Single Speed Mountain bikes – an adventure racers best friend. I am an avid single speed rider, so keep that in mind when I say that, in my opinion, the best way to improve your mountain biking is to ride a bike with but one gear. I didn’t come by this opinion immediately. At first, I thought that people who rode single speeds simply were backwards and needed to join the 20^th century – where we have the technology to actually shift gears at will.

I ride with lots of single speeders and eventually I gave it a try. I was immediately converted. Now I only ride my geared bike in adventure races and much longer training events. I’ve gotten to the point where I did a 24 hour solo on my single speed this pass year.

A single speed will not only make you a stronger rider, it will improve your peddle stroke, improve your bike handling skills and teach you how to use momentum. Over all, your riding will improve in many ways. However, the most important thing is that it’s just plain fun.

Riding a single speed is more a frame of mind then a piece of equipment. I ride a Gary Fisher Rig with 29 inch wheels. I never use an odometer or heart rate monitor when I ride it. I call it pure riding – the effort is measured by feel not electronics. The direct power, from peddle to the rear tire is the difference.

Single speeds, especially with disk brakes are the only way to go in the winter. Geared bikes just get destroyed in the mud and wet. The single speed doesn’t have any of those problems and clean up is simple – just hose it down. Repairs also are simple.

When you first start on a single speed, it may take a while to determine the gear ratio that is best for you. This will depend on your fitness, skill level and the terrain. I started with a 32 X 18 but now normally ride a 33X16. When you first start, you may have trouble keeping up with your geared friends. Over time, you will find that they have trouble keeping up with you. The only place I feel at a disadvantage is on a downhill road section. Then I have to really work on drafting and high peddle cadence, another bonus.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 1st, 2007 at 8:44 pm and is filed under Gear Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [Permalink]