CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

How old, is too old...

(24 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by ExcitableBoy
  • Latest reply from Uberuce
  • This topic is not resolved

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  1. ExcitableBoy
    Member

    ...to ride a single speed bike?

    I have this recuring desire to buy a new bike. Much to the dismay of my beloved! [There are several on my wish list].

    However due to a lack of funds, space and other considerations I am limited to what I can consider buying.

    With EBC sale now on I could buy a Revolution Track 11, which ticks several boxes - it would be cheap enough to be left outside say the cinema without the need for constant checking upon, sufficiently different to my other bikes, ...

    But I am concerned that in the late Summer of my years that I might look a bit of a pranny, hate it after 5 min. or not be up to it physically (I'm not the speediest of cyclists).

    Any thoughts?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Gear it to your needs and it will not offer any more physical challenge than it needs to. Practical around town and practical in terms of budget as there's no expensive Shimano bits to buy. I was a bit unsure when I first got mine, wasn't very fit at the time, but instantly loved it. Even in a rather large gear went up hills far easier than I had imagined what with being light and having a very efficient chainline.

    It could be a great bike I say. Never to old.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. ExcitableBoy
    Member

    Oh, thanks Kaputnik - not sure that's what I wanted to hear. I'm quite good at resisting temptation for a while and then I'll suddenly snap. Now if i'm passing that way tomorrow who knows what might happen?
    Don't reckon I'll get too much of the pi** taken then? - not that it would be the first time ;)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I see they've lowered the gear from last year 47/16 to 42/16 i.e. by 11%.

    47 would be a pretty big gear especially considering it's not actually the lightest singlespeed in the world. I've got 46/16 and that's more than enough.

    Ask them for a test drive, see what you think, run it up and down Leamington Walk to gauge how you feel on the hill.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    I don't know anything about fixed gear bikes but I know a man who does. Make sure you read to the bottom of the page :)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  6. recombodna
    Member

    Yeah what kaputnik says. You're never too old and screw what others think.!! How old are you anyway? Old enough to know you need this bike.... I love my fixed gear. It's turned into my everyday bike. I too run a 46/16....love it

    Posted 13 years ago #

  7. gembo
    Member

    cycle around on your derailler without changing gear to get the feel of it - not for cycling up hill from asda with two panniers of shopping, ideal for canal towpath

    Posted 13 years ago #

  8. PS
    Member

    I remember someone saying you get three gears with a singlespeed - sitting, standing and walking.

    Key thing I've realised of late is to know when to stand. I tend to stay seated for climbs on my road bike, but you can end up trying to push a knee-popping gear if you stay seated too long on a SS.

    My SS has been great around town. Less maintenance, fewer things to go wrong, no derailleurs to get knocked out of place. Your legs get sued to it and you'll know routes to get from A to B without going up a too-steep hill.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  9. wee folding bike
    Member

    Chainring and sprocket teeth doesn't completely describe a gear.

    For example I have a bike in the house with a 54/12 transmission. It gets up most hills no bother with that gear. That's because it only has a 16" wheel.

    For historical reasons the UK uses gear inches to describe a gear. This tells you the size of wheel an ordinary (penny farthing) would need to produce the same effect.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear_inches

    Sort of odd but if you're used to it then it works fine.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  10. gembo
    Member

    the only single speed I have seen with mudguards and a pannier rack was a single speed tricross. Looked heavy.

    Not that I am one to talk about jumping on pedals in the wrong gear etc but standing up to cycle up a hill is fine if no wind or wind behind you but into the wind standing up will slow you down

    Posted 13 years ago #

  11. ExcitableBoy
    Member

    Okay - now I'm in BIG trouble. My beloved wife is likely to leave me as I have bought a new bike. I may try to place part of the blame onto K and PS - don't think its going to help though.
    Yesterday was a crap day. I went to escort my wife to work and found bike1 to have a flat front tyre, I took down bike2 to find that it also had a flat front tyre!, so I took out bike3 (last option) and we set off. Chain skipping a beat every now and then I get to the other side of Edinburgh, where it gets worse, to find the chain snapped on one side. Cycle gingerly along flat parts to The Bicycle Works - sorted. Then in the evening, going back out I manage to break my front light.
    So I think to myself - better to look after the bikes I have, than get another.
    However, today I wake to think - why not do both.
    So I head off to try out the Revolution track that K and PS convinced me I should try. Hated it for a couple of minutes, then thought it felt good. Then tried Genesis Day 01 - love at first downstroke - bought!
    Hence (after a long post - sorry if dull, but nobody at home is pleased for me) I am the happy owner, with the kind help of those above, of bike4, a scuba yelow Genesis Day 01 drop bar singlespeed.

    And if anybody fancies a day out helping me track down my wife after she leaves, that would be much appreciated!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  12. wee folding bike
    Member

    You could just have used Marathon Plus tyres and dodged the punctures.

    I need to grease an SRAM 3 speed on a Brompton and sort out the derailleur on that one too. I'll wait till the spring break.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  13. wingpig
    Member

    @ExciteableBoy There's probably no better excuse for not fixing a puncture than having two other working bikes, but unless the Day One comes with Marathon Plus as standard, history will be repeated, though hopefully without the broken chain and light.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  14. ExcitableBoy
    Member

    True.
    In my defense neither tyre was flat when I put them in the garage,one the day before and the other a couple of days ago - both had miniscule punctures. I rarely get punctures, but have had about 4 since the bad weather - I wouldn't normally get that many in a couple of years.
    The Council need to consider this when they review their management of the bad weather - I guess that means I should inform them, since I shouldn't rely on others doing so, although that is what I would usually do ;)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  15. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Chainring and sprocket teeth doesn't completely describe a gear.

    It does if you use assume the use of "proper" 700x23c wheels :D

    Posted 13 years ago #

  16. kaputnik
    Moderator

    You wouldn't want to be haulign the weight of a Marathon+ around on a single speed.

    Excitableboy - the Day One is a great looking bike and carries my personal seal of approval colourwise. Will make you quite an easy spot too.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  17. ExcitableBoy
    Member

    @K cheers.
    I shall attempt to spot you first! However, I have yet to spot anybody on here. Does anyone have any idea how many peoplle read this forum?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  18. kaputnik
    Moderator

    There's lots of photos of my bikes on Flickr, I shouldn't be that hard...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  19. ruggtomcat
    Member

    some of us are invisible however

    Posted 13 years ago #

  20. kaputnik
    Moderator

    are invisible however

    Yes but some of "us" fall out from under their invisibility cloaks however :P

    Posted 13 years ago #

  21. PS
    Member

    You need to be careful with highly spottable bikes. There was an orange Genesis Day One chained to the railings outside the London Street Sauna this evening... Obviously, the owner wouldn't have chained up there if they were about to pop in for a ... er ... sauna. Or would they? Perhaps it was a double bluff? ;-)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  22. Smudge
    Member

    But I thought sauna's were good for tired legs? (he said innocently)

    note- I don't own a Genesis Day One, in any colour! My Surly is however pretty... in fact, very, spottable!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  23. kaputnik
    Moderator

    There can't be many custom 26" LHTs around these parts

    Posted 13 years ago #

  24. Uberuce
    Member

    Necro-thread-mancy. Was Googling in regard to putting a hub in the back of my Day One.

    Kaputnik in Zazou and PS in this thread: I remember someone saying you get three gears with a singlespeed - sitting, standing and walking.

    This thought occurred to me as I carried wee blue floofy up the stairs to my flat some days after Zazou, but I didn't get round to posting it: with the Day One being a flipflop cyclocross, you get five: sitting, standing, walking, pick-it-up'n'run and (if fixed) reverse.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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