Is single speed the way to start out?
December 4th, 2006 by Tim GrahlI made the trip up for Punk Bike Enduro this week and Brad and I got to talking about single speeds and if they’re the best way for someone to get into the sport.
I hadn’t thought about it much, but Brad thinks it’s a great way to get someone started since you can get a pretty nice single speed for $500 and in that same price range you’d be getting a pretty low-end geared bike.
I can see both sides of this. There are definite upsides to putting a newbie on a bike that will last a good while, however do we really want to put somebody that’s new to riding singletrack on a bike that’s much harder to climb with? To me this could lead to a lot of frustration if they end up having to push their bike up every hill. Thinking back to when I began, I’m not so sure I would have thought the sport was as fun if I was trying to pound on a 32:16 to get up the smallest of hills.
What’s your thoughts on this? Should we make the single speed the entry bike for newbies? Or still try to get them on a geared bike?
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i think a singlespeed is a great way to get someone into cycling. its lower maintenance, lighter (typically), and, as mentioned, cheaper for a better bike. i think the solution to an inexperienced rider trying to get up hills is to simply set up the bike for easier gearing so that the hills are easy and they are pedaling at a higher cadence on the flats. i think the confidence boost from making it up the hills will compensate for the lack of speed on the flats. and maybe once their hooked on our sport, they will lust to branch out and seek multiple gears.
I think if someone has put me on a single speed and then taking me to Sprain Ridge Park or Blue Mountain (local trails here in NY) and sent me up those steep, rocky, rooty slopes I would have done the following. 1) Get off the bike. 2) Hit said someone hard with the bike. 3) Walk off the mountain and never look back. I love my gears!
This is a tough one. Although a good single speed will cost less than a geared bike and have less problems, I would have to recommend a newbie start with gears.
I started mtn bike riding at age 45 with a Huffy rigid, geared bike and then moved up to a $500 hardtail, geared Giant. I’ve ridden the Giant a lot on trails in 4 states and done 2 races. The inexpensive Giant is not my limiting factor in racing.
This summer I started riding the trails in only one gear, then I made the Giant into a single speed (32/16 gears).
I enjoy riding SS more than the geared, but I just don’t think I could have started out on a SS.
I think the argument about maintenance is irrelevant. Most people who buy a low-end bike — not wal-mart stuff, but entry level Giant or whatever — ride it happily with nothing more than changing flats and an annual tune up at the shop.
When I started riding off-road a couple of years ago, if I didn’t have a granny gear I would have had no fun at all. Instead, I was amazed at all the cool places I could now get to on a bike, simply because I had fat tires and really low gears.
I think a new rider wants all the help they can get from the bike, particularly in terms of gears and suspension.
That weird desire to ride only one gear comes later. I still haven’t fully given in, currently riding a single speed commuter and 1×9 mountain bike, but it will happen someday, I am sure.
Hey, I started riding 16 years ago on the road racing my Cannondale Crit frame and Mavic components with friction shifting. STI was just coming out then. I bought my first MTB in 1996, a Cannondale F700. After I took about a 5 year break from riding bikes, I started riding my F700 again last year to commute when gas rose over 3.00/gallon. I think the gears were good for me to help get me back into shape with out to much pain on my knees.
But, recently I bought a Redline Monocog 29er SS. It is geared a little too low, but I am having a blast riding it. I am commuting on it and have had it on some fire roads and light trails around Lincoln, Ne. We have some rolling hills here, but no real climbing compared to say Colorado or the Eastern mountain ranges. I will most likely drop the rear cog to a 16T fairly soon.
With all that said, I am only 30yrs old and my knees are still in pretty good shape. I walk 3-6mi per day at my job, and I climb a lot of stairs all day….so I consider myslef to be in better shape than the average office worker. But, if I was a 45-50yr old guy who was fairly seditary, and hadn’t really done much exercise is say 10yrs, then I don’t think a single speed would be the way to go.
Money is an issue to me and that is why I bought the Redline. But, if you want a bling bling SS, then it seems very easy to drop 1-1.5K. And even with the outrageous prices of bikes these days, you can still get a pretty good geared bike for 1K IMHO.
Anyway..I will step down from the soapbox.
Peace out, and happy trails to all.
Chris
I think it really depends on where you live. I live in south-west Minnesota, not exactly the most milliest region, but we do have a few parks we can ride in with some good hills. Me and my friends don’t really take the newbies on the bigger hills at first, so that they can get use to drops and off road riding. Around here a good single speed would be a great way to start out. Once you think you are ready to upgrade (or just want to take the bigger hills) you can pick up a cheapo Wal-Mart bike or (if you are serious about riding) you can go to a bike shop and get a decent geared bike.
likewise, in a hillier region (like northern MN) a geared bike would be the way to go for someone starting out, and then you can switch to single speed if you want.
I can’t imagine still being in this sport if I had to start on a single speed bike.For someone to do this and enjoy it starting out, they would need to be in awesome shape. Single speed bikes seem to be something that people that have been involved with the sport for awhile,may ,or may not gravitate to.The only way this could make any sense at all is if you lived somewhere very flat,or just used the bike for short distance easy riding stuff,like maybe an easy commute.
Single speed as a first bike is a great way to go. It will make you stronger faster and while you might have to push up some hills at times you at least have an excuse ” I’ve only got one gear” or ” it must be nice to have gears” Plus you look hard core while your in the parking lot. And when you get a geared bike it will be all that much easier when you hit the same trails that you had been suffering on with your SS
Shawn, “suffering”, personaly I never got into this sport to “suffer”,but then again there are those that are into that sort of thing. LOL
I agree with the thoughts on having people feel like the sport is to hard. I know a lot of the people I take for the first time are doing it to get into shape and by putting them on a singlespeed it could incredibly discouraging. The initial draw to the sport for me was the amount of ground I could easily cover and the places I could see from the bike, but I spent a whole lot of time in the granny gear.
Maybe a 1×9 is a good way to go, but there aren’t currently a lot of stock bikes coming with that setup. Is this a niche that some companies could be tapping to give lower priced entry bikes to new riders?
This is the perfect subject for me. I’ve doing some low key XC riding on my Moongoose for about two years. I wanted to upgrade and and get a bike for my girlfriend. She’s really interested in getting into serious crazy downhill mountain biking. So she went out and bought a Specialized Big Hit. The guy she bought it from took the granny ring off so it is only single speed (or I guess single ringed). We haven’t really hit any big climbs yet as I still haven’t gotten a new bike and I don’t want to kill myself on my Mongoose. But I have been a little worried that once I get a new bike the single ring will be a problem when it comes to climbing for her. I am planning on getting a bike with a granny ring, cause I plain and simple don’t want to carry my damn bike up every hill…but that’s just me. I suppose that if we get really into it we’ll be like the guys at the bike shop who live by the “walk it up…ride it down” credo.
I’m of the opinion that it’s truly dependent on the terrain that the newbie will pop their cherry on. Rolling, twisty singletrack with few, if any climbs and/or fire roads are very singly-oriented.
However, if the trails in question are more mountainous one would need 22×34 gearing available. Maybe a 1×9 might not be a bad option? Would save front der. and shifter/cable cost.
I think a lot of it comes down to the rider’s background, their self-esteem.
If you are fit, and can handle failure, a SS would work great. But if a lot of failures get you down, it might not. Gears are a great safety net for the fragile ego (no offense to geared riders).
LOL,if anyone has a fragile ego its you Aaron! Only someone with an “ego” would make a comment like that.
It’s true, I’m horribly self-centered. Not even joking there.
Allow me to rephrase myself: In order to start out riding SS, a person has to be more expectant of failure. There, that sounds better.
most people as beginners will walk the hills
gears are an extra variable that they may not need
Joe Whitehair aka SINGLESPEED OUTLAW lead a Single Speed Conversion class a few weeks ago
I personally believe that lots of old beaters would do well to be converted into single speeds
not just for the absolute beginner
but for the urban cyclist
most people seldom switch gears
people are so often in the wrong gear
why not dumb it down for them
oh
me…
I have been riding and racing single speeds for years…
my first single speed in a race….
I raced my geared bike as a Clydesdale
then had just enough time to change my number to my home made single
and went out and rocked the course
I admit
I only paid an entry fee for one event
for that
I am sorry
I flip flop from geared bike to single speed
I do nearly half my mountain bike races on a Single
but…
I only race on courses where I am not disadvantaged by not having the gear options
never would I consider doing the Shenandoah Mountain 100 on a Single