Singlespeeders who live in hilly regions - what are you thinking?
 

I currently have two bikes, a "modern" 1x11 gravel rig, and, a single speed cross bike. I live at the base of the mountains and it's by most people's assessments, NOT singlespeed country. Yet, I ride the ss everywhere I ride the geared bike. I just pick based on my mood that day as far as what kind of workout and ride I'm down for. Ultimately, if I could only have one bike, it would be the singlespeed. My friends in the area mostly think I'm nuts. And, I'm a geezer at 60 yrs old (but I won't care about that until I need to...)
Just curious, do you live in a "climby" locale yet still go for the ss over gears given the option?

When I lived in LA I would take my fixed gear out to some pretty decent climbs -- not the big mountain road climbs but Chevy Chase, Griffith Park, etc. They were hard as hell but it was fun as hell too.

I live right up there where Glendale meets La Canada. Hard not to go "up"!

I guess what I'm getting at is the appeal/allure of singlespeeding outweighs how much harder it can make some rides. I just ride it best I can, and I'm not afraid to walk a little!

That's a nice area for riding. I used to live in South Pasadena and would head up that way via the Rose Bowl all the time.

Gear down, that's what I did. I not have a 42+18/20 on my fixed gear. Works great in all but the steepest hills.

I'm a 60-year-old geezer, too. My SS CX bike with 39 X 17 gets me to the top of pretty much everything in the Texas Hill Country. But honestly, you suffer on climbs no matter how many gears you run.

That's right around the gear inches I'm running on my ss cross bike--I'm in the low 60s with my 42x19. I could almost go lower - I used to have a ss 29'r MTB geared 32x20 which was pretty necessary for the singletrack in the mountains here.

I do and it is difficult to ride single speed. I am very limited as I am surrounded by hills. it beats the hell climbing in 1 gear in bull horns.. I do love the rolling flat areas.

I’m about the only regular and frequent rider I see out and about doing rides on the roads and trails on SS. It is challenging and requires a certain level of strength, stamina and attitude, but our hills aren’t very tall. Typically 100 to 150 feet of climb, so it’s just a few minutes of harder work.

So I don’t really gear down much, because we have lots of trail sections that are well suited to SS, and I don’t want to feel too limited on the faster end.

Of course, geared bikes are so much the default now that it’s not surprising that so few folks ride SS. Probably there are many riders here who could ride SS, but never even give it a thought. They just get a reasonable and versatile “modern bike” and get to riding. Which, of course, is just great. 😊

Otto

I had three single speed bikes up until recently, but I just put gears on one of them. It's my neighborhood bike, and I have a lot of hills around here. After needing an ice pack on one of my knees, I decided it was time to give them a break. Love riding SS, but just can't do it as frequently anymore.

I have an extensive mtb trail system 5 minutes up the road that I trail run and bike on a regular basis - it's my after-work go to. It's a sustained 2-3km's access uphill trail and then multiple downhill options. I would usually bomb it on my fat bike but wanted to get into the SS mtb thing so I built a 2x2 SS specifically for it. I love it!

That build thread is here. Since that thread I've only swapped out the narrow bullhorns for the current set up: https://www.bikeforums.net/singlespe...-retrofit.html

It takes all of 20 seconds to flip the bike and swap chain lines. The bike is light and it gives me a chance to catch my breath before going back down. Low chain line for the uphill cardio workout and high chain line for the descent. Just those two gears lets me pedal almost all of the run both up and down (there's a steep section that even many modern geared bikes also get walked up).

FS is better for the harder trails of course but now the rigid SS gives new life to the flowy moderate trails that I tend to like and makes them more challenging. I would definitely say with the 2x2 option, so I don't have to walk up all of the access trails, I'm a SS mtb convert.

http://i.imgur.com/34GtaKCh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/izSwBFMh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bdUkxL9h.jpg

I live in SE PA and there are hills here. There are only 3 in Montgomery county that I can't climb. I ride 48x18 (70 GI) and I in can do short grades of 10%. A 5% grade I can do all day and usually catch a geared bike or two. I am 62.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d774d99712.jpg
At Kolbe's today in Point Pleasant PA. I climbed Point Pleasant Pike hill right after.

I'm out here in the Pacific Northwest. I'm 60. I do 1400' a day on a 19 mile course everyday. Maybe 80 minutes. The hills are gradual and gentle and they aren't that bad.

Biking takes time from my family and there seems to be an endless array of gadgets knick knacks and repairs and things to learn. Time and money that should be going to family.( And all the headaches I give to readers on the forum.) That's one reason I went to Single Speed.

I commute on my singlespeed as a way to work out a couple times a week. 25ish mile round trip. My coworkers who also bike commute thought i was crazy to choose a singlespeed, but I figured getting more gears would just make it easier for me. Getting my best workout means more to me than efficiency. I do love the two big hills on my commute. The feeling of "thank god, its over" at the top is my favorite part of the whole ride.

what am I thinking? I'm not thinking. that's the point. just pedal from A to B and back to A. when a hill presents itself, pedal harder. no need wasting precious brain power twiddling with derailers. do or do not—there is no try.

Yeah, I’ve been back at it again riding only SS for the last two months. I appreciate not having to think. Wind and hills just mean you work harder. I also stand a lot more, up hill and down, and any time I’m coasting. braking or maneuvering a tricky curve which makes it a more weight bearing workout and less time in the saddle.

Otto

This right here.

Fun ride today. Did some hill work, including climbing three different routes up from below to the basketball arena at the top of the hill.

I rode up 2 1/2 of the routes! The steep one is at least 25% grade. I had to get off and run up the super steep part. Did keep it above 5 mph which is probably what I could manage if I had a low gear to ride. That steep part is pretty short so it’s no big deal to get off and run.

We have a few of those hills here and there that are just too steep for my SS so I just prepare for the run/walk on the steep bit. Around here elevations aren’t huge, so if it’s super steep, it’s gonna be short. Turns out I’ve been riding lately in my current running shoes, so getting off to run up the hill was no problem.

And the other fun thing was the first hilly 7 miles up and down included almost no time in the saddle! Definitely started to feel it after the third climb of that big hill. Took at least a mile on the next flat bit to recover.

Otto

I live in Vancouver, BC, where we have a lot of shoreline at sea level, and a lot of higher ground. I just look at it as an opportunity to build leg strength since my gym closed and I can't do squats haha

I only have one bike that's rideable right now, and it's my single speed. I just messed with different gearing until I found the one that worked best for speed vs. effort. I like to push myself a little, so it's a little higher to give me some work to do. It changes as I get stronger, or ride less and get a little weaker.

So what I’m thinking now is that the MTB may shift to 42/17 instead of 42/16. I put on the bigger, slightly slower Race King tires which bumped me up to over 69 gear inches.

UPDATE: I tried it for a few rides, but switched back to 42/16, which seems the better choice overall. No harm in checking.

Otto

I live in the northeast area of the Phoenix, AZ metro area, NE Mesa to be specific. Heading north or east from home is uphill. I ride 20 miles most days on my SS Bianchi Pista. Why do I do it? It’s a GREAT workout and, I’ll admit it, a nice sense of accomplishment when I get to the top. 😁 On days I want an easier ride it’s relatively flat when heading south.

I don't know if your 11 teeth cog has a smaller internal diameter than a 14 teeth cog does; but if it doesn't then you can use an adjustable cup lockring instead of the cog to hold everything together. That's what i do with single-speeds I build with Uniglide cassette hubs.

Cheers

Do you mean a lockring from a square taper bottom bracket ?

I'm using an 11T cog acting as a butt cap so the lockring on the cassette hub has something to butt against. Otherwise the lockring butts up against the delrin spacers and I fear will crack them.

Eventually I will find some Al tubing in the right diameter and cut spacers as I plan on at least a couple more 2x2 builds.

How does the threaded cup lockring work on a cassette?

Yes, I mean a lockring from a square taper bottom bracket adjustable cup. However, in your case it might not work if the internal diameter of the 11 teeth cog is smaller than that of a 14 teeth cog.

I don't use anything to protect the Delrin cog spacers and I've yet to break one of them in use once the lockring is snugged up against them.

The bike that I just built as a single speed has a cheap lockring holding the spacers and cog in place. I'm putting a better looking lockring on later. Here are two images of that setup.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1a396b6f40.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...33fc06ab22.jpg
Cheers