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SS = Quiet & Awesome

Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,061
5,970
borcester rhymes
get a stealth hub. mind=blown.

w00dy has a SS DH bike with a stealth hub. The only thing that makes noise is his cables slappy around and his cheapo resentment filled levers that rattle. The thing is deceptively quiet.
 
golgiaparatus

golgiaparatus

Out of my element
Aug 30, 2002
7,340
41
Deep in the Jungles of Oklahoma
Sandwich said:
get a stealth hub. mind=blown.

w00dy has a SS DH bike with a stealth hub. The only thing that makes noise is his cables slappy around and his cheapo resentment filled levers that rattle. The thing is deceptively quiet.
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I'm running a shimano hub. It's pretty close to silent. I love it. I was thinking of upgrading to a nicer hub, but now that you mention it... that may be one of the things that makes it so quiet.
 
4130biker

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,884
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The silence is probably my favorite thing about riding a SS- it's suprisingly cool. Now to have a dh bike be that quiet...
 
eaterofdog

eaterofdog

ass grabber
Sep 8, 2006
8,289
1,532
Central Florida
I had a silent setup while I was still riding CC. Loved the quiet, but came damn close to hitting a buck deer. I rode around a corner right into him, he jumped and snapped his head toward me and those horns were WAY too close for comfort.
 
manhattanprjkt83

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,644
1,214
Nilbog
when i first started riding singlespeed i thought the silence was the coolest part...woody's bike is crazy...Sandwich do you have a video anywhere...
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,061
5,970
borcester rhymes
no vids...too poor for a video cam. he may have one or a link to one, but it's eerie being followed by it on the trails. you can't hear him at all until he's right up on ya. When we swap bikes I can hear him clanging behind me, but we swap back and he disappears. It's pretty fun.

I want to build a SS concentric DH bike for that reason specifically...now to find an arrow DSS-3 for pennies...
 
golgiaparatus

golgiaparatus

Out of my element
Aug 30, 2002
7,340
41
Deep in the Jungles of Oklahoma
manhattanprjkt83 said:
when i first started riding singlespeed i thought the silence was the coolest part...woody's bike is crazy...Sandwich do you have a video anywhere...
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Yeah the quiet is great. Like I said when I first ditched the front der for the 1x9, I thought the lack of clanking chain was awesome... but this is next level quiet, especially with this hub.

The funniest part about SS is when I get to a climb I find that my right thumb automatically looks for a shifter without me even consciously thinking about it.
 
jdcamb

jdcamb

Tool Time!
Feb 17, 2002
19,827
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Nowhere Man!
golgiaparatus said:
The funniest part about SS is when I get to a climb I find that my right thumb automatically looks for a shifter without me even consciously thinking about it.
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Haha. I do the same thing... I really want my bike to be quiet too. My freehub is going now too. This is going to be one of those bikes...:D
 
Rip

Rip

Mr. Excitement
Feb 3, 2002
7,327
1
Over there somewhere.
All one needs for that is to be a hipster and divebomb down a hill with a busy intersection at the bottom while your bike has no brakes and has 8 inch wide handlebars.
 
golgiaparatus

golgiaparatus

Out of my element
Aug 30, 2002
7,340
41
Deep in the Jungles of Oklahoma
So since all the SS guys are chiming in I figured I'd ask what gears you all are running. Personally, because we have a lot of steep climbs here, I'm jumping between 33/20 and 33/21... Cant decide. One is basically a leisurely cruise in the flats perfect climbing and the other makes for much better flat speed but the climbs need to be attacked quite aggressively which gets tiresome if I just want to enjoy a ride and not "train".

BTW this bike pisses off my buddies that ride only geared. Makes them work harder than they want to keep up since I can only climb in "attack mode".

EDIT: 33/20-21 = 29er
 
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MikeD

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,679
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chez moi
I rode 34/18 but that was for huge long climbs followed by tremendously long descents in Africa.

It allowed me to climb standing (easily but not uncomfortably so) or sitting (working pretty hard) and going down wasn't going to enable me to pedal in any climbing gear anyhow.
 
jdcamb

jdcamb

Tool Time!
Feb 17, 2002
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golgiaparatus said:
So since all the SS guys are chiming in I figured I'd ask what gears you all are running. Personally, because we have a lot of steep climbs here, I'm jumping between 33/20 and 33/21... Cant decide. One is basically a leisurely cruise in the flats perfect climbing and the other makes for much better flat speed but the climbs need to be attacked quite aggressively which gets tiresome if I just want to enjoy a ride and not "train".

BTW this bike pisses off my buddies that ride only geared. Makes them work harder than they want to keep up since I can only climb in "attack mode".
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Because technically I have a Dingle speed. With the eccentric BB I can move my chain fairly easily between both my rear gears. In the back I have both a 13t and a 20t. with a 32 upfront I can suit the bike to whatever application I want that way. Since it is a shop bike I don't always get to decide what setup to use.
 
W

wreckedrex

Monkey
Feb 8, 2007
137
0
Fremont, CA
32-18 on a 26" bike and it's fairly hilly around here. I initially set it up 32/20 but found it worked better for me to stand up and mash with slightly higher gearing at the expense of being able to sit and spin.
 
golgiaparatus

golgiaparatus

Out of my element
Aug 30, 2002
7,340
41
Deep in the Jungles of Oklahoma
Rip said:
I'll tell you, but they may be a bit too hard for you.

MTB: 32/15
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That's rough... and damn impressive. Where are you from?

Only 1 guy around here rides that kind of gearing (32/16 I think, on a 29er). He's a pro that use to ride for Trek Subaru. I think he was on the podium at NORBA nationals a couple of years ago. Makes my sorry cat 2 ass seem quite slow.

NOTE: I guess I should have mentioned that my 33/20 is in a 29er. Wonder what that would equate to on a 26er. Probably more like 33/18?
 
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Rip

Rip

Mr. Excitement
Feb 3, 2002
7,327
1
Over there somewhere.
golgiaparatus said:
That's rough... and damn impressive. Where are you from?

Only 1 guy around here rides that kind of gearing (32/16 I think, on a 29er). He's a pro that use to ride for Trek Subaru. I think he was on the podium at NORBA nationals a couple of years ago. Makes my sorry cat 2 ass seem quite slow.

NOTE: I guess I should have mentioned that my 33/20 is in a 29er. Wonder what that would equate to on a 26er. Probably more like 33/18?
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NJ and it's on a DJ bike.
 
golgiaparatus

golgiaparatus

Out of my element
Aug 30, 2002
7,340
41
Deep in the Jungles of Oklahoma
loco-gringo said:
34-18 on little wheels.
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I'll probably move up to a 34 myself once the race season gets underway and the legs start feeling strong. Thought about going with the funky micro gears that seem to be the trend around here.

Several guys running things like 22/12 (which equates to 32/18). The guys that run these kinds of gears say the bikes feel like 32/18 on the flats, but like 32/20 on a climb. Makes little sense to me, maybe some physics junkies can chime in and clear this up. Would it make acceleration quicker or something?

But I question the logic behind them, seems like it would reduce the integrity of the drivetrain to me.
 
HAB

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
golgiaparatus said:
Several guys running things like 22/12 (which equates to 32/18). The guys that run these kinds of gears say the bikes feel like 32/18 on the flats, but like 32/20 on a climb. Makes little sense to me, maybe some physics junkies can chime in and clear this up. Would it make acceleration quicker or something?

But I question the logic behind them, seems like it would reduce the integrity of the drivetrain to me.
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They're full of ****. 22/12 is actually a little higher than 32/18, it's actually equivalent to a 32/17.45 (which is obviously impossible to actually achieve). A gear ratio is what it is, no matter how you get to it. Their micro drive is probably a tiny bit lighter, and will wear out faster, and that's about it.
 
stevew

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,571
9,577
so no one here rode a bmx bike when they were younger to figure this out?
 
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