I love riding singlespeed! And yes, I am a BMX rider so it feels natural. You are spot on about how they teach you riding technique. They teach you how to maintain your momentum and move the bike around rather than just sitting and pedalling in a low gear over everything. It's like the anti-anti-eBike! 🤣

Every bike I have owned I turn into a SS. I now ride a full suspension single speed and have never looked back. Honestly I sucked at shifting gears and I would always have an excuse about “wrong gear” or “ shifting issues “ and I love the simplicity of not having to deal or think about that. I also find that with gears I would always have an excuse to shift into an easier gear and my fitness would suffer. Now I focus on the trail and my riding and fitness have greatly improved. Thanks for the SS luv. Keep the videos coming

(Hi from Portland) I can't imagine riding a bike with all of that extra junk on it. I have a Profile 18-tooth thread on freewheel screwed onto a Paul WORD 148 disc hub, 32t chain ring; 29 x 2.6 Teravail Kessel tires, which are magical. The old school starting point for choosing a gear is something like 2:1. 32:18 is pretty common, 32:22 for something like the Colorado Trail Race. Sometimes chain half links can make chain sizing easier, especially if you're not using a fancy chain specifically for a specific cassette and derailleur (Izumi V Super Toughness Narrow here) Riding singlespeed isn't much more difficult, if at all, than a multi-geared bike. It makes you read the ground and conditions more and maintaining momentum. You'll also get the upper body workout, too, which is a nice bonus. By the way, I'm hosting a short International Single Speed Day ride here on Thursday.

A systematic way to pick a gear is to first decide on what cadence range you can ride and knowledge of the power you can maintain for different lengths of time. Then, given the grade of climbs you will encounter as well as their length, use an online power calculator to find your speed, then use an online cadence calculator to find your cadence at that power for different gear ratios. Finally, choose a gear ratio that falls into your cadence range for the climbs you will encounter.

Love this Vid. I went single this season. And love it. I tell people. If you find a gear setup that you hate every were. Its probably the perfect gear. LOL

My best gear ratio: On my trails, I look for the steepest section and get a gear ratio that I can JUST ride without stalling.

Great video! You hit all of the major points, clear and easy to understand. I've been SSing in AZ for about 14 years, currently 58 years old, jammin' all kinda gnarly chunk both up and down. Gave up the geared squishy years ago!

Simple and beautiful! Thankyou for explaining it simple terms!

Great vid. Thanks for all the info. Literally building a single to ride Phils! Appreciate you and the effort!

excellent! Thank-you.

You're an exceptional athlete with solid advice. An unusual combination. Thank you.

Love my single speed mountain bike!

Yes, I used one on a S-Works, hardtail carbon frame for about four years. It worked very well until I cracked the BB on a rock and was not able to get a good repair. I had about 10,000 miles on the setup at that time. I have heard that it could wear out the BB carbon but I didn’t have any trouble with that.

I started riding SS almost 2 years ago at 56 and love it. In the time since then I’ve probably ridden twice as many miles on the SS as I have on my geared Fs bike!

thanks to you i switched to single speed in my ht running assegais tires for a month and it really helps me getting fit 😂

Dude such a solid video. My future mtb is becoming more and more likely to be a single speed👀

Having ridden bmx (single speed) in my childhood and through all my 20’s, it’s really nice for me to have gears now. It’s good to switch things up, might go back to single speed one day.

Man, thanks a lot from Russia. Just find an old mtb frame inside my friend's garage, so I've got an idea what to do

SS forces you to attack every climb and ride very strategically. Sit stand or walk? Grind or sprint? It will absolutely make you a better rider.

I’m super glad I watched this first I am never going single speed!! Thanks 🎉

Love the Aitken seat. He’s the man! Really tempted to switch out my Giant Trance frame for my Specialized Fuse and run it with the trusty 1x1 setup. Go back to my bmx and dirt jumper roots a bit 🤘🏻

Another way to tension your chain is by using an eccentric bottom bracket. It is more expensive than a tensioner but results in a very clean chain line.

Thank you so much, your video has answered so many questions and put my mind at ease, I am currently running a very entry level bike which I cheaply converted to a 1x7, from the stock 3x7, but this has now shown me that the gear inches and ratios I have would do just fine. Also, I am thinking about converting to a single speed, but since my rear is using a freewheel, my options are limited, maybe I'll go for a single speed freewheel, if I can find one. Or perhaps I will look for the cheapest way to get the rear on a freehub and a cassette. Thanks especially for explaining the gear inches, I was confused about that.

Great vid, wouldn't trade my SS for any other bike!!! Just seems to work out here in the midwest. Keep on pumping out the great content🤟

Thank you

Such a shame so few people arent trying this, its so cheap and fun

When i finally found my magic ratio of 40x19 for my hilly commute to work my geared bikes started to collect dust. Good content btw.

I transformed an old 26er HT into single speed, a 34T oval chainring with 20T cog. I use that bike for strength/power training riding uphill. The simple set up makes it also favorite for muddy rides. A little down part is the max speed on flat sections but it's good for building up higher cadence. All and all I have fun shredding that bike. 🤙

Hi, great video. I would suggest another important tip, make sure you have a fork with a lock. Very important when you stand uphill.

Love this video. There's something about a SS mountain bike ... especially if you rode BMX as a kid! Also, Mike Aitken is a BOSS.

I bought a kona single speed around 2010 it's got a 120 mm chinese air fork up front and continentals contact plus city slicks it's a fun playful bike for urban tricks. I guess I could put xc tires on to play in the dirt...

I converted mine to a SS about a year ago and I’ve been thinking about putting gears back on it but after watching this I think I’m gonna stay with easier set up lol

Somebody needs to do calculations on ratios that don't change overall chain length. I have run bikes with track ends and now with an eccentric BB. I can usually only manage a range of about two teeth on the rear at the extremes of both settings. Anything else requires a different chain. For example, I can run 32x16 or 18 at the extremes, or 32x18 or 20. It might be that I need to keep different chain lengths with me at all times if I feel I need to switch gears. The only other alternative is to use a tensioner, which I don't care for and it defeats part of the appeal to SS. Then again, switching out chainrings and rear gears at the same time to keep a similar chain length sounds like a pita too.

🎉to see single speed still a thing 13 years going❤

awesome

Had to do all this a week or so ago. My bmx has a 30 with a 9 tooth driver, normal woulda been a 25/9 which is the same as 44/16. My DJ came with a 32 and a 16 cassette cog, it feels light, rightly so, to get it more in the ballpark of my BMX i ordered a 13tooth cog which on a BMX would still feel light, but on the DJ itll actually be harder. Iike single speed but on the westcoast of Canada on a little island, we have steep mountains, so my 29er hardtail is staying geared for climbing. I did do 25+ years riding bmx over an hour long commutes to the skatepark daily, lots of walking to get up hills but it builds character

what is best rear cog for 30 chainring for Single speed

I did that whole entire course while being chased by a huge ginormous hungry Grizzly bear

I`ve been trying 16, 18, 20t cogs with 34t chainring on 26 hardtail and found same thing that 20t by 34t with 1.7 ratio and 44'' is a sweetspot for descends and slight uphills. Smaller cogs make it challenging to go uphill and cause too much leg fatigue.

3:55 Hmm well I learned something here, thanks

Is there a specific bike app that I can use to locate strictly fast flowy trails

I'm going to come at this from a different point, most likely? Everything in this video is correct. However most people are fit or supper fit and you might think someone like me very unfit might as well just forget it ? However my single speed biking started early 70s riding my mother's 1940s steel bike with heavy rod breaks. You would think it was going to be a big effort to even get the thing moving as a 9 year old ? I was completely astonished it was way faster than I thought possible? I was hooked, this was many years before I even heard of mountain bikes . Now in my 60s I still think Single speed is great as for the fitness thing , when in the video you said you have to know when you have to hop of and walk and push , I have to get of and push before almost everyone else, but here is the thing , I have to get off and push even with a wide range of gears . End result no faster even with a wide range of gears . b Lowest of even 2nd bottom gear you might as well walk , a 17" gear is walking pace. So even if like me old and unfit a Single speed is still king !

Not sure what bottom bracket setup that frame uses but check out First Components. They have EBB conversions for different frames that wont accept a true EBB. Example i have a 2021 Marin San Quentin 3 with a 73mm bottom bracket shell. Uses a 24mm axle spindle and BC1.37x24T threads. By using the First Components P237SA EBB setup I am able to run Single Speed without a tensioner and no magic gear needed. There worth the money if your legit wanting to SS on a frame without any other way to tension the chain.

The book of Cog. Chapter 1, verse 1. To one is to be at one with The One.

Wheel diameter x chainring ÷ cog x pi ÷ 12 = feet per crank revolution.

Hola amigo un saludo desde Colombia 🇨🇴 tengo un cuadro con ruedas 27.5 la tengo con single speed coronilla de 34T y piñon 16t, es una bicicleta muy versátil voy de mi casa al trabajo en carretera recta aproximadamente 17 km de distancia, tiene una excelente aceleración, voy por ciclorutas muy transitadas y al momento de arrancar dejo atras muy rápidamente a los bici usuarios, me parece una muy buena relación para andar en Ciudad aproximadamente 30km por hora, no me parece tan lento para el trayecto. Me gustaría recibir una opinión referente a la cadencia que tengo en mi bici GRACIAS!!

👍

It is nice to see that you like your modified drive train so much. I personally think that single speed mountain bikes are worse than normal MTBs in every way.. the weight bonus is way to small to make any notable difference to me.. especially since it means being in the wrong gear the entire time the weight would matter.. you keep mentioning how much simpler the setup is- while explaining all the extra steps you have to take to make it work. Sometimes less is more, but other times less is just less and I would rather go back to my 90s 3 speed internal gear hub than driving a single speed.

do you manually adjust / drop your seat, or tend to set and forget?

Do you ever use a 29er SS. I have a 26er now and was considering a 29er.

Maybe I missed it but is there an actual difference when compared to just sticking to one gear of a full gearbox? Or: could anyone try if this is fun, just by not shifting gears on their next ride? Besides my enduro I have like a single speed road bike and I like it, but as there are many hills in my area, I'd actually rather have a Gravelbike that goes up way better than my singlespeed where I have to stick to the one gear and press extremely hard as soon as it reaches a certain steepness. (obviously with better fitness it will get easier, but still.. )

BTW - your chain stretches and you lose that tension.

I miss riding my s s bike

For magic gear think half link

5,10.. rider what crank arm length?30 inch leg...

Take your SS to aBMX or pump track. Learn how to pump that sucker. It’ll keep you fast………. But I do prefer a dropper for that, happy to sacrifice a bit of weight. As for gear inches…..nahhh. Still to many variables. An SSer always has a box full of front and rear cogs of sizes….. you eventually find the right ratios. Disagree about SS needing fast tyres…. In UK we have seasons that need fast and muddy. So come autumn my SS happily wears a Maxxis forekaster and a shorty on the rear…. Very aggressive for mud. But an SS minion and ardent Race up front in the spring and summer.

You can aleays not switch on your 12s drivetrain

Shouldn't you be using circumference?

Why single speed? You don't have to shift, so I feel like you can find that perfect sweet spot within the 12 speed and don't shift. But then we can shift if we need to. I can see doing it on a cruiser, but on a mountain bike, why? Just so we can say its a single speed?

whats the story behind the missing 🦷

How to destroy your knees 1) buy a mtb hardtail 2) remove cassette, chain, derailleur and shifter 3) install a singlespeed kit 4) ride your usual singletracks 5) go to doctor to fix your knees 6) stop mtb riding to prevent long term issues with you knees

😠 Promo sm

Hell yeah.. love how the bike just sails over those doubles and how quiet the landings are... too many hills where I live.. 1x9 is as SS as I go XD/*