My Singlespeed Friend

Whoever made the statement that you can never go back to your childhood was wrong. While there is truth to the fact that once we age past those great years of endless child powered energy, we can still recapture pieces of our youth by simply doing the things we used to do. One of the greatest joys I have found recently is the ability to once again tear up the track and trails of my childhood with a single geared mountain bike. Sure the bike needs to be bigger and unfortunately they are a bit more expensive than saving my paper route money can afford, but single gear mountain bikes are a great way to not only remember your childhood, but bring it back as well.

I, like a lot of riders, still freshly remember tearing around a dirt track. Taking on jumps and bumps, sliding around a turn with one leg out to help keep myself upright, all of this and more. I remember how from the moment I got home until the sun set I was gone somewhere on my bike. The best part about being an adult is I don’t have to worry about my mother calling me home too soon. Yet the bad part about being an adult is that after a couple hours of riding like a crazed maniac I am exhausted. However it is a sweet price to pay for the feeling of once again being a kid.

Sure there are some issues with single gear mountain bikes. First off those hills that are hard with gear selection become true monsters with only one gear. Also only having one gear means that no matter how hard I pedal I am not going to get a better speed ratio from my bike. Yet I am more than willing to give these things up and not just because I get to regain some of my childhood. As a matter of fact I can think of a lot of benefits to a single gear mountain bike.

First is the obvious fact I don’t have to worry near as much about derailing issues. Since the bike only has one gear, there is no chance that the chain will derail as it switches gears. Also because everything is simpler, I have a lot less maintenance I have to worry about. Instead of making sure my gear rail is in good shape, then testing to make sure the gear cables are in working order, I can just check to make sure my tires are good, my handlebars straight and off I go. All of this is even before I consider the different challenges a single gear bike offers.

While I can’t speak for every biker on a trail, I can vouch that at least some of us enjoy the pure challenge of the sport. Now imagine that already monster hill without the benefit of gearing down to help you get to the top. Yep, you have one gear and the only way you are going to make it up that hill is to put everything you got on the line. Yet once you are up there, you know you earned it. Another challenge aspect of single geared bikes is the fact that back woods trails become even more technical. Now instead of being able to gear up or down for the demands of the trial you only have one gear and that gear is forward.

So okay maybe these kind of bikes are not for everyone. After all if we all converted to single gear bikes, engineers would be joining the unemployment lines in droves. However for those of us looking to recapture some of our childhood, or those of us looking for a different kind of challenge, the single geared mountain bike is a great answer.

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