The Single Speed Thread

Igofastdh

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Did the full telegraph station track in Alice Springs the other day, had a blast. Sandy creek beds are hard with skinny tyres! I wasn't even fussed about the double pinch flat I got. Holidays rule. Photos won't upload off my phone for some reason.
 
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Sputnick

Likes Bikes and Dirt
New to the SS rigid scene, and loving it! After pretty much riding duallies since I started riding bar a few bikes, its certainly a completely different way of riding when youve only got one gear and no suspension!

What kind of tyres are most people running for winter and summer?
Running a ratio of 32:18 at the moment, seems pretty good, but havent hit the really hilly tracks yet.
Anyone got a spare 19t or 20t cog I can snaffle for cheap? Want to experiment with ratios and figure out what works best for my little legs!
 
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VW NUT

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Any solid details?

Dates confirmed for Dec 5/6.

From the FB page:

Hopefully, by now you’ve washed the dirty taste of road racing out of your mouth, and you’ve finally stopped waking up on lounge at 3am on a school night with empty beer bottles but without Rage on the telle.
So now what…ground hog day, slightly dispersed by the odd ride and occasional hang over?
No, wait; I have the answer…..
Australia’s national Single Speed race and Jebus (no actual guarantee that Jebus will attend, but I’ve seen photos of a new beard so there is hope). Importantly, you don’t have to be big on Jebus, but from what I know he’s a nice bloke and can ride, mediocre carpenter though.
Also you dont have to race, But please step up with you’re A game and expect to well and truly challenged. Of course you can “just” ride. Either way you will do plenty of K's, laugh, and catch up with old mates and work hard to remember the names of new ones.
Wake up tomorrow, shit, get started now and begin planning your trip to Woodend for the 5th and 6th December.
Exact details on Accommodation, schedule, dress code, entry and general jive talk to come, but for now get planning, get pumped and spread the word to the Luddites.
 

Igofastdh

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Did the full telegraph station track in Alice Springs the other day, had a blast. Sandy creek beds are hard with skinny tyres. I wasn't even fussed about the double pinch flat I got. Holidays rule. Photos won't upload off my phone for some reason.
rsz_copy_of_image2.jpg
Late upload. Keen to try Yarra trail & Plenty gorge now i'm back, Im also considering Susp. Anybody got an old cheap pair of forks?
 
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jp80

Likes Bikes
regress to progress

Dudes, thought I'd share some changes that I've made in the past few weeks that have given me some really nice benefits with SS.

The reason for tweaking was a mate bought a bigger bike (s-works enduro... a lot bigger than his hardtail) and was pushing the pace downhill and we were spending more time on harder trails.. I was losing traction and struggling to keep 32:!7 going in the techy pinches. I'm too tight to buy another bike just now, so I needed to try to charge a bit harder on the ss hardtail.

First, I put grippier tyres on, changing from a classic Canberran Ardent race front crossmark rear (ok, thats 2007 style, but thats what I was running) to 2.25 ardents front and rear. To counter that rolling resistance, and to better cope with lack of momentum on harder xc trails, I went back to 32:18 (thats the regress in the title), and I also put flats on to try to eek out one last pedal push before baling out of an effort as I think I was getting a bit soft and giving up the grunt a bit early.

All of that made a massive difference, climbing with flats was a big change, the rip and flick method took on a whole new meaning without being able to pull up. The traction from the tyres was a big positive difference when cornering a bit faster, and the gear felt about the same with the heavier/draggier tyres. I was crapping it pretty often in the first few rides with flats, but got some advice off gnardog mates about how to better deal with trail chatter and unexpected thumping with flats. I noticed that I was putting my foot much further forward on the pedal than I could with my cleat set up, and also noticed I was much more comfortable jumping like this. Eventually I was also climbing almost as well too, pushing over top dead centre by dropping my heel and positioning my body further behind the bb. So much changed! And finally, I was definitely going deeper into the grunt territory before baling out on a climb, lots of vocalisation which felt (and feels) rad.

So, the experimentation worked... I put spds back on this weekend, slammed my cleats as far back as they go in my shoes and went out and rode harder stuff than I've ever been able to before. I'm clearing stuff I've never even been confident to try before, and really, really enjoying riding a lot. I cleared doubles that I've never been able to clear in the past without even thinking about it. I'm going to keep the 32:18 going, for sure. I'll keep the ardents on til its dry.

I don't really have a point other than to say stuffing around with my set up sometimes works for me, and going back to an easier gear has proven sometimes faster and sometimes more fun. I haven't been so pumped to ride my bike in ages!
 
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