I’m a such a sucker for a rigid mini-Plus-mullet. 26″ wheel out back, 27+ wheel in the front stuffed into a rigid fork. A fellow pedaled by me the other day on a commuterized classic Canadian-made Easton RAD* aluminium tubed Cove Stiffee FR hardtail, in white, with fantastically faded red-now-pink Chris King QR hubs and 1-1/8″ headset and a beyond ravaged old Fox 32. I had a vision of it cleaned up with a fresh pair of Deore brakes, a Surly Cocktail fork, the used Velocity Dually rim from my stash and a 27×3″ Dirt Wizard up front with the fastest 26″ semi-slick I can squeeze in the back, a 5-speed friction shifted drivetrain with an under the bar thumbie and the biggest cog jumps an ultra-short cage mid-noughties Ultegra road derailleur can cover with a 28t narrow-wide ring up front. Oh, baby.

Anywho, here’s Tim’s sweet Sovereign take on a similar rig. I really enjoyed Evil’s take on the sliding dropout arrangement and their unique form factor. The 23-year-old Shimano brakes probably deserve a Bicycle Valentine of their own Tim, just saying!

Here’s some history:

“I’ve attached a photo of my recently-re-built fully rigid single speed for your general amusement. It’s an Evil Sovereign frame I bought new in 2014 or so. The rear wheel is 26, and the front is a 27.5+ on a Surly Karate Monkey fork. This stem length looks silly by modern standards, but this bike pre-dates super long TT+Short Stem eras. Brakes are (I kid you not) Shimano M755 I bought brand-new when they came out… in, like, 2003 or whatever.“

Whether your one-speed is sporting parts from a couple decades back, that’s modern by comparison, or it’s mostly fresh, if you’re keen, we’d love to see it. The process is simple:

You write a Haiku

Submit it with a photo

Then, I say thank you

*{Radius Accuracy Design.}

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Tim on the Evil:

Long stem and high strung

Loop happy skittish old-boy

Beat bruised and well worn.

For more of the MEATengines one-speed haikuniverse: About a Single-Speed   

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If you’re interested in supporting the MEATengines community there are multiple ways to help out. You can submit an About a Single Speed or Bicycle Valentines piece, or fire me an e-mail if there’s some other ATB or mountain bicycling topic you’re passionate to write about. I’m interested. You can engage with a comment below, join the crew at r/MEATengines, or, if you have a couple spare bucks {ha!}, you can always buy me a coffee. Thank you.