singlespeed CX bike. Yay or nay

lennymc

So i said id start a new thread so as not to clog up the other cx thread.

Anyway, Im thinking of getting a singlespeed cx bike for racing this year. Any views or opinions? I did last season, and a lot of races ended up in one gear anyway after a couple of laps.

It would be a race only bike.

Pros:
Lighter
No derailers, shifters etc to go wrong or get clogged up
Less maintenance and replacing of parts/breakages putting you out of the race

Cons:
One gear
More dismount/remount and running (but I dont mind the running part)

Astra, how did you find your singlespeed?

dooverylittle

You left out the biggest Pro.
When you don't win you can say "ah I was on a single speed aren't I mad"

Lumen

It had better be lighter, cos you're going to be carrying it a lot.

Raam

Nay, although a few people do use single speed.
As for staying in one gear on a geared bike, at least you get to chose that gear. With a single speed you are stuck with it once the race starts.

Sagi

well I think it is quite obvious that a SSP bike is not the ideal race bike, but if you have fun on it, why not. Personally I liked riding a SSP for commutiong, but as soon as there are more serious uphills it would not be my choice.

lennymc

Raam wrote: »

As for staying in one gear on a geared bike, at least you get to chose that gear. With a single speed you are stuck with it once the race starts.

it was normally shift - click - shift - click - shift - nothing - cr@p.

Harrybelafonte

Sheldon's take: http://sheldonbrown.com/singlecross.html (actually by someone else, Tarik Saleh)

In his last paragraph: "Prepare to be utterly uncompetitive, but a crowd favorite."

Harrybelafonte

Also, you'd wanna be able to spin like a mofo.

lennymc

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

"Prepare to be utterly uncompetitive, but a crowd favorite."

I am utterly uncompetitive in cx, and really just do it because I hate myself and deserve to suffer.

AstraMonti

If you want to race on it no, if you want to commute on it yes. It's just very unfriendly for any proper cx terrain (well for my legs at least) and having to push a big gear all the time can tire you fast, very fast on speed. If you put a low gear then you will be spinning out fairly fast and losing the crowd on the flats. If you want something that's light, go for a 1x front ring setup with no front derailleur and no shifter.

crosswords

Singlespeed - aren't they just for hipsters?

Definitely not for racing.

FirstinLastout

Of course you can choose your gear, you just choose it before the race begins.:P

I don’t cyclo-cross but currently all my mountain biking, both recreational as well as a few events, is done single speed and all the advantages mentioned above are pretty much accurate.
Potentially you are at a disadvantage when you hit the climbs but I’d safely say that 90% of the climbs I tackle I’ll happily make without difficulty.
Single speeding off-road teaches you to generate & conserve/utilise momentum rather than waste it.
You learn to flow much better and become much smarter at picking the right lines.

Usually folks that will dismiss single-speeding have never properly tried it!
Often at a trail head I’ll be talking bikes with strangers and receiving the usual “Not for me, you’re mad to be single-speeding, get with the times Man... etc” prior to them heading off only to later pass them on a hill as they furiously spin upwards in their lowest gears or I get stuck behind them as they noisily bang, rattle, click and slap their way through nice flowing single track.

Give it a half season and if it’s not for you get some gears.
If you dig it then you’ve saved on cash & maintenance but either way you’ll be wiser and your cycling will have benefited from the experience.

Squidgy Black

I can't imagine it being the best idea, particularly if it's a course you've never been through before. There'd be nothing worse than having to mash your way through a course or just spinning out all the time because you couldn't judge what ratio to use.

There's a thread over on London Fixed Gear Single Speed (LFGSS) about SSCX if you want to give it a read https://www.lfgss.com/thread97218.html

kumate_champ07

'spinning out' is something that can be worked on, most people probably dont bother so go back to multi speed.

whats the average and top speeds in a typical Irish CX race?

lennymc

I was looking back through strava at some of the races from last year and 12-18 kph seemed to be about the average. I had two dnfs last year due to mechanical issues with the drive train.

Cheers for all the feedback so far!

easygoing39

@1stinlastout,what mtb racing events will you be doing ss this year???

Harrybelafonte

lennymc wrote: »

I was looking back through strava at some of the races from last year and 12-18 kph seemed to be about the average. I had two dnfs last year due to mechanical issues with the drive train.

Cheers for all the feedback so far!

The more I think about this, the more I think you should do it Lenny.

FirstinLastout

easygoing39 wrote: »

@1stinlastout,what mtb racing events will you be doing ss this year???

Unfortunately due to work commitments I find myself working weekends so it is unlikely for the next while.
This year it's only been the Euros SS in Girona last April and there is still an outside chance I might make it to the Worlds in September which are in Italy.

Outside of that I'll try to pick a couple of regular mtb events later in the summer if time allows.
It is pretty unusual to see single-speeders competing in regular mtb events but its surprisingly commonplace abroad.

lennymc

just an update on this. I got a surly crosscheck f&f a few weeks ago and stuck it together. Had my first outing on it on Saturday - did an hour or so around st annes over some of the trickier parts of last years course. The bike handles really well (even with the inflated tyres), and had no problem with any of the obstacles from last years course. It is very spinny (34/17 gearing) on the flat, but seems to be nice on the not so flat stuff. I will be changing the gearing depending on the course - its a standard 10spd freehub with spacers, so i have lots of gearing to play with - but initial impressions are good. Lots of ground clearance, nice handling in the loose stuff, reasonably comfortable. Main thing is its fun. I'm looking forward to doing some more cx type spins on it.

mirv

Here's an oddball idea. You could slap on a single downtube, thumb, or bar end shifter. That way you can pick your gear after a practice run of the course on the day or something. Or maybe even run three or four gears instead of just the one for reliable but limited shifting with a nice chainline. Although it does look more pretty without a derailleur.

lennymc

mirv wrote: »

Here's an oddball idea. You could slap on a single downtube, thumb, or bar end shifter. That way you can pick your gear after a practice run of the course on the day or something. Or maybe even run three or four gears instead of just the one for reliable but limited shifting. Although it does look more pretty without a derailleur.

That would still leave me with a derailer and associated bits n pieces which are liable to clog up and break. Want to get away from that altogether. Plus, if I had gears I'd use them. This was I just have to HTFU.

mirv

Sturmey Archer FTW?

lennymc

mirv wrote: »

Sturmey Archer FTW?

no

droidus

Too heavy, surely?

mirv

An actually useful suggestion might be to put 19, 17 and 15 cogs on the rear, centered on the middle gear and size the chain so that you it can be tensioned for either of the three gears depending on how far back you pull the wheel in the dropout, or a flipflop hub with two freewheels. Gear changing 1920s style.

lennymc

that would sacrafice my nice chainline, and possibly result in dropped chains.

While I admire your determination to get me to put more gears on it, its not going to happen. It will stay singlespeed. I may change gears before a race (but i probably wont), but thats it. There wont be any gear changing when riding.

if i really want gears I have a geared cx bike that i can use.

Tenzor07

Was definetly a couple of people i'd noticed with SS setups in CX racing the last couple of seasons..
Personally.. I think it's a great idea so far as not getting your gears jammed up with mud when racing... But.. I just don't think it's that practical for training and racing... You may run out of gears on long open flat stretches.. and on short steep climbs such as in Swords(tarmac path)..

Perfect setup would be a single Wolftooth chainring with a 9spd cassette and a 9spd MTB rear mech.. IMO

lennymc

just an update on this seeing as how the cx season is just over. I did 7 cx races this year on the single speed and thoroughly enjoyed them. I didnt win, but

dooverylittle wrote: »

"ah I was on a single speed aren't I mad"

In all seriousness I thoroughly enjoyed it. Would I have been faster on a geared bike? Most definately. Would I have had as much fun and suffered as much? Highly unlikely.

Anyway, in advance of the cx nationals this week I wussed out and threw on a mish mash groupset to give me some gears. They will be coming off for the next CX season tho! Its too much fun doing them singlespeed, and I had 0 mechanicals which was a bonus.

calistro

lennymc wrote: »

just an update on this seeing as how the cx season is just over. I did 7 cx races this year on the single speed and thoroughly enjoyed them. I didnt win, but

I was looking at your set up on Sunday at the CX race and thought to myself, "good luck to you with that"...wasn't thinking that when it took me 6 laps to catch up with ya!..;)

mirv

What ratio were you running? I went to Glending forest out in blessington today on the hybrid with a 50/36 chainset and a 12-25 cassette and I was dying up the climbs. Although I'm guessing CX climbs are shorter than typical forest tracks! Took me ages to wash the bike afterwards, so muddy.

lennymc

mirv wrote: »

What ratio were you running? I went to Glending forest out in blessington today on the hybrid with a 50/36 chainset and a 12-25 cassette and I was dying up the climbs. Although I'm guessing CX climbs are shorter than typical forest tracks! Took me ages to wash the bike afterwards, so muddy.

Ended up running a 36/18 all season. There were a few bits where i had to run up hills, such as the swords course, but for the most part I was able to get over everything. I didn't have to dismount at crossmarnock for the hill into the headwind, which is about the longest hill in the cx season that I know of. Its is tarmac tho.

FirstinLastout

Well done on the single speeding but I'm curious, is cyclocross races over here in Ireland as depicted inthe vid below???

http://drunkcyclist.com/2014/01/08/single-speed-cx-sport/

lennymc

FirstinLastout wrote: »

Well done on the single speeding but I'm curious, is cyclocross races over here in Ireland as depicted inthe vid below???

http://drunkcyclist.com/2014/01/08/single-speed-cx-sport/

Not enough beer in the irish races.

Lumen

lennymc wrote: »

Not enough beer in the irish races.

Or butt crack hand ups.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwtE29Y-l-U