4th Annual International Single Speed Day
In a moment of true self-reflection and introspection I can admit that I’m one of those people who talks more about single speeding than actually does it. I’m nothing like my buddy Aaron who chases me around everywhere (or leads the climbs) on his $900 Vitus hardtail that he converted to single speed after breaking the derailer 2 months into owning it. Yes, I had my Canfield Nimble 9 (which makes a cameo later) set up single speed quite a bit. And an essential part of my purchase for my fat bike was the ability to run it single speed without a tensioner. But when it comes down to it most of my rides are on a geared bike. Sad but true. But when I saw Paul announce the 3rd Annual International Single Speed Day last year I knew I had to attempt to get a crew together for the 4th annual this year.
For most of this year I had my REEB Donkadonk setup single speed, at first 29+ with a Duro Crux 3.25” up front and WTB Ranger 3” out back on Alex Rims MD50 (50mm internal). That bike carved beautifully, and the rollover was incredible. But the wheel size definitely wrote checks that the rigid frame and fork couldn’t cash. I also wanted a more ATB feel, which I figured I could accomplish with a slightly lower trail figure that comes with 27.5+ wheels/tires. So in the late spring I scoured the internet for a Stan’s Hugo wheelset (the v2 ones, which aren’t made of cheese, 51mm internal), and I popped on a Duro Crux 3.25” up front and originally an Onza Canis 2.85” out back, but now a Specialized Ground Control 3”. I also finally put in some Cushcore. Stay tuned for a post with more musings on plus tires. On my Nimble 9 I ran some fairly tall gears (34/18, around 56 gear inches), and the more I’ve single speeded the more I’ve realized that I’d rather just climb a little less hard and find trail speed in other ways on traverses, descents, etc. So now I’m on a 30 oval / 18, which seems to work for the way I want. Throughout the summer I ran Crust x Nitto Ron’s Ortho bars, which were hilarious and sick for sand ramblin’ on non-technical forest roads, but flexed every which way when doing any legit mountain biking. I tried Crust x Nitto Harvey Mushman bars for a ride, and the stack height of the REEB is too high for high rise bars like those. So I’m back to the Stooge Moto bars, now slammed because apparently spending more time on road bikes makes you more flexible and less afraid of being leaned over. This seems to be the goldilocks setup for me.
Remember in 2020 when it was super easy to get like a dozen people together for a ride on a Thursday night? Pre-pandemic (or post-pandemic?) reality is back unfortunately, and it’s really hard to get an after work crew together these days. Especially an after work crew with lights. And especially an after work crew who single speeds.
But though our numbers were not huge last night our stoke was high. We had 3 single speeders and 3 geared friends with us. We headed out to Tree Farm, which is just a good ol’ fashioned neighborhood park trail that’s around 10 miles and about 700’ of climbing. It’s not epic, but it’s not boring— it’s kind of the perfect after work or lunch lap. There’s a lot of bang for your buck. Since it’s early November, 90% of the trail was covered in a nice layer of leaves, making it kind of hard to navigate, and feeling like you might be on the edge of traction the whole time. And on a single speed it’s quite fun without being too challenging or too boring. That being said, this trail is best on a proper XC whippit with a little bit of suspension both front and back. The pine roots in particular take it out of ya, especially on a rigid bike.
Dan and I got there first since our work schedules allowed it. We took a ~half lap of my favorite sections, mostly in the light of the setting sun. This helped me figure out what tire pressures to run with the new Cushcore and slightly bigger rear tire. By the time the rest of our crew showed up around 7 PM it was pitch black. First proper night ride of the season!
Isaac’s Nimble 9, formerly mine. One of my friends said the bike looks like how J.J. Cale’s “Lies” sounds. It’s definitely a big kid BMX and I think it excels as a single speed.
Once the rest of the crew showed up we exchanged high fives, back slaps, riding each other’s bikes in a circle around the parking lot, etc. For some of us it was our first time riding together this season. Outside of traveling or events I haven’t had a great crew to trail ride with in a long time. It’s always so fun at night, and the leaf coverage made things interesting. Isaac seemed fine on his 29x2.6” Rekons, unsurprisingly my basically plus-plus tires had no issues, but Scotty was drifting quite a bit on his 27.5x2.8” Rekons. In general I’ve started moving away from Maxxis tires due to their lack of grip, but I digress. One person on our ride got caught out on a slightly tricky rooty bit through a turn and “rode his top tube for Paul”, eventually yard sale’ing in the woods. Fortunately he sustained no serious injuries, just one of those sit-down-for-a-couple-minutes-before-riding-again situations.
Scotty’s gorgeous new size Medium Karate Monkey (he was previously on a large, and he has the curse of being 5’10” in this weird world of frame design)
Most of us were running 49-52 gear inches, which I thought was just about right. I could climb at a super slow cadence if I wanted, and even though I’d get spun out on some traverse-y bits I just embraced the “ride slow die whenever” vibes and tried to pump where I could.
3 psi with Cushcore #itsfine
So what did I learn:
There’s nothing better than riding with a crew.
Night riding is fun, and there’s a whole lot more of it to come.
Single speeding is also very fun, and I’m going to see how long I can get away with it when I switch to fat mode when the snow falls.
I’m gonna need some brake levers that I can dial in closer to my handlebars
Cushcore plus, while noticeably heavier when you lift your bike, is well worth it for the way I want to ride. It helps with descending, cornering, and climbing, and you’ll probably use the rim protection if you run your pressure as low as I do.
Until next time,
Peter