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Drop us a line at: riderx@singlespeedoutlaw.com

Once upon a time in the land down under lived a crusty ole mountain bike rider who rode purely for the fun of it. He caught the tech weenie bug and purchased untold beats and pieces and various springy bits to enhance his cycling pleasure. The first few months of riding such exotica was fun and comfy...but one day these designer bits started to leak wet stuff , and make silly squeaking noises, changing from first to forth became a crunchy experience. $300.00 later..... a few more months down the track, same sheet! Twas then I thought I can’t afford this crap. Enter trusty Prestige tubed 92 Shogun frame ‘n fork - exit fatigued aluminum boingy exotica, 7 rear sprockets, 2 chainrings, 2 shifters and a front derailleur and cables. I now have a ole skool rigid steel monster kitted out with reliable high performance yummy bits and man this thing is fun to ride and damn cheap to maintain. Now if I can finish the summer series ahead of the other vets I'll be laughing.

-Carsan

Hi, just to let you know your work is appreciated. I am having a fixed gear road bike built for me for delivery after Christmas ( when I finish the payments!) The fact that a web site such as yours exists gives me some reassurance in my decision in the face of much local indifference, incredulity etc.

A couple of months ago I rode with a friend from Paris to London on my single speed Swedish Army Bike and this has inspired me to do more rides from great place to great place. Next year I am planning a trip from Toulouse in France to Barcelona, about 200 miles including crossing the Pyrenees mountains. ( on a single speed of course )

Any way keep up the good work

Regards,
Crispin

I just completed my first ride on my new single speed. It was a bitchen 25 mile loop, that covered all the greatness of an East Coast riding experience. My new found love for one gear cannot be explained in words; it's is a total body experience. You hear it a lot "simplicity", but it rings so true when talking about single speed riding. Hill climbing takes on a new meaning. All the energy you have is needed to tackle steep technical climbs...it can hurt, hurt a lot, but when you make a particularly nasty section, suffering all the way, the reward is like no other. Single speeds get you in that Zen state, where you are truly in motion with your bike, whipping around corners, catching big air over jumps, bunny hopping log piles, and plowing through stream crossings. One word explains it all-fun. Great job with issue number two and I am looking forward to issue number three.

Happy Trails
-Aaron

The Chester Interview was a superbly written piece. I am definitely glad that I took the time to read it word for word. Great questions, asking lots -a- stuff that I'm sure a lot of us would like to know. Thank you very much. Now why can't we have some zines like this in hard copy, so that we can read over and over again no matter where we're at, like work or some other awful places that don't allow internet access all the time. Anyway, Thanks again for the awesome interview.

Singlespeeding in Kentucky!!

-Paul Camfield

Hello, I am hitting some websites to try to understand why my husband, Torrey, is designing and building single speed recumbent mountain bikes! He can make bikes with many gears if he wanted too, but seems to be stuck on only one gear ratio! What a waste of carbon fiber, titanium and graphite! Well, if he wants to design and build 'em, at least I know he's in the garage and not some topless show bar!

Here's a picture of my three year old son, Benjamin, and his Jesse James, West Coast Choppers "Six Gun" rigid chopper. It's a single speed, too. My husband designed and built this all from scratch. Even the CNC machined three spoke wheels for the 12" bike tires. Maybe this would be a comical pin up for your magazine. By the way, cool reading. I'm starting to get the picture.

- Natalie

Man, this is one lucky kid. Custom SS chopper.

SS Outlaw,

Just had to say thanks. I've been riding geared mtb since 94 and 20" BMX for almost 20 years. But never had a 26" off road one gear until December 2001 (my 69 Schwinn townie with Conties doesn't count). I finally put together an unused lugged trek 930 frame that had been collecting dust for the last five years.

It all came about when I wore my XT freehub out on my '95 fisher. The free hub was as much $$ a whole new hub if I were to buy it new, then would have to rebuild the wheel anyway. It just wasn't worth it, the wheel was about six years old anyway. A good friend let me buy his "used twice" Bontrager Race Light/King wheels with XTR cassette on a long payment plan for a really good price. Sweeet!

So here I am in south/east Michigan with my now very $$ XC sled that I really don't want to take out in the winter elements. So what do I do? That's right SS Baby!

I have a lot of parts laying around since my wife broke her Cannondale (one inch head tube) on a downhill trip to Canada last year. With two kids now and a job she could care less anyway.

I found the frame at a bike shop going out of business. It had never been ridden and was supposed to be sent back to trek because of the ding in the head tube. I got the original cro-mo fork for it to but like the stiffness of the Cannondale Pepperoni for my Clydesdale & SS. The only part I had to purchase was the singleator. I got two rides on the bike without it but the chain must of stretched, by the third ride the chain was moving around the cassette. The cool thing about the singleator is, it was a Christmas gift "well kind-of". My mother-in-law got me a $50 gift certificate for the mall. I cashed it in on a new CD then went right to T&C bike shop to talk Otto into selling the singleator to me for $34. He did.

But anyway the bike rides awesome its been great for the singletrack and a blast to ride urban. I forgot how nice cro-mo frames ride. My fisher is strait wall 7005 (pre Easton).

Well I got the bug, I've converted an old Reynolds 531 road bike to a SS to ride the MS150 on this July. That project didn't cost any thing the frame had horizontal dropouts.

I attached a picture of my new pride and joy. Since I think I am truly hooked I want to get a 1x1/Mustang rear wheel built. That is the only thing I can think of to change.

But anyway again thanks for the inspiration!

Sorry for the rambling but I don't get to talk much SS around here. My gearie friends don't understand.