Singlespeed!

Any gear that's right for the ups is going to be wrong for the downs,
and vice versa. As far as your gearing is concerned, I'de take some
advice from your multi-speed bike. Which gear combo do you like the
most? Figure out the ratio and duplicate it on the single speed using a
sprocket / cog combination that gives you the same ratio.

- -
Comments and opinions compliments of,
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

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http://geocities.com/czcorner

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Buck said:

I noticed that on my daily commute I leave the chain on the big ring
(MTB crank, probably a 44) and skip around on three cogs out back. I
have been wondering if I could go singlespeed but haven't had the
discipline to leave the shifters alone.

My wife provided the incentive to give it a try. I have an old Schwinn
World Sport frame that I repainted several years ago with that
rainy-day beater bike project in mind. The frame has been languishing
in a corner ever since the repaint. The incentive came in the form of a
"honey-do." It was a request to clear out the basement so we could do
some rearranging of our storage space. I figured it was better to store
those old parts on a frame than in a box!

It took a couple of hours to cobble together a working prototype. The
seat post is a bit too small and required a shim. The gears were chosen
by serendipity - the front inner chainring (42t) aligned with the 17t
cog. I'll play with the gearing once I get some proper spacers.

The focus on the ride this morning was troubleshooting instead of
speed. I found the gearing to be low enough for the two biggest hills
but not quite high enough for the other side of those same hills. I
wouldn't have wanted a fixed gear for either of those decents! Maybe in
a few months....

I just wanted to share the joy, both from the build and the ride. I now
have a new toy to play with and a slightly cleaner basement! Now to
work on the gearing, mount some fenders, find those old clipless
pedals, buy some moustache bars....

I used to ride a singlespead Schwinn Suburban fixed-gear up and down
Ridge Avenue in Manayunk. Fixed gear is no sweat man! :-)

Chris Z The Wheelman said:

Any gear that's right for the ups is going to be wrong for the downs,
and vice versa. As far as your gearing is concerned, I'de take some
advice from your multi-speed bike. Which gear combo do you like the
most? Figure out the ratio and duplicate it on the single speed using a
sprocket / cog combination that gives you the same ratio.

That was my plan. I will be following Sheldon's advice and
disassembling a couple of old cassettes to rescue the spacers. Then I
will be able to play with the chainline and gearing over the weekend.
My rear wheel is going to look like this:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/images/single-conv.gif

(at least until I can find the money in the budget for a flip-flop
hub.) Fortunately, I won't need the tensioner as the frame has
horizontal dropouts.

I'm surprised how different the ride is when I can't change gears!

-Buck

bill said:

Buck said:

I noticed that on my daily commute I leave the chain on the big ring
(MTB crank, probably a 44) and skip around on three cogs out back. I
have been wondering if I could go singlespeed but haven't had the
discipline to leave the shifters alone.

Where do you ride? On my not-so-daily commute (too long and too many
thunderstorms lately), I use the easiest of my 27 speeds and the hardest
of my 27 speeds. I couldn't fathom using a single speed, especially since
two of the hills on my way home are so hard that I barely make it up them,
and that's in my easiest gear and standing on the pedals while pulling up
on the handlebars with all my might. On the way from home to work, I have
one massive hill but I ride down these two steep, short hills.

Now, when I lived in Snottsdale, AZ, I could easily have ridden a single
speed. Here in CT, though, there are too many hills.

--
Bob in CT

Buck said:

I noticed that on my daily commute I leave the chain on the big ring
(MTB crank, probably a 44) and skip around on three cogs out back. I
have been wondering if I could go singlespeed but haven't had the
discipline to leave the shifters alone.

My wife provided the incentive to give it a try. I have an old Schwinn
World Sport frame that I repainted several years ago with that
rainy-day beater bike project in mind. The frame has been languishing
in a corner ever since the repaint. The incentive came in the form of a
"honey-do." It was a request to clear out the basement so we could do
some rearranging of our storage space. I figured it was better to store
those old parts on a frame than in a box!

It took a couple of hours to cobble together a working prototype. The
seat post is a bit too small and required a shim. The gears were chosen
by serendipity - the front inner chainring (42t) aligned with the 17t
cog. I'll play with the gearing once I get some proper spacers.

The focus on the ride this morning was troubleshooting instead of
speed. I found the gearing to be low enough for the two biggest hills
but not quite high enough for the other side of those same hills. I
wouldn't have wanted a fixed gear for either of those decents! Maybe in
a few months....

I just wanted to share the joy, both from the build and the ride. I now
have a new toy to play with and a slightly cleaner basement! Now to
work on the gearing, mount some fenders, find those old clipless
pedals, buy some moustache bars....

-Buck

That sort of worked for me except that I wore the 3 rear rings to the
point of making noise and now I just shift to the middle ring and shift
up on the back to get the remaining good gears. Cheapness is the mother
of invention with me. The top gear gets used for good tailwinds.
Bill Baka

Bob in CT said:

bill said:

Buck said:

I noticed that on my daily commute I leave the chain on the big ring
(MTB crank, probably a 44) and skip around on three cogs out back. I
have been wondering if I could go singlespeed but haven't had the
discipline to leave the shifters alone.

Where do you ride? On my not-so-daily commute (too long and too many
thunderstorms lately), I use the easiest of my 27 speeds and the hardest
of my 27 speeds. I couldn't fathom using a single speed, especially
since two of the hills on my way home are so hard that I barely make it
up them, and that's in my easiest gear and standing on the pedals while
pulling up on the handlebars with all my might. On the way from home to
work, I have one massive hill but I ride down these two steep, short hills.

Yeah,
I used to get gung ho on some of those really steep up hills until i
wheelied over on my commuter back pack a few times. Now I just swallow
my pride and walk. The lowest speeds are good for loose dirt but with a
20/28 one good pedal push and it's over, literally. The top gears I
start with and find myself passing 20 MPH without even noticing at
first, then after about a half mile my legs tell me to shift down one or
two, and then are happy the rest of the way for a commute ride.
Bill Baka

Quoted message said:

Now, when I lived in Snottsdale, AZ, I could easily have ridden a single
speed. Here in CT, though, there are too many hills.

--Bob in CT

Buck said:

Chris Z The Wheelman said:

Any gear that's right for the ups is going to be wrong for the downs,
and vice versa. As far as your gearing is concerned, I'de take some
advice from your multi-speed bike. Which gear combo do you like the
most? Figure out the ratio and duplicate it on the single speed using a
sprocket / cog combination that gives you the same ratio.

That was my plan. I will be following Sheldon's advice and
disassembling a couple of old cassettes to rescue the spacers. Then I
will be able to play with the chainline and gearing over the weekend.
My rear wheel is going to look like this:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/images/single-conv.gif

(at least until I can find the money in the budget for a flip-flop
hub.) Fortunately, I won't need the tensioner as the frame has
horizontal dropouts.

I'm surprised how different the ride is when I can't change gears!

-Buck

I used to have more MTB gearing than I could use. I had a 20/32/46 up
front and a 14-39 Suntour 5 speed on the back. The 20/39 was just
insanely low. It felt like I was doing a cadence of 150 to maintain
walking speed, and maybe I was. That was only good for zero effort
climbing of 15% hills though since any more would put me on my back.
I still have the Suntour gear but it is sort of a museum piece at this
point.
Bill Baka

Bob in CT said:

Where do you ride? On my not-so-daily commute (too long and too many

I live and ride in southern Arkansas. I can keep it over 10mph on the
way up the two biggest hills. They are good for the low thirties on the
way down. The single speed is a bit slower both up and down....

-Buck