughty. Seriously though, I don't think even "My Three Sons" would have bleeped that one out.

The parts in bold/red are interesting and very important.

Learning to keep a steady pace and recovering while pedaling by being smooth has had a very positive impact on my ability to do long road rides on geared bikes. This is one of the main benefits of fixed gear riding for me.

@79pmooney, it is interesting that this has take some time to become really beneficial, two years or more. I was noticing it on a long road ride a few weeks ago and thinking about how a few years of fixed gear riding has really helped.

Thank you both for bringing it up.


-Tim-

Hory Jebus, Mr. Batmans 700x20c unicycle...you are a mad man. Props for attempting such craziness.


Things are all crazy with wider tires but it is so nice. I say build up a nice fixed gear/single speed with space for wider tires. You can still build some pretty light stuff. Granted my build for that purpose isn't super light but it has a front rack and dynamo set up and is all steel but isn't so bad and rides so smooooooth.

This is a fun bike
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5f857bf885.jpg

I've yet to jump on the "gravel grinder" fad. Personally when I ride off-road I want there to be rocks, roots and technical obstacles that warrant a mountain bike.
@TimothyH, @johnnytheboy and co., what do you guys get out of gravel riding that you can't get from a road ride??? I know we've been through this before but I still don't get it :)