Single Speed Mind

Maybe it was all that stuff having to do with the C.O.G. 100, or maybe not. I mean, I have been wont to ride fixed gear bikes and single speeds to work quite often. I even set up the ol' BMC "Orange Crush" gravel rig as a single speed bike again. Whatever it is, I have had single speeding on my mind again.

Wednesday was a grey and blustery day with plenty of rain. So, riding on gravel or dirt was simply out of the question. I spent quite a while working on the RidingGravel.com site, but then in the afternoon, I got the itch to work on the single speed bikes. So I went down into the dingy old "Lab" and went to work on some things.

There are quite a few single speed devices in the possession of Guitar Ted. Probably way more than I need, or that I should have. I mean, most folks have that token single speed bike because, well.......it's a niche that needs to be filled. They may hardly ever ride it, because, let's face it, single speed bicycles are almost always in the wrong gear. They aren't "easy". They also are not as simple as you'd expect them to be.

Just take putting a rear wheel in a frame. On most geared bikes, once you learn the trick of where to have the derailleur positioned, it is simple. Slam the wheel in the drop outs, close the skewer or insert the through axle. Done. Not so on most single speeds.

You may have to reset the brakes, center the wheel in the frame using drop out adjusters, futz with chain tugs, tension chains "just so", and then maybe you will get the things perfectly aligned and the nutted axle or quick release is locked down. Then you test ride it, jerking on the pedals to mimic a high torque load point, to test the axle tightness and alignment. All things geared bicycle owners never need to worry about.

Fooling around with chain tugs, brake alignment, and chain tension, all at once, can drive a guy nutso.

Then that doesn't cover changing gear ratios. You may need to add or subtract chain links, and you definitely will be aligning all sorts of things at one time to get the bike into rideable shape. Good luck with that! This all is another reason why riding a single speed with the possibility of flat tires is another negative to riding a one speed device. Field servicing a rear wheel issue can about make you lose your mind, and that's if you remember all the extra tools you need just to get the wheel off.

Of course, this is why some love a fixed gear. No Coast rigs have a simpler time generally since many people don't use a rear brake, and most "fixies" use nutted axles which are great for wheel retention without resorting to chain tugs. A fixed gear and cantilever brakes also isn't too bad either, in terms of the level of futz involved with wheel installation/removal. Of course, you still need to carry a box end wrench.

I'm looking forward to getting the 2003 Karate Monkey out on the gravel again.

I guess I'd rather have all my single speed bikes be like my OS Bikes Blackbuck. That one has a split eccentric bottom bracket which allows the use of vertical drop outs, and that makes everything waaaaay easier. No worries there at all. My Pofahl, Sawyer, one of my two Inbreds, and the shuttered Dorothy frame all use sliding drop outs,which aren't too bad either. Everything else has track ends or horizontal drop outs, and most of those are pains in the butt to deal with, as noted above.

Get the idea that I have a few single speeds? Yeah, I do have some. I've even sold some off! I still have three fixed gear bikes, three mountain bikes, three gravel bikes,and one single speed compatible bike set up geared currently in the stable, and that doesn't count my Blackborow DS dinglespeed or the Ti Muk that could be single speeds too.

Crazy Single Speed Mind!