Single Speed's, A Fad?? or a great idea...
Over the past few weeks, it has been surprising the amount of people that have all of a sudden wanted information on, or converted bikes to, a single speed setup for riding to work most days. There are many ways of achieving a single speed setup, with pro's and con's to all, that can be performed on almost any bike frame size etc.
Firstly, why would someone want to run a single speed setup you might ask. Well, there are a few really solid benefits to running a single speed setup. Number one benefit would have to be the maintenance and durability. Chains last for ages, because they are never loaded from the side, like when you shift from one gear to the next with a derailleur. There are no derailleurs to bend, re-align, service etc. As far as maintenance is concerned there is almost none - keep your chain clean and well lubed and your done.
Another big benefit in running a single speed setup is a good reduction in the bike's overall weight, making it much easier to accelerate the bike which is great seeing as there is only one gear. Taking off shifters, derailleurs, cables, excess chainrings, cassettes, freewheel body and excess chain means a substantial drop in weight, often around 1-2kg.
Riding a single speed setup during the week also teaches a rider how to pedal properly and well, to be comfortable and fast on a single speed you need to maintain good cadence which will be very beneficial to any cyclist.
The only drawbacks with running a single speed setup are getting the gear ratio right, and hills. If your normal ride has some big hills in the middle then possibly this is not the best idea, as on the up you have to really grind and on the way down you're spinning like crazy. Getting the right ratio can be a bit of trial and error as every rider's ability/fitness and route is different, and there are some general ratios that are good to start off with, but sometimes some fine tuning is required.
There are many ways to achieve a single speed setup and if I were to list them all, I would be writing for days. One option is to find yourself an old frame that has horizontal rear dropouts, which allows you to achieve chain tension with no extra gizmos to perform the chain tensioning function. Unfortunately these days almost all bikes have a vertical dropout, which is fantastic for a geared system, but means you cannot tension the chain which is key to any single speed setup. So for all you budding single speed riders here are three ways of making either your current bike or new bike a single speed setup.
- The easiest and most cost effective way to convert you bike to single speed is to remove all your parts that are gear related and fit a DMR single speed spacer kit, with 16T cog ($55.00) or a Surly Spacer Kit ($69.00) which replaces your cassette on your standard wheel with a single cog and some alloy spacers. Then use your current rear derailleur as a tension and lock it into a suitable position. For this to work effectively, sometimes it requires a new chain as well ($39.00)
Also as an upgrade, rather than utilising your heavy rear derailleur, you can use a DMR or Surly tensioning device which allows you to run only one jockey wheel and run a shorter chain. ($79.00 - $149.00)
- The next method is very similar to the first but with one major change - rather than running your standard wheel with a spacer kit, you can build a single speed specific wheel. This allows for wider spacing in the frame, usually better bearings, and always much stronger than a multi speed wheel. The wheel options vary widely, with a few hub varieties available ranging from around $139.00 up to $699.00. Usually these require an addition of a BMX style sprocket as well.
- Probably one of the nicest setups available is to use a White Industries "ENO" Eccentric rear hub. This allows you to rotate the rear wheel on a cam about the centre of the rear drop out, to provide chain tension from the hub itself. This means that no extra devices are required to run a single speed setup, very clean finish and nothing to go wrong. The hubs are around $300.00 and require the addition of a sprocket.
Most of the wheel change setups here you can run either as a fixed wheel or as a clutched setup, so you can coast, which for commuting is probably preferred.
A single speed specific front chain ring without ramped teeth helps to maintain even chain tension and prevents chains slipping under high load.
The addition of light weight Single Speed cranks to any setup is always beneficial and will usually allow you to have more adjustment in your chainline. Single speed crank length is usually longer, 175mm to 180mm, rather than the 170mm to 172.5mm long.
If you want to see some of these single speed conversions, feel free to come into the shop and chat to us all. Doug has the White Industries ENO hub built up into a few of his bikes, and loves them.
Raenier Becker