I’ve been musing a lot about what my potential next-generation rigid single-speed would look like. Not that I really truly have plans to replace, re-home, or retire my Waltworks (x) WZRD V2 but I have this low-level desire for an even more simple speed. Even fewer moving parts. No option to run a suspension fork. A blend of my Balfa Minuteman, my Waltworks V1, and my V2.
Simple horizontal dropouts, slotted IS brake mount, 135mm spacing, rigid-specific geometry. Taller head tube, shorter seat tube, even longer 460mm+ chain stays. Same Reach, same STA, and the same static 64° HTA. Straight 1-1/8″ steerer tube. Brazed-on seatpost binder. Modern nods? 110 x 15mm Boost fork spacing, a 34.9 I.D. seat tube*, and I could almost be talked into a IS42/IS42 headtube and a PF92 BB shell.
*{I want to run a 31.6mm or 30.9mm dropper post with a shim.}
{Cover Photo: Thanks to the Pipeline Builders past & present / Photo by Hardtail.Life}
{Above photos: Balfa Minuteman by SPOKE / Bridgestone MB-Zip by BikeJerks / Walt(x)WZRD V2 by Hardtail.Life / V1 by ME.}
Your ‘Apocalypse’ Bike Is A Pack Horse – Part 1.
I suppose it’s an extension of the world mood right now, but the topic of the ‘apocalypse’ bike has been sprouting up all over the place lately. Single-speed, friction-shifted, fixed-gear. It’s a funny trope to me that ignores how even the simplest bicycles, even the most small-batch garage-built parts, rely on massive industrialization to be possible.
A beautiful, small-batch Paul Components WORD hub isn’t possible without mass-produced, low-friction ball bearings. The same is true of the White Industries freewheel I’d be threading on there. Then there are chains. Then there are tires. Welding gasses. Drawn tubes. The machines that make the machines.
If it’s between gingerly direct-driving around on a hard-tyred 1800s blacksmithed boneshaker and charging in style on a self-replicating four-legged beast of burden. Well, for all the modern conveniences of not having to feed them, house them, or shovel their shit, it’s sort of a wonder that the bicycle ever came about to begin with.
My V3 – Part 2.
Did I mention routing the dropper cable and rear brake cable on top of the down tube? It’s one of my favourite little details of my Freeride BMX AKA Banshee Enigma.
Yeah, so, I’ve barely thought about this bike at all. Hahaha. I’d paint it Bridgestone MB-Zip off-white. True story, my V2 was originally going to be white. An interesting bike painted a boring colour. It’s impossible to imagine it wearing anything other than Cosmic Lilac now.
All black parts except, of course, for silver pedals and the big polished patch on all my crankarms. Bolt-on rear hub*, NSBillet Overlord 31.8mm stem, Wolf Tooth IS42 Premium headset {I’m weirdly into the integrated head tube for this build?!}, Stooge Moto Bars, Hayes Dominion T4 brakes. Even the ODI Longneck push-on grips.
*{Okay, let’s be honest. I’m probably running sliding drop-outs with my beloved Project 321 rear hub. I really like the Chromag Surface Voyager drop-outs.}
Your ‘Apocalypse’ Bike Is A Pack Horse – Part 2.
Oh, I know, over-production {or is it under-consumption due to price fixing?!} has resulted in spares for everything stashed everywhere. I mean, unless we adopt the Solar Lottery and create a supply crunch by destroying all excess stock of everything.
But then, I’m into min-maxing, not minimaxing, and there for all the negatives in the mood of the moment, I have had some interesting discussions that have grown out of these conversations. Let’s call it thought food. Or, maybe more subconscious sustenance?
In either event, it’s no coincidence that multiple one-speeders I know will tell you if they were buying a rear wheel tomorrow it would be based around the aforementioned Paul + W.I. freewheel combo. As much as I love the incredible low drag and fast engagement of the Project 321 hubs I run on my MTB, I have to admit that running that combo on the ’81 Talbot has me pondering the same way.
And never mind the folks who are already simple-speeding. However small, the number of folks newly curious about rigid bikes, friction shifting, and single-speeding is, I think, equally a sign of the times. {Some} folks are keen to simplify many aspects of their lives, including mountain bicycling.
My V3 – Part 3.
I’ve enjoyed working with Walt through three rigid forks and three frames {one of the forks was for my Kona and one of the frames will probably never sport a rigid fork} and I would highly recommend Waltworks to anyone.
That said, for reasons that should probably be inherent in our moment, V3 would absolutely be Fabriqué au Canada. WZRD, Kruch, Daambuilt, F!rst L!ght, Schön, are all in the front of my brain this week and I know beyond those names there are tons of great options in the TNS&F.
Of course, then, at the end of the day, the same thing always happens. I jump on my truculent V2 and go for a ride and it’s perfect. It’s long and mean {but not too long, and also very sweet} and exactly the right amount slack whether I’m climbing steep switchbacks or trying {usually unsuccessfully} to keep my friends on sag-wagons in sight on the downhills.
Lately, we’ve been getting in over our heads a bit because I’ve been riding my Will’s Arcturian {AKA The Arctuhawk} a bunch. Arctuhawk-friendly lines occasionally suck on the V2, but I don’t think any geometry tweaks are going to make up for the lack of the 170mm DVO Onyx D1 if I’m being stupid.
Oh, and that whole ‘Apocalypse’ bike thing. Absolutely not an argument I want to ever have a chance to win. Let’s just not f*ck around and find out, eh?
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