By: Mandrew & The Clairebarian
{Drewitors Notes: This piece by The Clairebarian and me is much delayed in appearing live on MEATengines. From Claire’s perspective, this includes only her first three of many one-speed rides. We had to cut it off somewhere, but it really only scratches the surface of how much she’s taken to it.
This afternoon, after school {April 23rd}, she stomped multiple uphill sections she’s never cleaned on the same bike with a multi-speed setup. She flowed some technical up-and-over moves as smoothly as I’ve seen anyone do them. She pumped and cruised down trails with more speed than she’s ever carried.
Yes, I do think that much of the momentum and tenacity she’s tapped into will translate when she decides to try shifting gears again, but in the meantime, she has zero interest, though I continue to remind her of the option a few times a week.
Yeah, so. My commentary begins with an A and Claire’s with a C.}
A: Magic-gearing a bike with vertical drop-outs and no ISCG chain guide tabs was never in the plan. Certainly, I’ve set up a few bikes that way for myself, but it becomes a matter of compounding compromises. If you’re going to choose to only ride in one gear, it’s nice to be able to choose the ratio.
Unfortunately, no mix of links and the BB-mount tensioner Peter made* were going to deliver my first choice for Claire’s #1FG, 24x28t, so I moved on to the 26t that past-Drew wisely ordered.
With a fresh chain 24x26t is a non-starter, but at the 25% wear point it‘s nearly perfect, and thanks to the combo of the narrow-wide (N/W) NSBillet ring and N/W Garbaruk cog, the chain should be tight enough until it’s due for replacement.
*{Gen.2 needs the ability to slide the pulley wheel for another step of adjustment. Even then, some gear combos won’t work.}
I don’t love magic-geared single-speeding. Give me swingers, sliders, or an ISCG chain guide setup any day. But with none of those options readily available, the magic-gear setup provided Claire with the opportunity to give {almost} always being in the wrong gear a shot.
This setup worked excellently for the first half-a-dozen rides. At that point between a sloppy chain and Claire’s will to continue riding #1FG I had to chase up another solution.
C: Single-speeding is the best! I asked if I could try single-speeding a long time ago, and I kept asking about it, and then one day last week the cogs finally arrived. The first thing I noticed about one-speeding is that it made my bike so smooth.
Day One
Single-Speed-Sunday! My papa, Terry Walker, and I went for Single-Speed-Sunday on Dreamweaver on Mt. Fromme. It was definitely hard at first and still is, but I started to figure it out. I walked some features uphill, but I rode most of the things I always ride, and I even rode some features that I don’t always ride on my geared bike.
The downhill on my single-speed was pretty similar to riding it on my multi-geared bike, but the uphill part was a lot different on my single-speed than on my geared bike. Keep in mind that my single-speed gear is around my 4th and 5th gear on my geared bike, and normally I’m in an easier gear.
When we arrived back at the car after the ride, I was so glad that I decided to try single-speeding. And that concludes the story of my first single-speed ride.
A: The secret to a lightning-fast multi-to-single swap is a second rear wheel. In this case, my backup Project 321 G2 setup, just with the CushCore insert pulled out. Conveniently, it’s also HG, so it was a matter of installing the Garbaruk cog and my old Rennen single-speed spacer kit, and the two-wheel setup was ready to swap and roll.
It takes four zip-ties, two 4mm hex bolts, a chain quick link, and one T-25 bolt to jump back and forth between Claire’s sweet SRAM XO 11-spd drivetrain and this single-speed setup. The two 4mm hex bolts aren’t visible in any of the photos above, but rather hold my bodged tensioner to the ISCG 05 BB-mount adapter we picked up at Cove Bikes {thank you, Gerard and Chaz}. This gives us a wider range of usable chain life and gear options and the ability to dial in the slack in the system.
I’ve written quite a bit about using a lower chain guide for single-speed tensioning purposes, and this is how both Claire (Chromag Samurai) and I (Banshee Enigma) are running our one-speed rigs right now.
C: I have to say, I really like single-speeding…
Day Two
…Ned’s! For my second single-speed ride, Derek, Gregg, my papa, and I rode Ned’s. We started at Derek’s house and rode all the way to R&R. R&R is a very chunky climb. I rode some stuff that I have never ridden on my multi-geared bike. After we rode up R&R we were on Penny Lane. As you can see in the photo above, I’m riding an uphill rock feature, which, sadly, I haven’t managed to do on my single-speed*.
*{Drewitors note: Claire has now ridden it multiple times on her Chromag setup #1FG.}
We rode up Penny Lane all the way to Good Sir Martin. I cleaned the Infamous Corner Three. We rode up all of Good Sir Martin. We passed John Deer and rode up all the way to the power lines. There is this really chunky part right at the start of Mushroom Climb, and I have previously cleaned it with gears. I didn’t make it this time one-speeding.
Right after that chunky part, the trail splits three ways. We took the option right in front of us, this climb is called the Mushroom Climb. It’s fairly steep and is very loose and rocky. We climbed all the way to Ned’s and rolled in. Much of Ned’s is rock armouring. There are two rock rolls that I don’t ride. One is short and steep, but it’s just ugly. The other one is just an optical illusion. It’s really smooth, but it looks really intimidating.
After Ned’s, we rode and did a quick High School loop. Then we rode back to the road, where for once I hated single-speeding. I was just spinning out non-stop. We arrived back at Derek’s house, and my papa, Gregg, and I all said to Derek, “Let’s ride Ned’s again next week.”
And that concludes the story of my second single-speed ride.
A: Today, April 23rd, was Claire’s first ride using an ISCG tensioner instead of relying on a magic-gear setup. I want to say that, while ride number three appears below, this was her 10th, or so, single-speed ride. She felt the system pedaled smoother, and it was certainly quieter than previously, or my idler-equipped Banshee setup.}
As someone who previously was all in on sliding or swinging dropouts to adjust chain tension, I admit my reluctance to adding a pulley to the system. But, BUT! But, it is so easy to adjust chain tension and the system works a dream. I’ll have a slider vs. chain guide piece in the future since I’ll be back-to-back riding single-speed frames with both.
C: John Deer!
Day Three
For my third single-speed ride, we rode John Deer. I’ve ridden John Deer at least one hundred times, but this was the first time I rode John Deer on my single-speed. We started down at Parkgate Park and rode up to Old Buck. We rode up to the junction of Old Buck and Bridal Path. Bridal Path is pretty smooth with some hard and steep parts.
We rode up all of Bridal Path to Academy Climb. Academy Climb is fairly short. There are a bunch of switch-backs on Academy, and one of them has a super slippery root. As soon as you ride around the corner, you have to ride over it, but the problem is that there is no possible way to ride it square. Also on Academy Climb, there is an uphill ladder that is quite steep. It was my first time on my single speed, but I ran out of juice right before my back wheel hit the ladder, and I stalled. Luckily, I didn’t fall off.
After Academy Climb, we rode Penny Lane. Penny Lane is mostly switch-backs. We rode up Penny Lane to Good Sir Martin. Good Sir Martin is very similar to Penny Lane*. This time, I didn’t make the Infamous Corner Three. After corner three, there are three corners that are named Christmas Corners, because they were built one Christmas. I cleaned Christmas Corners.
We passed Lower John Deer and kept riding up to the Baden Powell. As I talked about earlier in the article, there is this one really chunky part at the start of Mushroom Climb. I had cleaned it on my geared bike before, but I hadn’t cleaned it on my single-speed. Until this day! I guess I just had enough momentum to power up it. Then it was a short ride down the top of Severed to Deer John (AKA Upper John Deer). We rode Deer John and John Deer and then we rode all the way back to Penny’s house.
And that concludes the story of my third single-speed ride.
*{Because both trails were built by Penny and Martin. Thank you, Penny and Martin.}
In conclusion, I think that single-speeding is great!
In the time since, I have cleaned lots of sections that I didn’t during these three rides.
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