The Siren of Singlespeeding

So the inevitable has finally happened and despite attempts to resist I have brought a singlespeed. Despite desperate attempts to resist the sirens whispering I have, in the end, failed. My other bike is an all singing, all dancing, full suspension bedecked with the latest technology. So how did this come to pass, and how did I, a normally sane person, end up buying a single geared hardtail. Do I really think I’m convincing my non-cycling friends when I try to persuade them that a bike with only one gear is a good idea?

As a rider of the younger generation I grew up with mountain bikes and even my first bike was a 15 geared behemoth such that almost any gradient felt like it could be tackled. I was not a keen mountain biker until about 4 years ago when a move from the North to the South required a change in outdoor activity. The lack of substantial rock faces or big hills near London meant that climbing and mountaineering were destined for the back burner and something else was required for the weekly ritual of getting cold and wet in the outdoors. Mountain biking seemed the logical choice and so after significant research savings were spent on a “proper bike”, my new found hobby had begun.

Initially a university club provided the ideal way into the sport, being populated mostly by students the concept of multiple bikes was perhaps slightly more unusual. Most of us had an offroad bike upon which much care and attention was lavished, perhaps a road bike and then a bike you expected to get stolen that you commuted in on. Having only a single off-road bike gears were still logical as they provided the means to get up hills, sure, sometimes there was problems but everybody suffered the same, right?

Wrong, very wrong. Leaving university another club was required and I fell into the embracing arms of the C1XV where things were slightly different. Lots of bikes, certainly more “bikes” than club members and it was here I first saw a single speed. I think my initial reaction (it being mid-summer and the hot summer of two years ago) was why? As far as I could see then there was no real advantage and just lots of disadvantages, they had to spin like crazy on the flat and it seemed that only a certain gradient was ideal. I briefly thought about the idea and decided it would never happen to me, lots of other things would be purchased before you could persuade me to for go my precious gears.

But then a “proper” winter struck, my wonderful gears suddenly didn’t seem to be working, always skipping up and down the cassette or requiring funky little half shifts to keep them on the straight and narrow. Chainsuck also reared its head with the wrecking sounds on the frame, no damage seemed to be done but it was always a concern. The jeers of the club riders would ring in my ears at this point, stalling on a simple climb as my gears mangled (again) to be swiftly over taken by a chirpy soul with only one gear to his name. The whispering had started properly and once it begins it is hard to ignore, a sirens call that I should resist.

Resist I did for the first winter, cleaning my bike every weekend and telling myself I couldn’t justify another bike, I had no where to put it for sure. Last summer though did nothing but increase the volume of the siren. Where were the months of dry trails? A few weekends of beautiful conditions but there still seemed to be far too much cleaning and maintaining. Also those riders without gears didn’t seem to be “that” much slower and indeed some of them were still leaving me behind during the summer. So there went another excuse.

A move to a house from a flat in October gave me a garden, the whispering got stronger. I could leave the singlespeed outside, it wouldn’t need delicate cleaning and would be ideal for those quick mid-weeks blasts I didn’t do as the riding to cleaning time was too high. By now I was covetously looking at other riders bikes and mentally adding up the various costs, random enquiries about the cost of frames, possible sizes, ratios, cheap spares. All of this was of course just casual enquires, I was never going to actually do anything but it gave me something to think about when work was going slow.

Then a second winter took hold and I got bored with all the cleaning, the chainsuck, etc. A casual browse of the classifieds suddenly converted into a purchase and I owned a singlespeed, the sirens are silent for now. So how am I finding it? Different I think is the best response, I’ve only ridden it a few times and all on short jaunts (exactly as intended). I find my thumb still sometimes wildly searching for that non-existent shifter when the going gets steep, I’m also walking up hills some of the time. But the advantages are there, no drive train problems and a bike I don’t feel quite so guilty about leaving under tarpaulin in the garden.

So am I converted?? Not yet is the answer. For quick blasts around my local area I will use the singlespeed in winter, for all the reasons stated. If there is a call for long rides or trips to bigger hills the full sus will make a welcome appearance. One side affect of riding a single speed is I’ve suddenly realised how much of a difference the rear suspension has been making. Have the sirens been silenced? Not quite, they now seem to be whispering “road bike”, but I shall resist!!

Oh, and on the subject of persuading non-cycling friends, not one of them even pretends to understand!

Mark Sweatman - March 2005