Ok I had a need for more speed. My 42/16 SS wasn't cutting it. But I knew I wouldn't be able to lug the classic 48/16 up the hills. So I went and did it. I bolted another ring on up front. Oh the shame. So I was all ready to vote myself off the island when a couple folks asked for pics. I've still got my bags packed.

DanO

PS. If and when I can lug the 48/16 everywhere I'll buy a Pista. Promise.

I can see the front derailleur. What's that on the back to taking up the chain slack?

What size chainrings?

It's a rear derailleur of some sort, but what kind?

BTW, I like the headlights. Reminds me of a "street fighter" style sport bike without fairings.

That's the paul tensioner ...right? If so he advertizes it to be able to use 2 front rings. Nice option and nice bike. How is the chainline?

Why not 44x16? That's my warm weather ratio, and I looove it!

chain rings are 38 and 48 tooth...16 tooth rear

And a Paul's Melvin chain tensioner. It routes the chain same as a rear derailleur but weighs a whole lot less, since it doesn't have to move it laterally.

Paul claims their tensioner will handle a 20 tooth spread. This proved out when I paired it with a 48/38/28 MTB triple crank and a 16 tooth rear on another bike. However, it was just adequate at this extreme. It works *****in' on the double.

The chainline was a snap. I used a 113 wide BB to pair up with the MTB single speed hub, which has a spacer to move around a bit.

DanO

You know I've got some significant climbing on my 30 mile commute... wha, wha, wha... and if I thought I could mash the 44x16 or a 42x15 or 14 I'd give it a shot. I LOVE the 48x16 eighty percent of the time though. I can see why it's one of the classic fixed gears. I'd really like to have one when I can afford a second ride. As it stands, I can still bolt the 42 tooth ring and bash ring on and throw on the matching chain in a few minutes.

DanO

sweet handlebar setup

I like it.

Yeah, I think I'll steal your handlebar setup idea. Finally, 'tasches are useful!

It's an alround sweet looking ride.

Is there really that much of an advantage to running just two gears VS. having like a 7 gear cassette or something? obviously the weight would be about the same, but you'd have over 3x as many ratios... just seems like it's a recoil from having animosity against multi geared bikes after having changed to single speed..

Novelty can be a motivating factor all on its own.

It's also going to still be a more mechanically efficient drivetrain than a full cassette and derailleur out back.

One thing that running single speed, as well as internally geared hubs, has convinced me of is the superior strength of a non-dished wheel. Despite what a lot of shop mechanics will tell you about how "As long as the wheel is built CORRECTLY... yada, yada, yada...", symmetrically built wheels are simply stronger and more reliable - especially when built on a 135mm MTB hub. I weigh 220 something and run some pretty bad stretches of pavement, not to mention a bit of unpaved fire road, on my commute. I thought long and hard about doing a 1 x 7 or 8, but knew that the wheel simply wouldn't last as long. Besides, I had more of the components lying aroung for my current set-up.

DanO

Bingo! And the extra ring and tensioner are easy to change out when I want to get some of that ol' time Single Speed religion.

DanO

Sweet bike. It looks to me like you've got it set up like you know what you're doing.