It has been a few months since the last time I put up a ride review on my 1×1 setup. I’ve made a couple changes to the bike and have been riding it about once a week as the training schedule allows. (Pushing a hard gear on a rigid single speed isn’t very good for this early in training.)

The first change I made was pulling off the front Race X Lite 29er wheel as I had been swapping that wheel between my Karate Monkey and this build. I put on a spare wheel that is an XT non-disc hub laced to a Mavic Open Pro. The tire is the same Bontrager that I’ve always been running. While doing this I also pulled the front disc brake off. I’m now only running ONE disc brake in the rear. As Charlotte doesn’t have a lot of crazy down hills and we aren’t allowed to ride when it is wet I have come to enjoy just having one brake. My technique is improving as it helping with keeping momentum and picking a better line.

The ride is awesome. The bike is so simple and remind me a lot of a BMX 26″ cruiser. With no suspension or gears it is pretty light (I have not weighed it yet) and the 29″ front wheel seems to handle fine in the 26″ fork.

I plan on riding this set up for most the season. For SSWC in Napa I will be putting a 26″ front suspension fork at 80mm with a 26″ wheel. Mainly due to not knowing the course or length. I’m not sure I could bomb around on the fully rigid for more than 25 miles at a time.