First let me say that I have never really cycled, I have done it a few times in a triathlon over the years but have never owned a road bike or really done any training on one. (Pardon any mistaken terminalogy, I haven't learned the lingo yet.) I was recently given a Griffen Vulcan B4C frame single-gear bike with a single front break and carbon fiber front fork. I don't remember the other parts on it off hand but from the research I did last night I should be able to get about $1500 or $2000 for it. So my questions are: 1. Should I keep it as a single gear and learn from there? 2. Should I keep all of the parts and add a multi-gear system to it? 3. Sell it and buy a new multi-geared bike for the same price? I have been trying to do research on cycling since I got the bike yesterday but thought I would ask the experts their opinions on this matter while I did my own research on it. A few other notes about me, I do live in a fairly mountainous area so there will be a lot of hills around so I can see the benefits in multi gears there. Also I am fairly fit as I run in half and full marathons on a regular basis during the summer season but I know cycling uses completely different muscles and I will be starting basically from scratch when it comes to that. [Edit] Sorry just noticed that there is a forum dedicated to single speed which is where this should probably go.
Single Gear or Multi Gear for a beginner
- Thread starter TheSchma
- Start date
Your best bet would be a multi speed bike if you are planning on entering Tri's. Seeing as you live in a mountainous area you are going to need the gearing options.
You have a few options available with your current bike. You can tool it up or sell it. By selling it you can use the proceeds towards a road bike. Converting the bike over may be more costly seeing as you wont have the proceeds of the sale to defray the cost. Components can be quite costly and require a bit of tinkering to set them up properly.
If it was me I would sell and buy a different bike.
It might not even be practical to convert your bike as single gear bikes lack things like cable guides and a rear derailleur hanger. Anything can be overcome, for a price, but often you are money and quality ahead to find a bike with the desired characteristics to start with.
Thanks for the tips, I think what I will probably do is ride it for a few weeks while the weather is still mostly decent and then depending on how well I like it either sell it or keep it. But the two days I have been on it I am more apt to sell it and get a new one next spring.
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