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Recipe to add gears?

Well, I love you 'zine, and think it's great that I'm not the only crazy person out there. Me and some friends have been riding BMX bikes on MTB trails for a while now, and I feel like there is a little bit of a bond between our two passions. I would like to tell you to check out www.danscomp.com for some good deals on BMX parts, many of which are compatible with MTB's and often times lighter and cheaper (from what I have found so far). I have just started getting into the "big wheel" scene as of late, and have dropped the front gear cog off my bike as I found it to be unnecessary as I haven't found a situation that required that little bitty sprocket and I can do without the big one to save a little weight. I am however still riding with the rear cog and am debating on putting a rear cog and derailleur on my BMX bike. Is this feasible without to big of a swap of parts? It's not that I want to downshift on hills but that I want to gear it up without freewheeling on the straight-aways so don't be to angry with me.

Best wishes,
Larry Dyer
Texas

Larry, are you crazy? Asking SSO how to ADD gears to a single speed? Well, if you must consider such blasphemy, Dan's comp sells 2 speed freewheels and the fixins to put a couple of gears on that BMX machine. But, please reconsider, just for us, OK?

Get your fix

Hello there,

After many years of MTB and road bikes, a friend of mine suggested that I might want to get a fixed gear. We converted a nice old Raleigh road frame and off I went. The connection to the machine is fantastic. What a wonderful feeling as you quietly whiz along. I am never going back to the messy old derailleur world. The next move is to convert my MTB to a fixed gear. Any recommendations for gearing for rolling territory. Too old for real steeps.

QMAN

Going all the way, eh? Best starting point for off-road is the single speed standard known as 2:1, common ratios being 32x16 and 34x17. Test out and adjust from there depending on your terrain, fitness, and old creaky knees. Watch it though, fixed off-road is quite a challenge where there are obstacles like rocks and fallen trees. Fun, but you will definitely be increasing the difficulty factor. Let us know how it goes.

Communitcation Breakdown

Hey man.

I really like your online 'zine. Lotsa good info. Hope you don't get bored with the upkeep and manage to keep it up.

Got one suggestion. A single speed message board. I know there are a few out there, but it would be nice to have one directly associated with your 'zine. It'd keep people coming back to your site for sure. I know I myself frequent sites that offer lotsa what I'm looking for in one, convenient place.

If you do consider putting up an Outlaw board I do have one suggestion. Go with one that allows all responses to be shown in order when you click on the topic. It's a real pain-in-the-ass when you have to click on a new link every time you wanna read the next guy's response (as in the MTBR SS board you have linked in the Feedback section of Issue #1).

I'm planning on doing an AIDS benefit ride from Minneapolis to Chicago on my single speed (Bianchi BUSS). The "125 Miles on a Fixed Gear Bicycle" story you had in your latest issue has me inspired to perhaps pick up a fixed gear ride for the task. Should be interesting and painful either way.

Best of luck to you and thanks for the 'zine.

Adam

Glad you like the 'zine. As always, we take all suggestions under advisement. Unfortunately, our web host isn't providing us with any bullettin board software at this time. Even if they did, I'm not sure we'd have the time to administer it. But hey, not all hope is lost. We've teamed up with MTBJournal.com where there is a new single speed bullettin board that yours truly is moderating. So jump on over and give it a spin

Harley Davidson still makes pedal steeds?

Really enjoy the magazine. My first effort at writing to one and my first single speed effort. Have "lusted" after a single speed for months. I finally decided to use eBay and their bicycle section to satisfy my SS desires. Found a "Harley Davidson" aluminum alloy frame. Anybody know about these??? It seemed to be a downhill frame as it came with downhill RockShoxs and a single speed crank. In the picture it looked like a downhiller with a internal rear cog and disc brakes. Anyway, gave the forks to a friend and put on Cannondale Pepperoni aluminum front forks. Got a pair of SS rims from Phat Cycles in California, black in color and with a 16 tooth cog. Nice wheels for $50.00 a pair. Kenda Kwick tires, Tamer weekender suspension seat post with a Serfas Rx seat, Soft Ride front suspension stem, riser bars and Profile Design stubby bar ends. 42 front and 16 rear cogs. I live in Lafayette, La and this place is "vertically challenged". Flat as a billiard table so the gears seem OK for now. Add any hills and the gearing will have to change. How does it ride? I glides along like a dream. Tracks great and because of the light weight, I can lift the front and rear and even "bunny hop" when I need to. I'm afraid I'm hooked. My only question now is "what do I do with all my other "shifters"?? No problems other than the frame is a disc frame with no brake bosses in the rear, so I run a V brake on the front, set up "squashy" so I don't go over on my ass. As on old BMX cruiser rider and racer, it works great. Lever on the right side for feel. Got about $350 cash in it. Great, -great - great. Love It.

Single Speed Convert
CC White

Check out the HD Single Speed over in the Angry Bitter Single Speed Society's "Pinup Girls" section.

Last issue, we posted a blurb about an editor (Elden Nelson) of a software programming magazine who was coming down on single speeds. At least one reader took us up on the offer to email the editor in question. Ol' Elden responded, and you've got to give him props for answering the email and admitting some single speeders kicked his ass at the Cascade Cream Puff.

To: Elden Nelson
Subject: Single speed biker, MCSD, I actually know what "skill-set" means

Although I came across your article through www.singlespeedoutlaw.com let me first state that I subscribe to VBPJ and am currently doing very well developing for the Microsoft platform (yes I am MCSD certified, for whatever that's worth). Let me also add that until very recently I have not found much to read in VBPJ; hopefully now that .Net is finally becoming a reality this will change.

First single speeds. I own two bikes. A 28lbs C'Dale SuperV with the Lefty fork that I ride when going downhill fast is my goal. Rode the bike around San Diego for the past 2.5 years and basically became bored. Anything short of an over-the-top technical climb/decent was just a yawn. Favorite trails to ride on my C'Dale in the San Diego area are Iron mountain (double black diamond), Noble Canyon, and San Juan.

My 3 month old single speed is now my favorite ride. At 22lbs it is hardly sluggish, and were I the weight-weenie some are I could remove another 2 pounds with a lighter fork, handlebars, and tires. The bike accelerates like a bat out of hell, climbs great, and is a blast to ride. All those trails that were boring on my C'Dale are now fun again.

Now for the analogy stuff.

Remember MSMQ, Site Server, and the like? Early adopters paid a stiff price trying to maintain that crap. Webclasses, ActiveX Documents? Early adopters got stuck holding the rod while Microsoft dropped support.

Let's be honest, 90% of all Microsoft based Internet/Intranet development can, if not should, be implemented with plain old ASP. The average product lifespan is what, 6 months, a year? The average realized utilization is what, 500, 1000, 5000 unique users per month? Is COM really justified given these numbers?

My company has been successful by not jumping on the bleeding edge bandwagon. While our competitors were spending resources on Site Server development we quietly deployed in 6 months what they couldn't in over a year. While others were struggling with MSMQ we quietly "rolled our own" SQL based distributed queuing process in a fraction of the time.

Single speeders ride single speeds because their needs do not require suspension, disk brakes, or multiple gears.

Developers should develop using technology that fulfills the business need, not simply to improve a resume. If the business need dictates ASP does that make me a retro-grouch, or someone who is looking out for my client.

DG
Senior Software Engineer

And the response:

Hi Don,

Darn good points, damn well put. If you don't mind, I'd like to see whether other editors here agree that this (at least part of it) ought to go in our letters column.

Several single speeders gave me a bad beating at the Cascade Cream Puff, just shortly after the article was published. I've learned my lesson.