I don't understand - what is this for?

[Doug Taylor]

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:10:39 -0000, Chalo <[email protected]>
wrote:
>
>I ride my SS all the time, but I carry a lot more speed on my other
>bikes.

I ride off road about 4 or 5 days a month, switching between a FS
geared bike with disc brakes and a fully rigid SS with v-brakes
(geared at 32:17).

In descending order of ride feel, on the SS I notice: 1) poor brake
performance and no modulation; 2) no front suspension; 3) no rear
suspension; 4) no gears.

For real. Any flamer who doubts that order: you don't ride off road
enough, you've never used or you don't get disc brakes, and you've
NEVER ridden a rigid SS off road.

Why ride a SS? Rigid ti fork + no suspension + no gears + no
derailleurs + one ring = 19 lb. bike.

My dualie, a "race ready" $4000+ Santa Cruz Superlight, full XTR blah,
blah, blah, is a tubby 26 lbs. And that's an x-c bike. No need to
get into trail bikes, free-ride bikes, big travel ledge hoppers, and
DH.

For those who haven't tried flying around single track on a light,
stiff bike, climbing while standing, actually picking a line, then
what can I say?

"Don't criticize what you don't understand "- Robert Zimmerman

 

[Doug Taylor]

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 12:40:13 -0700, Ozark Bicycle
<[email protected]> wrote:

>> What is the deal with single-speed anyway?
>
>It's a fad. It'll pass.....

More wit and wisdom from Mr. Six-Toe.

Hey, Ozone, how many years have to pass before a "fad" turns into part
of the scenery? My single speed mountain bike is close to 10 years
old. About the same as my snowboard.

Get it?

 

[Tim McNamara]

In article <op.twn1x4a3f3vmig@slacker>,
?Slack <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:33:47 -0700, Tim McNamara <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> > In article <op.twnx4ftgf3vmig@slacker>,
> > ?Slack <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:21:48 -0700, RonSonic <[email protected]>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Just because something is faster doesn't mean it's more fun.
> >>
> >> Put that bong down!
> >
> > Have you ever had even a little bit of sex? :-D
>
>
> Thanks for offer, but I don't swing that way.

The answer's "no," then, or you'd have realized that what RonSonic wrote
is quite true. Just because it's faster doesn't mean it's more fun.
Remember that the first time you get laid.

 

[[email protected]]

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:35:30 -0600, [email protected] wrote:

>On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 00:53:04 -0700, JD <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>On Aug 4, 6:02 pm, Ozark Bicycle
>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>> On Aug 4, 7:45 pm, JD <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> > On Aug 4, 3:33 pm, Fred Clydesdale <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> > > personally, i've never gotten the whole single/fixie thing, and
>>> > > a singlespeed mtb seems beyond useless.
>>>
>>> > We can't all be closed-minded dumbasses.
>>>
>>> > > i pass at least 5 fixies
>>> > > a week on the various hills of my weekday ride, never had things
>>> > > happen the other way around. and i'm a CLYDESDALE, for heaven's
>>> > > sake. i'm carrying 3 pounds more bike and 20 pounds more of me
>>> > > up those hills.
>>>
>>> > C'mon out and ride with me sometime. I'll show you just how
>>> > inefficient singlespeed bikes are. Your weekday ride sounds like it's
>>> > loaded with punks and poseurs.
>>>
>>> > JD 225lbs and can still kick your ass
>>>
>>> No one talks smack quite like a SS or fixie freak.....
>>
>>If you think it's unsubstantiated smack, keep kidding yourself.
>>
>>JD
>
>Dear JD,
>
>Are the single-speed riders in these pictures punks or poseurs? Their
>successors were much, much faster with derailleurs.
>
>They include Lapize, Albini, Thys, Cristophe, Scieur, Buysse, and
>others, early giants of bicycling who couldn't even ride their
>single-speeds all the way up the Tour de France passes, much less keep
>up with contemporary riders who climbed the same passes with
>derailleurs.
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1910L-Lapize-sui-Pirenei.jpg
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf%20history/imageshist011/1910L-Lapize-passa-1%b0-sul-T.jpg
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf%20history/imageshist011/1910L-Lapize-e-Albini-sull'.jpg
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1912-si-cambiano-i-rapporti.jpg
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1912-leaders-on-the-Aubisqu.jpg
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1913--Desgrange-fuma-e-guar.jpg
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf%20history/imageshist011/1913-6%b0-tappa-Lambot-in-vet.jpg
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1913-Thys-Cristophe-Buysse-.jpg
>
>You can enjoy the details in context here:
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/tdfhistory1910.html
>
>***
>
>"Before derailleurs, even the great ones would have to walk their
>bikes. Here Scieur walks his bike up the Galibier in stage 11."
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist02/1921-11th-tappa-Scieur-sale.jpg
>
>***
>
>"Buysse in Hell. Here he pushes his bike up the Tourmalet."
>
>http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist02/1926-Buysse-sul-Tourmalet.jpg
>
>After the Tour de France allowed derailleurs, single-speeds vanished,
>and so did pictures of the peloton pushing on foot up the passes.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Carl Fogel

Oops! Somehow I left this out:

"Gear changers were forbidden. Félicien Vervaecke would receive a
10-minute time penalty for using a derailleur on the Aubisque in the
sixteenth stage of the 1936 Tour even though the touriste-routiers
were using them and routinely beating the national team members to the
tops of climbs."

http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/tdfhistory1930.html

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

 

[A Muzi]

>> RonSonic <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Just because something is faster doesn't mean it's more fun.

> ?Slack <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Put that bong down!

Tim McNamara wrote:
> Have you ever had even a little bit of sex? :-D

a pickup line?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

 

[Tom \Johnny Sunset\ Sherman]

Andrew Muzi wrote:
>>> RonSonic <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> Just because something is faster doesn't mean it's more fun.
>
> > ?Slack <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Put that bong down!
>
> Tim McNamara wrote:
>> Have you ever had even a little bit of sex? :-D
>
> a pickup line?

What do pick-up trucks have to do with single-speed versus geared MTBs?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

 

[[email protected]]

On Aug 6, 7:04 pm, "Tom \"Johnny Sunset\" Sherman"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
> > ...
> > Silly wheel sizes aside, single speed actually makes a lot of sense
> > for mountain and cross bikes. Geared bikes are only faster until the
> > rear derailleur gets jammed with mud or bent in a crash.
>
> Unless you can afford a Rohloff hub.

Have any professional level MTB races been won on bikes with Rohloff
hubs? (Rhetorical, not actual, question)

>
> > You can only
> > down shift so far before you're better off running anyway.
>
> I find there is a considerable range between my lowest practical gear
> and what my "average" riding gear is.
>
> --
> Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
> The weather is here, wish you were beautiful
>
> --
> Posted via a free Usenet account fromhttp://www.teranews.com

 

[Michael Warner]

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 02:07:06 -0700, JD wrote:

> Sounds like you ride with punks and poseurs.

No, I ride with A and B-grade vet racers on their training rides, which
they say are often tougher than their races.

You sound like an idiot, and a fairly slow one.

 

[Doug Taylor]

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 23:41:17 +0930, Michael Warner <[email protected]>
wrote:

>On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 02:07:06 -0700, JD wrote:
>
>> Sounds like you ride with punks and poseurs.
>
>No, I ride with A and B-grade vet racers on their training rides, which
>they say are often tougher than their races.
>
>You sound like an idiot, and a fairly slow one.

Actually, he's a SS riding mountain biker from amb caught in a
cross-posting cultural war with roadies from rbt and rbm.

 

[JD]

On Aug 6, 5:02 pm, "Tom \"Johnny Sunset\" Sherman"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Steve Baker wrote:
> > Tom "Johnny Sunset" Sherman wrote (in part):
>
> > I would rather ride my
> >> bikes and argue on Usenet.
>
> > Prove it - PLEASE!
> > Like for, say, a month or so.....
>
> I have proved over and over that I like to argue on Usenet.


Ineffectively, at that!

Go read some more bike racing magazines, it'll make you feel better
about your lame opinions.

JD

 

[JD]

On Aug 6, 7:35 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 00:53:04 -0700, JD <[email protected]> wrote:
> >On Aug 4, 6:02 pm, Ozark Bicycle
> ><[email protected]> wrote:
> >> On Aug 4, 7:45 pm, JD <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >> > On Aug 4, 3:33 pm, Fred Clydesdale <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >> > > personally, i've never gotten the whole single/fixie thing, and
> >> > > a singlespeed mtb seems beyond useless.
>
> >> > We can't all be closed-minded dumbasses.
>
> >> > > i pass at least 5 fixies
> >> > > a week on the various hills of my weekday ride, never had things
> >> > > happen the other way around. and i'm a CLYDESDALE, for heaven's
> >> > > sake. i'm carrying 3 pounds more bike and 20 pounds more of me
> >> > > up those hills.
>
> >> > C'mon out and ride with me sometime. I'll show you just how
> >> > inefficient singlespeed bikes are. Your weekday ride sounds like it's
> >> > loaded with punks and poseurs.
>
> >> > JD 225lbs and can still kick your ass
>
> >> No one talks smack quite like a SS or fixie freak.....
>
> >If you think it's unsubstantiated smack, keep kidding yourself.
>
> >JD
>
> Dear JD,
>
> Are the single-speed riders in these pictures punks or poseurs? Their
> successors were much, much faster with derailleurs.
>
> They include Lapize, Albini, Thys, Cristophe, Scieur, Buysse, and
> others, early giants of bicycling who couldn't even ride their
> single-speeds all the way up the Tour de France passes, much less keep
> up with contemporary riders who climbed the same passes with
> derailleurs.
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1910L-Lap...
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1910L-Lap...
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1910L-Lap...
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1912-si-c...
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1912-lead...
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1913--Des...
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf%20history/imageshist011/1913-6%b0...
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1913-Thys...
>
> You can enjoy the details in context here:
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/tdfhistory1910.html
>
> ***
>
> "Before derailleurs, even the great ones would have to walk their
> bikes. Here Scieur walks his bike up the Galibier in stage 11."
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist02/1921-11th-...
>
> ***
>
> "Buysse in Hell. Here he pushes his bike up the Tourmalet."
>
> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist02/1926-Buyss...
>
> After the Tour de France allowed derailleurs, single-speeds vanished,
> and so did pictures of the peloton pushing on foot up the passes.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl Fogel


Get a life, fool. Racing doesn't mean ****.

JD

 

[Doug Taylor]

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 18:33:57 -0400, Fred Clydesdale
<[email protected]> wrote:

>personally, i've never gotten the whole single/fixie thing, and
>a singlespeed mtb seems beyond useless.

You do get that single and fixie are not synonymous?

A fixie mountain bike does sound fairly insane, sort of an ego trip
for bored muscle heads. But that is not the subject of this thread,
which is single speed, with freewheel. Different animal.

 

[Marz]

On Aug 6, 10:34 pm, Doug Taylor <[email protected]> wrote:
> For those who haven't tried flying around single track on a light,
> stiff bike, climbing while standing, actually picking a line, then
> what can I say?


I love this BS you get from people who claim riding a fully rigid
single speed mtb and 'actually picking a line' somehow makes you a
better rider over all. F*(king ****, it makes you better rider on a
fully rigid single speed mtb and that's it. The lines you take riding
rigid could be completely different to the lines you can take riding a
full sus and I'm not even saying faster just different. Ahh, but they
say there's greater skill required to navigate a rigid bike through
rough terrain as opposed to just riding over it with a full sus, more
BS. It's just as hard to spot a take off and landing zone over a rock
garden at 20mph as it is to pick the smoothest and faster line through
the same rock garden at 12mph.

Neither single speeds or 29ers are fads, they're niches. They're bikes
that suit different folks, different riding styles. I test rode a
rigid single speed a few months bike and thought, yep that's what I
used to ride twenty years ago and it sucked then too. I also test rode
a 29er hardtail with gears and was quite impressed, I might have to
add one of those to the stable.

 

[G.T.]

Marz wrote:
> On Aug 6, 10:34 pm, Doug Taylor <[email protected]> wrote:
>> For those who haven't tried flying around single track on a light,
>> stiff bike, climbing while standing, actually picking a line, then
>> what can I say?
>
>
> I love this BS you get from people who claim riding a fully rigid
> single speed mtb and 'actually picking a line' somehow makes you a
> better rider over all.

I love this BS you get from people who think they can learn to ride
properly on an FS without ever needing to learn how to pick a line.

> F*(king ****, it makes you better rider on a
> fully rigid single speed mtb and that's it. The lines you take riding
> rigid could be completely different to the lines you can take riding a
> full sus and I'm not even saying faster just different. Ahh, but they
> say there's greater skill required to navigate a rigid bike through
> rough terrain as opposed to just riding over it with a full sus, more
> BS. It's just as hard to spot a take off and landing zone over a rock
> garden at 20mph as it is to pick the smoothest and faster line through
> the same rock garden at 12mph.

So? That smoother and faster line at 12mph will still be smoother and
faster at 20 mph. Why beat your bike and body unnecessarily?

Frickin' cushy FS apologists crack me up.

Greg
--
Ticketmaster and Ticketweb suck, but everyone knows that:
http://www.ticketmastersucks.org

Dethink to survive - Mclusky

 

[[email protected]]

On Aug 7, 10:26 am, Marz <[email protected]> wrote:

> It's just as hard to spot a take off and landing zone over a rock
> garden at 20mph as it is to pick the smoothest and faster line through
> the same rock garden at 12mph.

It's true that suspension allows for more extreme, faster riding. But
I don't see very many FS riders launching over rock gardens, outside
of downhill races. I see them banging through clumsily, hitting just
about everything, and bailed out by their shocks. If you learn to ride
that stuff on a rigid you'll be a lot faster and smoother than those
who learned to ride with suspension.

Robert

 

[Marz]

On Aug 7, 11:39 am, "G.T." <[email protected]> wrote:
> Marz wrote:
> > On Aug 6, 10:34 pm, Doug Taylor <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> For those who haven't tried flying around single track on a light,
> >> stiff bike, climbing while standing, actually picking a line, then
> >> what can I say?
>
> > I love this BS you get from people who claim riding a fully rigid
> > single speed mtb and 'actually picking a line' somehow makes you a
> > better rider over all.
>
> I love this BS you get from people who think they can learn to ride
> properly on an FS without ever needing to learn how to pick a line.

Please define 'to ride properly'. If someone starts out riding a FS
and becomes quite skilled at riding a FS are they not riding that bike
'properly'. Why should they need to ride rigid if they're never going
to ride a rigid bike. You don't think you need to pick lines while
riding a FS?
>
> > F*(king ****, it makes you better rider on a
> > fully rigid single speed mtb and that's it. The lines you take riding
> > rigid could be completely different to the lines you can take riding a
> > full sus and I'm not even saying faster just different. Ahh, but they
> > say there's greater skill required to navigate a rigid bike through
> > rough terrain as opposed to just riding over it with a full sus, more
> > BS. It's just as hard to spot a take off and landing zone over a rock
> > garden at 20mph as it is to pick the smoothest and faster line through
> > the same rock garden at 12mph.
>
> So? That smoother and faster line at 12mph will still be smoother and
> faster at 20 mph. Why beat your bike and body unnecessarily?
>

So you saying that for any given section of trail you can hit it as
hard and fast riding rigid as FS, more BS.

And it's riding a rigid bike that's going to beat your bike and body
up, not riding a FS.

> Frickin' cushy FS apologists crack me up.

I was sayin' that different bikes suit different riding styles and for
the way I like to ride, a rigid would be useless and a SS not as much
fun. Maybe I'm negating my 25 years of off roading, going from fully
rigid, to hardtail, to FS, but I can't put my finger on any attribute
of my riding today that came from riding a rigid bike. In fact I can
think of a couple of things I had to unlearn to ride FS, like standing
while climbing over rough terrain. Riding a SS track bike did help in
developing my sprinting and a high cadence which I now maximise
through the use of gears.

SS rigid bikes are niche not hardcore, better or faster than other
mountain bikes.

 

[Michael Press]

In article
<[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:

> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1913-Thys-Cristophe-Buysse-.jpg

This photograph is reversed.

--
Michael Press

 

[Michael Press]

In article
<[email protected]>
,

[...]
> Get a life, fool. Racing doesn't mean ****.

What do you mean?

"I went down to the demonstration,
To get my fair share of abuse."

--
Michael Press

 

[Fred Clydesdale]

In article <[email protected]>,
Doug Taylor <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 18:33:57 -0400, Fred Clydesdale
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >personally, i've never gotten the whole single/fixie thing, and
> >a singlespeed mtb seems beyond useless.
>
> You do get that single and fixie are not synonymous?

sorry. i should have been more clear. i meant to say:

personally, i've never gotten the rationale behind fixies,
which are a subset of singlespeed bikes in which the driving
gear does not freewheel but is locked to the hub in such a way
as to require that the pedals are moving at any time the bike is
moving. further, the idea of a singlespeed mtb seems exceedingly
impractical, given the wide range of terrain one might encounter
on a typical offroad ride. while a singlespeed with a freewheel
may be slightly more practical (than a fixed-gear bicycle), it
still seems considerably less useful than a modern, multi-gear
bicycle.

(application of emoticons as required.)

 

[[email protected]]

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:47:03 -0700, JD <[email protected]> wrote:

>On Aug 6, 7:35 pm, [email protected] wrote:
>> On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 00:53:04 -0700, JD <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >On Aug 4, 6:02 pm, Ozark Bicycle
>> ><[email protected]> wrote:
>> >> On Aug 4, 7:45 pm, JD <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >> > On Aug 4, 3:33 pm, Fred Clydesdale <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >> > > personally, i've never gotten the whole single/fixie thing, and
>> >> > > a singlespeed mtb seems beyond useless.
>>
>> >> > We can't all be closed-minded dumbasses.
>>
>> >> > > i pass at least 5 fixies
>> >> > > a week on the various hills of my weekday ride, never had things
>> >> > > happen the other way around. and i'm a CLYDESDALE, for heaven's
>> >> > > sake. i'm carrying 3 pounds more bike and 20 pounds more of me
>> >> > > up those hills.
>>
>> >> > C'mon out and ride with me sometime. I'll show you just how
>> >> > inefficient singlespeed bikes are. Your weekday ride sounds like it's
>> >> > loaded with punks and poseurs.
>>
>> >> > JD 225lbs and can still kick your ass
>>
>> >> No one talks smack quite like a SS or fixie freak.....
>>
>> >If you think it's unsubstantiated smack, keep kidding yourself.
>>
>> >JD
>>
>> Dear JD,
>>
>> Are the single-speed riders in these pictures punks or poseurs? Their
>> successors were much, much faster with derailleurs.
>>
>> They include Lapize, Albini, Thys, Cristophe, Scieur, Buysse, and
>> others, early giants of bicycling who couldn't even ride their
>> single-speeds all the way up the Tour de France passes, much less keep
>> up with contemporary riders who climbed the same passes with
>> derailleurs.
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1910L-Lap...
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1910L-Lap...
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1910L-Lap...
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1912-si-c...
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1912-lead...
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1913--Des...
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf%20history/imageshist011/1913-6%b0...
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist011/1913-Thys...
>>
>> You can enjoy the details in context here:
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/tdfhistory1910.html
>>
>> ***
>>
>> "Before derailleurs, even the great ones would have to walk their
>> bikes. Here Scieur walks his bike up the Galibier in stage 11."
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist02/1921-11th-...
>>
>> ***
>>
>> "Buysse in Hell. Here he pushes his bike up the Tourmalet."
>>
>> http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf history/imageshist02/1926-Buyss...
>>
>> After the Tour de France allowed derailleurs, single-speeds vanished,
>> and so did pictures of the peloton pushing on foot up the passes.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Carl Fogel
>
>
>Get a life, fool. Racing doesn't mean ****.
>
>JD

Dear JD,

Are you claiming that you'd pedal your single speed up the passes that
routinely defeated the single-speed racers in the early Tour de
France, but not the tourists enjoying the outing?

Cheers,

Carl Fogel