skudupnorth
Cycling Skoda lover
- Location
- Astley,Manchester
The Boardman is fitted with Tektron rim brakes but I changed the drops to bullhorns with Sram bar end levers plus added a Brooks B17 narrow saddle
Who needs gears?
- Thread starter Sharky
- Start date
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skudupnorth
Cycling Skoda lover
- Location
- Astley,Manchester
Here’s my Boardman on holiday in Cornwall
Nice, I live in Cornwall. Building up a Bob Jackson Vigorelli with mudguards at the moment. I've picked up some NOS Dura ace 7403 levers and I'm pairing them with some NOS DA 7800 brake calipers. I'll post the bike once built up, just waiting on the frame from BJ.
skudupnorth
Cycling Skoda lover
- Location
- Astley,Manchester
Lovely part of the world which we always visit every year. Got a few funny looks from local cyclists due to the lack of gears on my bike
skudupnorth
Cycling Skoda lover
- Location
- Astley,Manchester
Love that colour
Singlespeeder
New Member
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
I find a singlespeed to be slower than a geared bike, but my singlespeed is geared at 60" for a nice cadence on the flat. Obviously this means coasting a lot on downhills and having excess power that can't be used with a tailwind.
I am faster on a fixie than on a geared bike. I found it saved about 30 seconds in a flattish "10", once I'd settled on the right gear, and the fastest I've ridden the Dunwich Dynamo (112.7 miles) was on my commuting fixie with 26 x 1.35 Marathon Plus tyres. It probably saved half an hour.
For general use I ride a 67-70" fixed gear, although I went up to 90" for time trialling because there was a slight downhill at the start of the course and I couldn't get enough power down on a lower gear. You generally want a higher gear on fixed because you have to be able to make it down hills; on a singlespeed you can just let it roll.
I am faster on a fixie than on a geared bike. I found it saved about 30 seconds in a flattish "10", once I'd settled on the right gear, and the fastest I've ridden the Dunwich Dynamo (112.7 miles) was on my commuting fixie with 26 x 1.35 Marathon Plus tyres. It probably saved half an hour.
For general use I ride a 67-70" fixed gear, although I went up to 90" for time trialling because there was a slight downhill at the start of the course and I couldn't get enough power down on a lower gear. You generally want a higher gear on fixed because you have to be able to make it down hills; on a singlespeed you can just let it roll.
12boy
Guru
- Location
- Casper WY USA
I am currently riding a surly steamroller with 48 x 16. Today with 20 mph headwinds it was hard work and slow, especially on hills. Doubt any of my geared bikes would have been much better. I also have been riding an old centurion with 42 x 18 and studded snows since there was ice and snow. It would have made todays ride both easier and slower if I had ridden that with regular tires.
mustang1
Legendary Member
- Location
- London, UK
Someone told me that I was cheating because I was on my e-bike so I switched.
The next day someone told me I was cheating because I was on a geared bike so I switched.
The next day someone told me I was cheating because I was on a free wheel ss so I switched .The next day someone told me I was cheating because I was on a fixed gear so I switched.
The next day someone told me I was cheating because I was a unicycle so I switched.
The next day someone told me I was cheating so I switched to walking.
The next day someone told me I was cheating so I punched him in the face.
The next day someone told me I was cheating because I was on a geared bike so I switched.
The next day someone told me I was cheating because I was on a free wheel ss so I switched .The next day someone told me I was cheating because I was on a fixed gear so I switched.
The next day someone told me I was cheating because I was a unicycle so I switched.
The next day someone told me I was cheating so I switched to walking.
The next day someone told me I was cheating so I punched him in the face.
rogerzilla
Legendary Member
You were probably wearing shoes, you cheating lightweight!
randynewmanscat
Veteran
- Location
- Vienne, Poitou-Chrentes
I used a Claude Butler with a 52x14 in the Lakes, no brakes. I was god as I vanquished my friends on hill and flat until we came to descend a not normally fearsome hill into Grasmere from Langdale. Its only about 400 foot descent to the the lake over a mile or more but I will never forget it. Normally if you are on a fixed and are trying to discipline yourself to avoid brakes (or don't have any*) you hop the back end if it gets too fast so that you can lock your legs completely to cause some friction on the road when the slope is too great for your leg strength. Several times and the speed is under control, expensive on tyres but emergency use and experimentation only. This cannot be done successfully without toe clips and tightened straps, I never tried it with clipless pedals.
I tried that and failed, the road got steeper and soon my legs spun faster than ever before or since. I had an SLR camera strapped over my shoulder and it was punching me in about the right kidney. As I hurtled down the hill a small snake of cars came up from Grasmere and it took a brave effort on my part to navigate round them on left and right sides. I nearly kissed the ground when I managed to stop at the lake level uninjured.
* This was the early 80's before the sensible times.
Needless to say my friends did not stop laughing for the rest of the ride.
I have enough parts for a fixed gear bike and will build one up, I love them and they make for good pedalling discipline and leg strength if you strive to keep cadence. I'll put a brake on as I am fearful that a lifetime of good luck may be running out. Disraeli is best but fixed is funniest.
The red text is to highlight the era context/safety disclaimer but seems to have stuck.
I tried that and failed, the road got steeper and soon my legs spun faster than ever before or since. I had an SLR camera strapped over my shoulder and it was punching me in about the right kidney. As I hurtled down the hill a small snake of cars came up from Grasmere and it took a brave effort on my part to navigate round them on left and right sides. I nearly kissed the ground when I managed to stop at the lake level uninjured.
* This was the early 80's before the sensible times.
Needless to say my friends did not stop laughing for the rest of the ride.
I have enough parts for a fixed gear bike and will build one up, I love them and they make for good pedalling discipline and leg strength if you strive to keep cadence. I'll put a brake on as I am fearful that a lifetime of good luck may be running out. Disraeli is best but fixed is funniest.
The red text is to highlight the era context/safety disclaimer but seems to have stuck.
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I see gears as wear, wear as misery,work and cost.
I had a single reason to move to singlespeed: my other bicycle still being in repair while my current also already requiring repair.
The replacements/repairs halved with singlespeed.
And halved another time with singlespeed 1/8" drivetrain.
And now, with my Gusset "Tank" chain, with 3/16" chain sideplates, well, the drivetrain didn't need any replacement in 15 months, at 50-60 km daily and in summer more, at least 25000 km.
I doubt alot people can say they rode 25000 km with a single chain.
Just to emphasize the major impact greater mechanical contact surfaces have.
And the cost? Well for me it doesn't matter much if a chain weights 250 or 500 grammes.
My bicycle alone, with all the things I always have with me (including a spare chain) weights dozens times that.
And I once rode 55 kg luggage 25 km further.
Nowadays I sometimes wonder why most people ride with a dozen gears.
The only reason that I can imagine is that they just don't know better, and the bicycle producing and selling business doesn't want them to know too.
To illustrate, I started my latest/current fixed gear with a 3/32" Surly stainless steel chainring - it became scrap (sharkfin teeth) after 1 month usage in aboves fashion. I replaced it with a 1/8" from aluminium grade 7075T6, and now, 16 months later it still eats the miles. It just shows.
This is how such a 1/8" with 3/16" sideplates chain looks like:
It looks GRRRRR! but that's not the best part, it works GRRRRR! too.
I had a single reason to move to singlespeed: my other bicycle still being in repair while my current also already requiring repair.
The replacements/repairs halved with singlespeed.
And halved another time with singlespeed 1/8" drivetrain.
And now, with my Gusset "Tank" chain, with 3/16" chain sideplates, well, the drivetrain didn't need any replacement in 15 months, at 50-60 km daily and in summer more, at least 25000 km.
I doubt alot people can say they rode 25000 km with a single chain.
Just to emphasize the major impact greater mechanical contact surfaces have.
And the cost? Well for me it doesn't matter much if a chain weights 250 or 500 grammes.
My bicycle alone, with all the things I always have with me (including a spare chain) weights dozens times that.
And I once rode 55 kg luggage 25 km further.
Nowadays I sometimes wonder why most people ride with a dozen gears.
The only reason that I can imagine is that they just don't know better, and the bicycle producing and selling business doesn't want them to know too.
To illustrate, I started my latest/current fixed gear with a 3/32" Surly stainless steel chainring - it became scrap (sharkfin teeth) after 1 month usage in aboves fashion. I replaced it with a 1/8" from aluminium grade 7075T6, and now, 16 months later it still eats the miles. It just shows.
This is how such a 1/8" with 3/16" sideplates chain looks like:
It looks GRRRRR! but that's not the best part, it works GRRRRR! too.
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randynewmanscat
Veteran
- Location
- Vienne, Poitou-Chrentes
I have the means to create a sealed enclosure for a single speed drive and maybe, maybe not I will make one. I thought of making one years ago but have not used a one cog set up in many years. Finding a suitable crank arm candidate to allow machining to fit a lipped seal on the pedalling side is not easy which could require machining a crank from scratch rather than modifying. A friend owned an MZ500, it had a Rotax engine and a feature that MZ almost always used, a plastic sprocket casing front and back connected by moulded rubber chain tubes with short bellows ends, completely sealed. It did not look as sexy as my road registered motocross bike but he did not have to spend hundreds on chains every year. Plus, you cannot reliably adjust a stretched chain long before the link length limit is reached, OK with dérailleurs but rubbish on single speed.I see gears as wear, wear as misery,work and cost.
I had a single reason to move to singlespeed: my other bicycle still being in repair while my current also already requiring repair.
The replacements/repairs halved with singlespeed.
And halved another time with singlespeed 1/8" drivetrain.
And now, with my Gusset "Tank" chain, with 3/16" chain sideplates, well, the drivetrain didn't need any replacement in 15 months, at 50-60 km daily and in summer more, at least 25000 km.
I doubt alot people can say they rode 25000 km with a single chain.
Just to emphasize the major impact greater mechanical contact surfaces have.
And the cost? Well for me it doesn't matter much if a chain weights 250 or 500 grammes.
My bicycle alone, with all the things I always have with me (including a spare chain) weights dozens times that.
And I once rode 55 kg luggage 25 km further.
Nowadays I sometimes wonder why most people ride with a dozen gears.
The only reason that I can imagine is that they just don't know better, and the bicycle producing and selling business doesn't want them to know too.
To illustrate, I started my latest/current fixed gear with a 3/32" Surly stainless steel chainring - it became scrap (sharkfin teeth) after 1 month usage in aboves fashion. I replaced it with a 1/8" from aluminium grade 7075T6, and now, 16 months later it still eats the miles. It just shows.
This is how such a 1/8" with 3/16" sideplates chain looks like:
View attachment 446801
It looks GRRRRR! but that's not the best part, it works GRRRRR! too.
A cycle chain would last a mighty long time if it saw no grit and bathed in a little 90 SAE gear oil.
Reading this thread has piqued my interest and I will likely build a fixed before this summer arrives, whether I get around to a sealed chain case is another matter as I am still quite vain.
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