I've seen a number of references to single speed bicycles on various forums.
What's the advantage of them?
When I first got my bike it was jammed in top gear and impoosible to ride uphill.
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Weight saving mainly. Of course many years ago most bikes had only a single speed. My mountain bikes all have 21 gears and they do get used off road but if I'm just pootling about I tend to leave them in medium ratio third cog which more or less does everything. I see a lot of single speeders in London. Some seem to take the stripped out look to extremes by removing even the back brake. This may be to try to make them look like fixed wheelers I guess which carry a certain hard man kudos among the treadiron brigade.
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>This may be to try to make them look like fixed wheelers I guess which carry a certain hard man kudos among the treadiron brigade. <
I didn't know that. My son (now in late 30s) has ridden a fixed wheel bike (I think it's actually the same one) by choice since he was a teenager, although he has others with lots of gears, in the modern fashion. He once got into a big argument with the Old Bill over only having one brake.
There you go - they always say your own children are strangers to you, eh?
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>> My son (now in late 30s) has ridden a fixed wheel
>> bike (I think it's actually the same one) by choice since he was a teenager,
I think fixed wheel (as opposed to single speed with freewheel) are dangerous. I had one for a short while and quickly discovered what happens if the pedal touches the ground when you lean into a corner ~ you and the bike end up on the ground!
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"you and the bike end up on the ground! " I managed that many times when I rode a bike, without benefit of a fixed wheel to help.
JH
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In Plymouth in the fifties a bloke I was at school with was eyeing a girl on the pavement while cycling to school and rode at some speed into the back of a Standard Vanguard. He lost his front teeth against the car's boot, but his satchel swung over his head and made a dent in the car's roof.
Naturally he was much teased when he reappeared, but admiringly.
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Did he ask her out to the shinema ?
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As humph says, weight saving. Brompton sell a single speed folder, nearly a kilo lighter than the 6 speed version but distinctly lacking in flexibility even in London. Even the two speed with its lightweight derailleur wouldn't suit me; I prefer to keep an even cadence.
Twenty + speeds on an MTB is far too many, 12 well spaced should be enough, but TBH single speeders and fixdies (of which there are a lot in London) are esoteric niche kit.
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>>......a fixed wheel bike ... He once got into a big argument with the Old Bill over only having one brake.
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Unless the law has changed only one brake is required ( should be the front one) on a fixed wheel bike.
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>>I think fixed wheel (as opposed to single speed with freewheel) are dangerous.
For you that is probably correct :-)
I have ridden and raced on the road over several years and many thousands of miles on a fixed wheel bike. No problemsfor me even 50 years later. I can still ride one with ease.
Riding an adult racing trike is a much bigger challenge.
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> but his satchel swung over his head and made a dent in the car's roof <
Satchel eh? Eeeeee, ah remember them. What a great day it was when my mum finally let me have a duffel bag.
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>> >> I have ridden and raced on the road over several years and many thousands of
>> miles on a fixed wheel bike. No problemsfor me even 50 years later. I can
>> still ride one with ease.
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Same here.
A bike with a fixed gear is is faster than a single speed with a freewheel because of the flywheel effect from the rear wheel when you are up to speed. Fixed wheel bikes allow a superb degree of control because of the ability to vary the speed without touching the brakes, and a rear brake isn't nescessary because back pressure on the pedals gives more controlable slowing than a seperate brake, rear brakes on bikes being next to useless anyway.
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In cities they are popular with bike couriers, one of the reasons is the ability to perform track stands at the lights for that quick get away. My fixed was stolen one night at college. Very surprised to get it back from the police pound but it did have some extra scratches. Presumably the miscreant got rather a shock at the first junction.
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Single speed bicycles - Runfer D'Hills
