Let's talk about single-speed bikes

[Swallowed_My_Cellphone]

@The Cocky Watchman

I rode a singlespeed mountain bike for a long time

That would be awesome! Must’ve been so much fun!

@The Cocky Watchman

You’ll also hear stories about how the SS is hard on your knees. With sensible gear choice I don’t think this is true at all - and it’s something I’ve spoken about plenty on cycling boards. I actually have a knee problem that flares up badly when I am hiking - I’ve never had a single problem turning the singelspeed.

Interesting. I’ve never heard this. Do you know why that would be the case? I can undestand a single speed being tougher sometimes, like when you’re climbing, but I don’t understand how mechnically it would be any more difficult on your knees that a multi-speed bike. If you have a cite that would go more in depth, I’d be really interested in reading more about it.

@Broomstick

What you, and other folks who keep trying to convert me to the Church of Multiple Gears

In all honesty, I don’t think anyone (here at least) has said anything about converting anybody to “the church of mutliple gears”. It seems that people here are simply refuting your factual inaccuracies.

[Sublight]

@Broomstick

I dunno, but I see a LOT of people taking hours and hours to change the tires on their multi-gears, and the bike shops around here seem to do a nice business in changing tires… either you’re mechanically above average or there are a LOT of idiots out there (or both). While it may be no problem for you, for the inept it may be a factor.

I’m certainly in the inept category (having just changed my tires this past weekend), but the presence of the gear cassette had nothing to do with it, and getting the wheels on and off only was trivially easy, even for me.

In my younger days, I would have been at the shop asking for a tire change because I was dumb and lazy, basically the equivalent of the person who doesn’t want to put a floppy in their computer because they think they’ll break it. About two years ago I started up again and have been determined to learn how to do as much as possible by myself. Which wasn’t easy yesterday with the combination of an extremely stubborn (for me, anyway) tire, and a wife who kept asking “why don’t you just take it to the shop down the street?”

[scr4]

@cowgirl

So is it true that there really isn’t a difference between a single-speed and a regular bike with broken gears?

The only difference is that if the gears on a regular bike breaks, it will likely be stuck in a gear that’s unsuitable for general riding.

I left my old bike in the snowbank over the winter, I pulled it out and the shifter snapped off in my hand and the freewheel didn’t work - looks like it turned itself into a perfectly good fixie!

Not quite. A fixed-gear bike allows you to apply backward force through the pedals. That is, you can slow down the bike by using your legs to resist the pedal’s motion. This won’t work with a broken derailleur - if you try, the chain tensioner (the swingarm part of the derailleur) will stretch and possibly jam. It might work with a broken internal-gear hub though.

Regarding tire changes, I think it’s easier to remove the wheel from a bike with a rear derailleur. Single-speed bikes usually have horizontal dropout or a chain tensioner with very little stroke. (Though they’re both much easier than a bike with an internal-gear hub and/or hub brake.)

[Princhester]

@Broomstick

Right. Because it’s inconceivable that maybe familiarity makes it easier and quicker to change a tire out.

Comparing a derailleur bike with quick releases to a single speed with conventional nuts and back brakes? Yes. Yes it is. With the former I would have the wheel off before (with the latter) I had my spanner out of saddle bag. You can do it with your bare hands in seconds.