MattB wrote:
> "Stephen Baker" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
>
>>Spademan says:
>>
>>
>>
<http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1083003&outx=600&oq=0&noresize=1&nostamp=1>
>>
>>Ah, c'mon, Steve - It ain't a real singlespeed if it has disks.........
>>
>><jumps into flame-retardant undies>
>>
>>Steve
>
>
> Just how retro does a bike need to be to be "real"?
>
> Should it be cast iron? Fixed gear? Drum brakes? No brakes? Just curious where the cutoff is,
> since this seems to be a matter of degree rather than principle.
>
> Matt
>
>
Ah, Matt. If you have been told that single speeding is "retro" you have been lied to.
Nothing about it has to do with any sense of nostalgia. At all. Well, there is one aspect of
nostalgia, and that is that it's a lot like when you first started riding a bike- very
little to distract you from actually mastering the art of it.
As far as single speeding being somehow more "pure", well, that's horseshit too. It isn't,
except that there is a lot less to help the rider compensate for inabilities, like low
gears, or heaps of suspension travel. It is a more raw experience- you can do it, or you
can't. End of discussion. If that's somehow more pure, I can't see it.
I don't own a multispeed mountain bike. I just can't seem to enjoy riding them as much as I
love my single speed. I have gone through a lot of multis, too: Yeti ARC, Ibis Ripley,
Voodoo D-Jab, Sycip Unleaded. Nice bikes, every one. Dream bikes, really. Still, the bike I
wind up spending my time on is my single speed. I finally just admitted defeat and sold my
last multi.
I've been SSing for a few years now. I enjoy getting other riders into the SS fold, but I
don't particularly evangelize, and I think the "Your Bike Sucks" attitude so prevalent in
SSers to be sophomoric. I do have
Miles
