[N8 v2.0]

The Ten Phases of Singlespeeding

1 - Build your first singlespeed: inspired by others riding SS, you either convert an old bike or buy an entry level SS to get the flavor.. Ride it, ***** about how hard it is getting up the hills, think about where to ride next. Lather, rinse and repeat...

2- Upgrade madness: the weight weenie / blinglespeed side takes over and you suddenly develop a need to upgrade. A combination of an empty bank account, an upset significant other or a weight weenie part failure ensues. You have parts shipped to work, so the wife won't see the bike parts you ordered. You start looking for ideas (like the MTBR SS forum) to further your obsession of the perfect SS.

3 - Gear ratios: your brain becomes obsessed with determining the optimum gear ratio for the upcoming race or given terrain. You temporarily lose focus on just riding and being one with your bike. Your library of forks, chain rings and cogs/cassettes starts to rival the selection at Supergo or Webcyclery.

4 - Realization: the entry level SS no longer is good enough. You convince yourself you need a better bike -- custom, SS specific, whatever...

5 - Purism: you realize that you're almost exclusively riding your SS. Your other bikes are collecting dust. Under your breath, you sometimes mock others riding gears and work your butt off to one-up them. You use your SS as a tool to brag or as an excuse / handicap (I geared too stiff for the course...) Start hating RockShox and Shimano just on principle, and start thinking rigid forks and DH tires are the better setup.

6 - Laziness: you go out and upgrade to a "proper" SS. Now that you it, the upgrade and gear ratio obsessions are fulfilled. You get lazy, and start trashing your bike without taking care of it. You forget about checking tire pressures, chain tension, broken teeth and don't even consider about the consequences. A wonderful delusion, until the bike leaves you stranded 5 miles from your car, and your cell phone has no signal deep in the woods...

7 - Heresy: ride your SS so much, that when you ride your geared bike, you miss your SS. You take it one step further and actually sell off the geared bike(s) that you previously couldn't live without.

8 - Fight club: start putting beer in your water bottles, grow some unusual facial hair (for the men), dress like a freak, and acquire the attitude that you don't give a **** about racing or beating the gearies. Riding a pink colored bike frame or wearing orange socks with your Birkenstocks to a bar after the ride doesn't even click to you as being strange.

9 (optional) - Scorching: as if SS'ing isn't fringe enough, start thinking http://www.63xc.com is an interesting alternative. Give it a go, maybe even get hooked.

10 - Approach martyrdom: actually leave the clique by riding so much that few buddies can keep up with you. You become one with your bike. You simultaneously learn a level of humbleness and let your results speak for themselves.

 

[Westy]

I've never made it past level .5. Converted old hardtail to SS, when riding I kept thnking I really miss my gears. Post ride reflection with beer and ice packs on my knees confirm my initial thoughts. To each their own though, I know a few folks who are faster without multiple gearios.

 

[peter6061]

I think my buddies and I hit stage 8 shortly after stage 1, though we were only inspired by ourselves to build a singlespeed mtb. We didn't know of any others that had done it at the time (mid 90's).

Been through the rest of the stages except for the selling off of other geared bikes. C'mon, a day of shuttling is much more fun on a big DH type bike than on SS. Sure, you can do it and tell me it's better, but you're not gonna convince.

I think I'm stuck back at about number 5 now. Got my bike, it's good, I ride it a lot. But when done, I just throw it in the garage until the next time. Throw some lube on it, air the tires and go.

Still don't care if I beat someone up a trail. And the facial hair went out in the late 90's. Give me a beer.

 

[Echo]

I've been stuck at 5 for a while. It's not a bad place to be.

 

[McGRP01]

I'm a n00b still at level one, but I have found myself riding the SS as much as my geared bike lately.

 

[BikeGeek]

Not sure what stage I'm at...8? All my bikes have been converted to SS, the newest is an SS frame.

 

[skinny mike]

a real singlespeeder doesn't believe in phases...

 

[reflux]

a real singlespeeder doesn't believe in phases...

However, the Jan believes in only one phase, the crushing of the souls.

 

[skinny mike]

However, the Jan believes in only one phase, the crushing of the souls.

yes, with the jan's thighs of thunder which are the only ones being coming before the lightning.

 

[CreeP]

i have two bikes and one brake between them.

to me the stages go like this:

0-shimano hating
1-denial "there's no way singlespeeders could really ride anywhere"
2-frustration; [deraileur hanger bends] and costs [20bucks] to replace, you curse but buy it anyway since gears are obviously necessary.
3-realisation; you notice gradually that you only use a small number of gears, perhaps at this stage you consider a tighter casette or dropping the granny ring
4-it hits; your bike has officially been converted, you fall in love
5-you start to frown on superflous parts or fussy builds, perhaps consider running a rigid instead of a suspension fork
6-dedicated SS time, maybe even custom, that's a whole other barrel of worms
7-broke! no money, the blinglespeed has cost you pretty much all your disposable income for a significant portion of the year.
8-geekdom; hobby framebuilder or component maker, 24hr 'racing', generally fringe, this is the point in your life where you start thinking: fixie, scorcher, recumbent, brooks saddles, wooden rims, inch-pitch, drum brakes, internally geared hubs.

pretty much by then you're terminal, you may fade in and out of cycling but from now on you will look at it from different eyes, and be intrinsically connected even if you don't talk to another cyclist or see another magazine for years.

 

[Quo Fan]

I'm still on 2.

 

[N8 v2.0]

i have two bikes and one brake between them.

to me the stages go like this:

0-shimano hating
1-denial "there's no way singlespeeders could really ride anywhere"
2-frustration; [deraileur hanger bends] and costs [20bucks] to replace, you curse but buy it anyway since gears are obviously necessary.
3-realisation; you notice gradually that you only use a small number of gears, perhaps at this stage you consider a tighter casette or dropping the granny ring
4-it hits; your bike has officially been converted, you fall in love
5-you start to frown on superflous parts or fussy builds, perhaps consider running a rigid instead of a suspension fork
6-dedicated SS time, maybe even custom, that's a whole other barrel of worms
7-broke! no money, the blinglespeed has cost you pretty much all your disposable income for a significant portion of the year.
8-geekdom; hobby framebuilder or component maker, 24hr 'racing', generally fringe, this is the point in your life where you start thinking: fixie, scorcher, recumbent, brooks saddles, wooden rims, inch-pitch, drum brakes, internally geared hubs.

pretty much by then you're terminal, you may fade in and out of cycling but from now on you will look at it from different eyes, and be intrinsically connected even if you don't talk to another cyclist or see another magazine for years.

Nice!!!!

 

[particle bored]

I have an easy list, it's really practical, but not as entertaining as N8's or creeP's.

0 - You wonder about the experience of riding something much simpler than your current rig, and you've heard about how riding SS takes you back to the days as a kid on your first simple sting-ray, BMX or coaster-brake bike.

1 - You hear that you can effectively make your hardtail gearie into a SS by just leaving the derailleurs alone, but you doubt you have the willpower for that. So you do the singleator-cassette spacers-single cog thing and you get after it.

2 - Pretty soon the period of complaining about the difficulty of climbs is fixed by either patience with the need to walk uphill sometimes, or increased strength, or an easier gear combo (realizing that 2:1 gearing is for flatlanders who live in Florida), or maybe a combination of all 3.

3 - You start passing your riding buddies on the climbs mainly because you have no choice but to bust a gut in the gear you're stuck with. But for some reason this makes you feel good, even though on the flats they're easily pulling away from your spinning self.

4 - You decide to get a dedicated SS rig. Whether you build it simply or bling it out depends on your personality -- showoff, retrogrouch pragmatist, or something in between.

5 - Your gearie bikes now are collecting dust. You notice this frequently. What happens next determines whether you become a true believer, or just someone who rides SS occasionally.

6a - You are born again. You sell all your gearie rigs. You begin mocking those who "need gears". Unfortunately for your gearie-riding friends, your improved power and strength prove that you're right about the value of the SS experience. Unfortunately for you, your obnoxious new Born Again Proselytizer SS Guru personality makes your old riding buddies stop inviting you on their rides. They don't care about your new religion. They just want to ride and have fun.

OR

6b - You go back for a ride on your gearie rig and realize that while riding the SS sure helped your power and strength and hill climbing abilities, it sure is nice to be able to run a bigger gear for the flats and pedaling downhills. The SS becomes one more bike in your stable of bikes. You ride the SS sometimes, or the gearie sometimes, and your riding buddies still like you. In fact some of them ask to borrow your SS rig for the next group ride you plan to do on your gearie, so that he/she can get a feel for what made you so much stronger on the climbs.

 

[batty_110]

lol. i'm at a 0 for the first list, and a -1 for the second. (considering what to build up.) I still need to pick a frame and components. PM me for recommendations. It HAS to be cheap (shooting for complete bike under $150)

 

[renegade999]

what stage is it when you remove the freecoaster, and run the mtb fixed?

jedi stage.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

I'm currently at .5..another week and the part will be here.

 

[JohnE]

Running fixed mtb is Ninja Jedi mixed with some Chuck Norris!