My wife: the single speed rider BEFORE it was cool
 

I remember when I was young, having a single-speed bike meant you went and got the Wal-Mart cruiser $70 special. It was a joke, and the more speed you had, the cooler you were!

My wife (girlfriend at the time) had an old Schwinn 10-speed bike (no, she's not that old, she got it used). But she never switched gears! She put it in the gear she wanted, and stayed there! I always used to tease my wife about how she wasn't sophisticated enough on a bike to use all the gears. She was in-efficient. She didn't know better. She -gasp- wasn't cool!

Now times have changed! Single-speed bikes are cool! The less speeds, the better! I am infinitely jealous of my wife because I am building my own bike, and can't make it a single speed because I sometimes use it to tow my baby in her trailer, and don't want to die of exhaustion. I've also stripped the shifters and cables off my wife's schwinn, and she now I can ride next to her without hiding my face in shame! What great times we are in!



The moral of this story? My wife has taught me a valuable lesson: Do what makes YOU comfortable and what YOU want to do. If you only want one speed, use one speed. Don't bother worrying about what everyone else is doing. When I look back on our bike rides together, I was too busy worrying what gear was the :right" gear to be in while she was busy enjoying the scenery.





On a completely unrelated note, anyone have any good suggestions for how I can save a few extra grams of weight on my headset? Everyone says I need to get the lightest possible components for my bike, and 80 grams for a headset is ridiculous.

^ lol'd

You are on fire with the GIFs lately. I love it.

I just had some steak panang for lunch. It was awesome.

Finished a ride, ate a steak and egg Burrito. F--king delicious.

I'm stuck at work so I had yet another microwave quesadilla.

where would I start... Oh...I have wife too. And headset.

Welp, sure glad this thread exists.

http://i.imgur.com/sDuaj.gif

Today I had a sammich for lunch.

hmmm

Ride on, man! Single speeds are cool for sure. I myself find that I'm in the right gear for about 20% of my ride, but I dig it and that's why I ride it.

About the headset, I would not sweat about saving weight there - it really is moot. Just ride with what you have and be more concerned about rotational weight.

LOL, me too. I find the gears that are right for the grade and head wind. The geared bikes I have are a 12 speed touring bike and a 21 speed mountain bike. Don't use all the gears and only use some of them, only to get to the gears that work for the situation. The single speed bikes, those I accelerate and ride at a relatively leisurely pace, the scenery of the ride takes precedent. I figure I'll get fit just having to pedal it.

I converted one of my 16 speed road bike to a 3 speed just for this purpose - 1 in front and 3 in back. Works perfect for them heavy climbing rides.

maybe you should have taught your wife to change gears?? :rolleyes:

Maybe you should have gotten a divorce.