My wife bought me a hardrock SS for christmas.I was only going to use it for urban riding.My trail bike is in the shop so I took it out on a long ride today and deciced I have too much gear for the mountians of WNC. Right now its a 32x15 what would be better for trail riding. I've ridden for years and this is my first SS so any help would be great.By the way it's a blast on the trails.

I've been running 38x15 fixed on slicks.
On the knobby coastin' wheels, I've been running 38x16 on the street and 38x20 on dirt.

You're ratio is pretty close to 2:1 which is what most folks tend to ride. Stick with it for a bit and just remember that you might be walking a bit more than you would on a geared rig.

i would suggest 32:16 or even 32:18 for a single speed mountain bike.

I agree. I SS now in WA state after having lived in Boone, NC and riden all over WNC I would ride what ever feel comfy on the hills. I currently ride 34x19 and I can get up just about every hill with out having to dismount and push (ie. "third gear"). My ride: Kona Unit, Avid Mech. Disc, blue King HS, disc hubs SS, Thomson stem/seat post, Marzocchi Marathon SL, Time Z control, Race Face Turbine Cranks 175. A real beauty not light but fun as hell to ride!!

Hey, where'd you find a 19t freewheel? The only one I've seen is the white industries one, and that's a bit rich for my blood.

It looks like he is running King SS hubs, which means he is probably running a king kog singlespeed cassete cog.

Damn it all! Maybe one of these days I'll build up a rear wheel with one of those DX hubs and check out this easy interchangeability thing the kids love.

I've got a 20t ACS on my MTB.

i ride 32x16, and im quite happy with it

Yeah, I've got a 16 and a 20 on there now. I was just hoping for a 19 so I could try the magic 2:1 ratio with my 38t chainring.

Thanks for the info.I got my trail bike back from the LBS today but I find myself wanting to ride the SS.I think I'm slipping over to the dark side.

Sorry, if i'm being a dick by adding my own question in here, but I've been lurking for a while and have been thinking about this too. What's a good gearing for San Francisco? I'm riding 42x 18 but I can't really go as fast as i'd like to down hills.

You,you hijacked my thread!!! just kidding ,had to do it.

i think 34x20 is a decent starting off-road SS gear... but that said, i am a big sissy and still rock the 32x20 after a year of riding!

i feel like smaller gears; mean less walking; mean more riding... if you can't even begin to tackle the hills in your area; gear down! you can always go back up as you toughen up....

i think for a ss mtb the gearing should be used for up, and gravity and fluidity is for down.

Personally, I'd rather have to get off the bike once in a while than push a gear that lets me ride every climb. Then again, I'm a bit of a sadist Dismounts are a great benchmark for SS, too... especially if you ride the same trails regularly.

i don't think you should be able to ride up every hill either. i guess i meant less than 2:1 is often ideal. 'getting off' is part of riding a single speed. ba-dum-tah.

ahahah. nice