So I got the Homebrewed cogs in the mail awhile back - and they are every bit as beautiful as people say they are.

15, 16, 33

Nice and thick to prevent damaging your  cassette body

On the bike

Homebrewed Components - Choosing a Chainring and Cog Combo

For my post on choosing a rear cog go here: choosing a cog

I'm in the market for a new cog and chainring for my singlespeed. Homebrewed Components seems to be a preferred designer and manufacturer of cogs and rings by many singlespeeders, and is mentioned quite a bit in the mtbr.com forums.

Dan Wilcox is the man behind Homebrewed. He explains how the business started:

After being a Machinist/Engineer for my whole working life, i decided to start up my own machine shop. Granted, doing it in the height of the economic recession was probably not the best of ideas, but i figured what does not kill me will only make me stronger. Also, i figured it would keep me from making a bunch of useless crap that has flooded the markets partially causing this predicament we’re in.

At first, i started making parts for other companies and building tooling for people i had worked for in the past. That was going OK, but it wasn't really what i wanted to do with my capabilities. Also, i take pride in what i do, and if I’m going to make something, i want my name on it, not someone else’s. 

Now here’s where i started thinking… what do i like to do the most? Well, that would be creating things and mountain biking. How can i put those 2 together? Well duh, make bike parts! At first it was just going to be a hobby to cure some boredom in between the normal work. I started making chain tensioners using part of a design that i had made a few years ago. The only modifications i did to it were basically a little material removal to lighten them up. I posted them up on a web forum and got some decent feedback along with a few orders.

Read the full post at the Homebrewed Components blog.

I'm currently running a 2:1 ratio, and feel I could do better with a fraction more, maybe 2.1:1 or 2.2:1. This will make my flats a bit faster and the hills harder. Coming from a 32 - 18, I was on a 1.78:1 ratio. So a jump up to 2:1 was 22 tenths.

Using this 22 tenths figure as a benchmark, I don't think I could handle another jump of 22 tenths considering the terrain where I live (it's not very hilly but the few hills we have would be very hard for me at 2.22:1 I think.

Let's take a look at the combinations Dan from Homebrewed offers. This is a grid between the aluminum chainrings he has which are compatible with 104 BCD (for Shimano) and his aluminum standard cogs.

Ratios between Homebrewed Al chainrings and Al cogs

The red cells are ratios I don't think I can handle. The greens are even less viable as they're even easier than what I'm running now. And the orange cells are what I'm on now.

So my best options are those in the white, above 2.0 and below 2.22. I think 2.21, 2.20, and 2.19 are probably just about the same or indistinguishable from 2.22, so I'll avoid those. I think 2.12 or 2.13 would be best.

Starting from the bottom of the chart, 2.12 at 36-17 is good, as it affords more chainwrap than the other options, but it doesn't leave me with many options if 2.12 is too hard or too easy - the neighboring cells are 2.0 and 2.25.

The next choice is 35-17 producing a ratio of 2.06, which probably isn't quite aggressive enough. 35-16 sounds just right, and if it is too hard, I can keep the 35 and easily move to a 17 cog.

The problem with 34-16, is I can only move down to a 2.0 if the 2.13 is too hard.

A 33 chainring give me almost exactly the same ratios as a 35, but being smaller would be a hair lighter - but I'd lose some chainwrap.

32-15 is the same as 34-16, including the neighboring options.

A 31 ring looks good, as I can get 2.21 with a 14 or if that's too hard, 2.07 with a 15.

I wonder just how critical chainwrap is. I suppose there's only one way to find out, and that's test it myself by buying a 31-14 and 15.

Last, I wonder why Homebrewed has so many other ratios that very few singlespeeders would ever want. I'd imagine the 31-24 combo would be far too slow to ride on the road and not practical unless you lived in a super hilly area.

-----

Update, 11 Oct, 11

As I was about to place my order, I noticed a note regarding the 31T chainring. It says:

This is enough for me to not order the 31, not knowing the extent to the modifications or why it may not fit.

Thus, I'll go with a 33 and a 15 and 16 for almost identical ratios to the 31 with a 14 and 15.

Jeff Jones Titec J-Bar

I have always admired Jeff Jones bikes and the unorthodox geometry he designs into them. Plus he's a fellow Oregonian, so that makes me all the more interested in his products.

So when I saw a very lightly-used Titec J-Bar for sale, designed by the man himself, I grabbed it.

Designed by Jones, built by Titec

The J-Bar's dimensions are such that your hands sit in a natural position, angled much like they are if you have your arms resting at the side of your body. I presume this will be more comfortable overall, especially on long rides. This wrist position give you plenty of leverage to move the bike laterally. I'm sure on technical spots this will improve my handling.

It has 0 degrees of rise, not quite what I'm used to. Normally this lack of rise would put me a bit further forward on the bike, but with the rearward sweep of the bar, I'm in about the same position I was with my previous riser bar.

But now with my hands closer to my shoulders, I expect to be able to use my back and shoulders to pull up on the bar and push down on my pedals harder, as explained on the Jeff Jones site here (towards the bottom of the page).

I haven't tried the bar on the trail yet, just a short ride around the neighborhood, but the Jeff Jones also explains that in very tight corners, your outside wrist isn't kinked into an unnatural angle, allowing you to keep your control and flexibility.

Installed and ready to rip

The width is an acceptable 660mm, keeping up with today's other fashionably-wide bars. It does not use the 31.8 shim the original Jones bar does - it is already 31.8.

The front appendages will make nice alternative hand rests, and could also serve as a light or GPS holder.


It took a while to find what felt like the best position of the bars (rotation in the stem) I'm still experimenting - I may want to angle the bar a bit more down to the front.

The only thing that I struggled with was mounting my Shimano XT brakes on it. They barely fit around the curves of the front 'horns' of the bar, and it took me a bit of pounding with a rubber mallet to get them on. I couldn't have done it without the hammer. And in doing so, the brakes scraped off the black paint a bit. No big deal but not quite what I'd hope if they were brand new.

I need longer brake cables

You'll also notice in the photo above that my brake cables aren't quite as long as they should be. They still work fine but could use a few more centimeters.

We'll see how the J-Bar fares on the trails, specifically up some good hills and through some technical areas - more soon.

----------  ----------

Update 1

I did 25km of trails this morning. For the first hour, I loved the bar. I was convinced this was the bar for me, and was even considering buying the Jones titanium version.

But after that hour, a pain started developing on the inside of my right wrist - sort of where the thumb meets the arm. Probably due to my hand being bent or even kinked a bit too much.

The night before, I had read a bit in forums about how to best mount this bar, and everybody seemed to agree the bar should be angled back a bit, so the bottoms of the grips point down to the ground a bit. The way I rode them was the opposite - pointing a little up, which now I understand to probably not be quite right.

Nevertheless, the leverage I could pull was awesome. And I found a few comfortable hand positions which were nice for some variety. Overall, I like it, I just need to experiment with it.

But at US $380 I will be sure I like this concept before buying a titanium Jones H-bar.

Update 2

After having adjusted the bar and riding another 27km, my opinion is back to what it was for the first hour of the first ride: It's the bar for me.

Tilting the bar back more so your grip is more like you're holding a gun made all the difference. No wrist pain or discomfort.

I also tilted the brake levers way forward so now they are pointing almost straight down. It's just the natural position your hands need. Everything is smoother and more ergonomic.

We'll see about that titanium Jones bar!

Basic Chris King Rear Hub Service

Caution: I'm not a mechanic or any kind of bike expert. I hardly know anything at all. But I will try to share what little I do know. What you read here is just based on my own personal experience and the research I've done. It might not be adequate or even accurate.


So don't blame me if you ruin your bike, get hurt, maimed, or die after following my instructions. If you have any corrections or thoughts please let me know - anything to make these instructions clearer or more accurate for others.

It's a good idea to re-lube your Chris King hubs every now and then. Depending on how much you ride, you should do this every other month (if you ride a lot) or every 3-6 months as suggested by Chris King.

A full service is recommended once a year, but if you ride more you may want to do it twice a year. To do this, you'll need the hub servicing tool. We won't cover that here, just the basic service.

Here's a quick guide to servicing your rear hub.

Here's what you'll need:

• Two 5mm hex wrenches
• WD-40
• Chris King Ring Drive Lube
• Tri-Flow lubricant (I have substituted this with Finish Line chain lube)*
• General grease (I use Park Tool Polylube 1000)
• A toothbrush
• Some rags

Get this from Aspire Velotech

And if your cassette is still on your hub you'll also need:

• A chain whip
• Cassette lockring remover (I use the FR-5G from Park Tool)
• A crescent wrench

First, you may want to familiarize yourself with all the parts. Here's a screen capture I took from the Crhis King manual, below.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Remove your wheel from the bike
2. Take the skewer out of the hub
3. Wrap the chainwhip around a gear, insert the lockring remover, put the crescent wrench on the lockring remover and crank it to the left, unscrewing the lockring
4. Pull the cassette or cog off the hub
5. Put a 5mm hex key in each side of the axles, where the skewers used to be, and unscrew the hub assembly a bit
6. Pull the driveshell assembly (including axle) out of the drive side. 



Driveshell assembly with axle still inside

7. Now you can pull the driveshell out
8. Then by hand, unscrew the silver cone and axle from the main axle. Unscrew them from each other.
9. Next pull the axle out of the driveshell. It may not come out very smoothly, just pull, you won't break anything. Here are the two parts you will now have:



A cleaned axle after removal



Driveshell. Note wear from cassette and singlespeed cog that was added later.

10. Now that you've taken it all apart, you can get to the RingDrive, the hub shell bearings, and the driveshell bearings.
11. Spray some WD-40 into the driveshell assembly (image below), and around the outside, to clean it up. You may have to use a clean rag or toothbrush to get all the junk out. There could be sand and all kinds of trail gnar in there.



Cleaned driveshell assembly.

See those cylindrical bearings? Those are the needle bearings. Clean them up and then put a thin layer of RingDrive Lube around them. Put it aside.
Next, using a knife or other sharp instrument, lift up the silver snap ring around the hubshell assembly. Carefully take out the rubber gasket under it. You will now see the bearings. Make sure you put these two parts back together facing the same way you found them (don't flip either over)



The snap ring here is still dirty - it's the part touching the gold hubshell



Snap ring and gasket removed. You can see a few bearings too

12. Squirt some WD-40 around the bearings. Be sure not to get any on your rotor if you're lazy enough to have left it on like I was. Also clean the Drive Rings inside the hubshell assembly with a toothbrush. Let it all dry.
13. Next, run a 3/4 ring of the Ring Drive Lube around the bearings. Spin the bearings to spread the lube around evenly.



You can see the lube running from about 3 to 12 o'clock

14. While you have the Ring Drive Lube out, spread some over the Ring Drives inside the hub. Put your finger in the non-drive side of the hub, from below, and jiggle the rings so as to open up a gap to insert the lube.



See a bit of lube on the Ring Drives.  Jiggle them with your finger from the non-drive side.

15. Clean the snap ring and gasket and put them in facing the same way they were originally (don't flip either over). Make sure the bearings can spin freely. If they don't, the snap ring is likely to be improperly seated. Mess with it until everything spins nicely.
16. Drip some Finish lines around the splines of the driveshell assembly.
17. Pop it into the hubshell assembly.
18. Bead some Tri-Flow along the area of the axle where the needle bearings rest - it should be a slightly fatter section. Slide the axle back in.
19. Put a little bit of general purpose grease on the threads joining the axle ends and adjusting cones. Screw them together until just a bit of threads can still be seen.
20. Thread this assembly (axle end and adjusting cone) onto the axle fairly tight, but not so tight that the hub can't spin. Tighten the adjusting cone first, then the axle end. For more details on this process see this post, Adjusting Chris King Hubs.
21. Tighten it all up again with a 5mm hex key in each side.

You can find the official Chris King instructions here, and a super fast video here, but it would be a lot easier if they had photos.

*I'm not a mechanic and I'm not sure if using Finish Line is a good idea, but I have hear of others doing it and I've had no issues doing it, but I can't promise you that you won't.

Cornering Fast on a Mountainbike

Being able to corner well at high-speed is a skill that can really make your riding faster, smoother and of course more fun. If you can't take corners fast enough you will end up losing your momentum, coming to a crawl around bends, and just looking goofy around your faster friends. (Don't worry, we all have faster friends.)

Here are a few tips I recommend trying:

Brake In
A general rule is to enter slow, exit fast. So coming into the corner, apply the brakes evenly and smoothly, but not too much. You'll be leaning the bike so you can take the corner faster than if you were not leaning the bike - more about that below.

Weight the Bike Properly
Keep your weight on your outside pedal, which should be at a down or 6 o'clock position, with your other foot just resting on the other (inside) pedal at the up position for balance. Your outside knee should be close to the frame. Grip the bar so that your arms are more weighted on the inside of the handlebars.

This combination of applying weight to both the inside and outside of the bike gives you leverage and 'huckability'. It allows you to have total control to lean the bike as much or as little as possible. Which leads me to the next tip...

Lean the Bike
I'm sure you rub your knee around the corners on your Ducati or Yamaha but now you're on your Bianchi or Fuji - bicycles are different than motorcycles.

Yes, you still lean the bike, but now that you have your inner handlebar and outside pedal weighted, you are in a good position to keep your body fairly upright. The bike can be down as low as 50 or 60 degrees, but in tight technical corners, your body's momentum can't afford to drop with the bike if you want to pull out of the corner quickly.

So keep your inside arm straight, only bending the elbow slightly, and drop the bike.  You'll be able to quickly pull it up without losing momentum, as you exit the corner.

Point your Body
Your bike will go where you look. Look to the exit of the corner, not to any roots, rocks, puddles or other obstacles in the corner. If you look at them you will likely hit them.

Point your hips and shoulders square with where you intend to go. This rotation will help guide the bike. As you bring your knee towards the frame in the first tip above, you should also twist your hips and body.

In short, face where you want to go.

Weight Your Tires
Just as you have to be careful how you balance left-right, you need to also be aware of your front-back weight distribution. You may have to bring some weight forward to your front tire in order to make it grip the ground better.

Otherwise, it may wash out, making you fall. Doing this right takes a lot of practice, knowledge of the ground conditions and how slippery they are, and an understanding of your tires and their grip characteristics.

Understand the Apex
Just like on the racetrack with your motorcycle or car, you should be able to identify and take the racing line. This is the straightest line between the entrance of the corner and the exit of the corner. The apex is the inside of the curve or corner you are taking.

So what you need to do is:

1. Approach the corner as wide as possible - so if you are taking a right corner, enter from the left side of the trail.
2. Turn right and aim for the apex. Taking it this wide will increase your radius.
3. Cut right across the apex.
4. Exit wide, as fast as possible, using all the width of the trail. You should end up on the left side of the trail.
5. Power out as to gain back any speed you may have lost.

Exit Fast

This is point 5 in the previous tip. Once you've successfully negotiated the curve and are back on track, you need to pedal out. If you know the trail or know what to expect, you would have already shifted into the right gear to anticipate the upcoming terrain, so that your pedaling will be efficient.

Conditions

All of these variables depend on your tires, your bike geometry (especially headtube angle), the state of the surface you're on (sandy, wet leaves, water, etc) and especially your knowledge of the trail.

Practice again and again in a corner you're comfortable with and soon you'll find you are taking corners faster, smoother, and like I said before, having more fun.

Choosing a Cog

Caution: I'm not a mechanic or any kind of bike expert. I hardly know anything at all. But I will try to share what little I do know. What you read here is just based on my own personal experience and the research I've done. It might not be adequate or even accurate.


So don't blame me if you ruin your bike, get hurt, maimed, or die after following my instructions. If you have any corrections or thoughts please let me know - anything to make these instructions clearer or more accurate for others.


Besides the number of teeth (that's a much bigger discussion here's one of my posts on choosing a ratio) you need to look at the following:

1. Width of the base
2. Chain size
3. Material

There are a few other things to consider, like color, one piece or two, brand, and uh, yeah, price. But those are more subjective and I'll leave them up to you to decide!

I'm assuming you know to buy one that fits your hub, and that your hub isn't a fixie or BMX one that would require a threaded cog. The cogs here are not threaded and will not work on a singlespeed bike.

Width
If you buy a cheap singlespeed conversion kit, it may come with an equally-cheap stamped stainless steel cog. This should be a one-piece skinny one as seen here.

Look how skinny this cheap cog is

So what's wrong with cog with a thin base? It will dig into the freehub body of your hub, especially if your freehub body is of the more common, and softer, aluminum variant (as opposed to stainless steel or titanium).

When a cog (or even cassette) digs into your hub like this it can be difficult to remove, and it destroys part of your hub. You may have to file it down to remove the ridges in the freehub body if this happens.

A higher-quality cog, like a Surly or a Chris King, will be a machined piece with a fatter base. Check it:

See how thick the base is: 4.35mm. By the way, the wear you see is from 428 km of off-road use.

Chain Size
There are two main chain sizes you should know about: 3/32 and 1/8. The first is the standard that you will probably be familiar with if you ride a geared mountain or road bike. The latter is a BMX standard. Either can be used on singlespeeds, but your cogs will have to be compatible.

There are plenty of arguments for both sides, but that is another discussion. If you are converting from geared to singlespeed, it'll be simpler to opt for the more conventional 3/32.

Just ensure that your chainring and your cog match your chain. Notice on the Surly image above it says "3/32"".

Material
Cogs are made from stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, or in the case of the Surly SCM415 ChroMoly. (Turns out motorcycle cogs are made of the same material as Surly's cogs). And in some cases, they're a combination of titanium and stainless steel, as in the case of one example from Homebrewed Components. See image below.

The black center is stainless steel, the teeth titanium

So which material should you choose? Stainless steel is the strongest, but also the heaviest. According to the Homebrewed site, it's two times the weight of titanium, and more than two times the weight of aluminum.

Aluminum is the lightest, but naturally the weakest. It's best for racing and those that don't mind changing their parts more often.

Aluminum can break easily

While not a cog, you can see that aluminum can break easily. This happened under normal conditions, just climbing over a log. It's unlikely that a cog, with a much smaller diameter, would fail so catastrophically, but after having witnessed this absurd breakage, I won't be buying aluminum cogs.

Titanium is by many considered the best of both: It's almost as strong as steel and almost as light as aluminum. But it's expensive.

Adjusting Chris King Hubs

Caution: I'm not a mechanic or any kind of bike expert. I hardly know anything at all. But I will try to share what little I do know. What you read here is just based on my own personal experience and the research I've done. It might not be adequate or even accurate.


So don't blame me if you ruin your bike, get hurt, maimed, or die after following my instructions. If you have any corrections or thoughts please let me know - anything to make these instructions clearer or more accurate for others.


Many say that Chris King parts - especially the hubs - are the best you can buy for a bike. All the components within the hubs (bearings, races, etc) are said to be manufactured individually by Chris King in Portland, Oregon. One look at them, or any other King product, and the quality will be evident: beautifully machined stainless steel, titanium, and aluminum in a wide range of colors.

Furthermore, the performance and weight of Chris King hubs are among the best available. Sure, there are lighter hubs, but I doubt there are many lighter hubs with such incredible engagement. Engagement refers to the immediacy with which the hubs grab and rotate the cassette or cog after you move your crank. More engagement means faster and finer ratcheting.

Chris King hubs have 72 points of engagement. Other brands have 72 (such as Hadley) but many have only 48, 36, or 24.

This may sound trivial, but any mountainbike (or trials!) rider that has used them will tell you that in technical sections it sure is nice to have.

Chris King hubs are, however, fairly expensive, but you get what you pay for. You get almost a lifetime of use - that is IF you maintain and service them properly.

If the wheel wobbles left-right as indicated by the arrows,
the hub may need a simple adjustment

The Chris King documentation clearly states when and how to service their hubs, which includes a quick tune-up after a few hours or days of use. (Full Chris King hub and headset manual here - .pdf.) In this period they can become loose, which can be alarming for many first-time owners who spent so much money on them.

These owners don't need to worry as mostly all the servicing that the hubs need can be done at home. All that's needed is a few basic tools, some time, and a desire to learn.

If you lack any one of these things stop reading this now and head to your shop (bring $50-$100 at least)!

Adjustment of Bearing Pre-load - Front or Rear Hubs

Left: Axle end & adjusting cone from front hub
Right: From rear hub

This will be needed any time the wheel seems to move left-right while the skewer is firmly clamped in the drop-outs. This will happen during the initial break-in period. It can happen to the front or rear hub. If you notice this check to make sure your skewers are not simply loose.

If the hubs are brand new you'll just be running through the break-in period which will begin from when the hubs are brand new and may continue up to about 60 hours of riding.

Even on broken-in hubs, you may be able to notice some side-to-side play as you ride. It can be a very unsettling feeling, but don't worry, it can be fixed on the trail, very easily.

Tools needed: Two 5mm hex keys (you may need to borrow a friend's if you only have one)
Estimated time: 90 seconds for expert; 5 minutes for beginner

Step 1: Remove the wheel from the bike.

Step 2: Take the skewer out - be careful not to lose the threaded end cap or the little springs on the skewer.

Step 3: Insert a 5mm hex key in each side of the axle, where the skewer was, and twist each one counter-clockwise. A small aluminum assembly of a cone and a cylindrical knob will screw off (the axle end and adjusting cone).

Two 5mm hex keys counterclockwise

Step 4: Using just your hands, you should be able to separate the axle end and adjusting cone from each other. They are threaded too.

Step 5: Screw the adjusting cone back onto the axle again - without the axle end - and tighten it pretty tight with your fingers. You should be able to spin the wheel between your hand easily by holding onto the cone and the axle on the other side. If it doesn't spin you've threaded it on too tight.

Step 6: Thread the axle end into the adjusting cone by hand. Then really tighten down it using hex keys in both sides (same as in step 3, but tightening).

Step 7: Reinsert the skewers. (By the way, Chris King says not to use titanium skewers - only steel-shafted skewers.)

Step 8: Put the wheel back on the bike, and ensure the skewers are very tight - 1,100 lbs. of clamping force according to Chris King, however much that is! All wobble and play should now be gone, and the wheel should freely and easily spin. If there is still play, the cone is not tight enough. If the wheel doesn't spin easily the cone is too tight.

Step 9: Readjust if necessary.

Choosing a Singlespeed Ratio

All first-time singlespeeders wonder what gear ratio to start out with. How big or small should the chainring and rear cog be? Can existing chainrings or gears be reused? What's best for a beginner?

It's often said that for mountainbikers, 2:1 is the best to start. This means that if your front chainring is 32 your rear should be 16. So for every revolution of your pedals, the rear wheel makes two. By the way, a 34:17 ratio is still 2:1.

For road riding the ratio needs to be much more aggressive - a bigger chainring and a smaller cog for faster road speeds.

Back to mountianbiking - while 2:1 may be a good rule of thumb, there are a number of factors you need to consider:

How strong are you?
If you're the fastest and fittest rider around, you may do well with something more challenging than 32:16 - you may try 32:15*...but that's highly dependent on the next point.

How hilly or flat are your trails?
If you live in the Himalayas or Tetons 32:16 may be crazy hard, meaning you won't be able to climb many hills no matter how fit you are. But if you live in Kansas you may want to look up some roadie ratios!

How much road riding will you do?
I have to do a few kilometers of riding to get to my trails, and anything beyond 32:18 makes me spin out really fast on the road - pedaling like crazy but getting nowhere fast.

How much pain are you willing to endure?
If you think you can train up fast, 32:15* could be good - but be ready to suffer. I started on 32:18 but then moved to 32:16 and never looked back.

What components are you using?
Are you on a 26" bike or 29er? This changes the ratio. How long are your cranks? 175 or other? This will affect your ratio too. Check out Sheldon Brown's online gear calculator to get into the dirty math.

Also, if you can manage to find the 'magic gear' or the ratio that gives you a tight chain based on your chainstay length, meaning you won't need a tensioner, you may be inclined to go with that. But will that ratio be ideal for you? This could dictate your ratio. See the Fixed Innovations magic gear calculator.

If you opt for a cog less than 16T, you will have fewer teeth interacting with the chain (less chainwrap) which can lead to chain skipping. Even with a 16, you only have 8 teeth biting into the chain, and on a tough climb you could blast your chain over the cog.

In short, the more teeth on your cog (for mountainbiking) the better. But your 30 speed bike has an 11T cog you say? That's because gearies will only use the 11T on the fast flats or downhills - when they hit a hill they always shift to an easier gear!! ALWAYS!

Plus, because you are never shifting gears, that rear cog is constantly subjected to wear, and the smaller it is, the fewer teeth there are to absorb all this brutal chain pulling. Smaller cogs wear out faster.

The workaround, if you need a 15 or smaller in back, is simply to get a larger front chainring. 32:16 is the same as 38:19, for example, except with the 38:19 you have a lot more chainwrap. Less skipping, less wear.

A new Surly 16T cog

Once you have considered these factors and understand the variables, simply ask other singlespeeders in your area. Another approach is to ride a multi-geared bike in a certain gear for a while and don't shift. It will be hard to resist the urge to shift but this is a good way to find out what you are capable of.

You will be surprised.

*The 15T idea is just for illustration purposes - it's not recommended to use such a small cog - see the last section on components

Why Singlespeed?

This is the question that those that have never ridden singlespeed ask, and with good reason. Who would really want to reduce pedaling efficiency in a sport that all to often tries to optimize it?

Who, masochists aside, would voluntarily - happily! - subject their bodies and minds to such a Sisyphean task as climbing a hill in the 'wrong' gear?

Some singlespeeders say they can't explain it.
Some say it's almost spiritual.
Others say it's just 'better'.
Many prefer the simplicity, lack of derailleur clicking and clanking, and the fact that it's quiet.
Almost all agree that it's more just more fun.

But so far, none of these answers really addresses the question very well. So let me give it a try.

First, however, I want to clear up the difference between fixie and singlespeed, for the non-bike geeks out there.

And all too often singlespeeds are confused with fixed-gears, or 'fixies'. Which is a big mistake - fixies are often ridden by urban hipsters, a far cry from the mountain biking singlespeeders, who actually wear helmets and don't care about style like they do performance.

You will not see Hipster on a trail.

A fixed gear bike has a direct drive from the chain to the wheel. The hub does not allow for coasting - the cranks and pedals are always turning (as long as the rear wheel is moving). To brake, they push on the pedals backwards - they do not generally have brakes.

The only real similarity between fixed and singlespeed is that neither has any derailleurs or can change gears. But that's where the similarities end.

On mtbr.com, sparty attempts to explain:

The "Why singlespeed?" thread is coming up on a year old now. There are over 200 replies in that thread and none of 'em belong to me. Over the years I've spoken up about what I think makes singlespeeding great but the very title of that thread made me feel like it was going to be a debate, and I get into way too many debates without doing so intentionally. So I purposefully avoided that thread until today. But today, reading it made me reflect on why I ride a singlespeed. 

So I've written a little story about some people you know. It's a story about how a few local (Eugene, Oregon) guys came to love singlespeeding so much that now maybe half the riders in our club, The Disciples of Dirt, ride 'em. And we're a pretty active club.

Because of the nature of historical perspectives, I'm sure this story is littered with inaccuracies.So be it. The characters with diverse and equally innaccurate perceptions will no doubt be along soon to fine tune the white lies. 

Anyway, let me begin... 

I'd been mountain biking less than a year when I met shiggy in late 1985 or early '86. Back then he went by a different handle, which shall remain deeply imbedded in ancient history -- "shiggy" is bad enough. Anyway, shiggy and a guy named Justin and I (you've seen photos on this board of Justin in pantyhose and a thong at Barbie Camp) used to ride off-road quite a bit together back in the late '80s.

We rode geared bikes back in those days. But shiggy regaled us with tall tales of a singlespeeder he'd ridden with years earlier from the coast; this guy rode a custom IRD singlespeed with platform pedals, 206mm Bullseye cranks and a pretty big gear (especially considering the rugged hills of Oregon), even taller than 2-to-1. And this guy was over 50 years old. Whoa! Needless to say, young-at-the-time shiggy was mighty impressed.

Pesonally, I just thought the guy sounded crazy. Justin was too busy riding his bike underwater in Oregon's winter puddles to care.

We pushed the idea of singlespeeding onto the back burner but shiggy clung to the legendary memories about the guy on the big bike with one gear.

Fast forward about eight or ten years to the early '90s. Josh Ogle (yeah, that Josh Ogle, of Jerichofame) was renting a dark, dank run-down dwelling not far from downtown Eugene. Josh occaasionally joined the Disciples of Dirt for our weekly night rides in the Coburg Hills north of town. One night he showed up on a homemade singlespeed (er, make that a "custom frame").
Eyes rolled.

We laughed at him. Yeah, we laughed at Josh Ogle for bringing a singlespeed to an off-road ride.
Well, shiggy didn't laugh. His inspiration had been burning inside him for years. A debate ensued.

After that, shiggy started riding singlespeed off-road. 

"What?" I thought.

Next General Coonskins took it up. I thought this was a real joke, because here was a guy who Icould beat going either uphill or downhill, and now he was going to make his life worse by limitinghimself to one gear. "He'll hate it and pitch that stupid bike off a cliff soon enough," I thought tomyself.

But that's not what happened. Late that summer, on one of the hardest group rides that our club does every year, Coonskins freakin' rode away from me like I was standing still. The only time I saw him all day was when he'd wait for us gearies to regroup. This ride has HILLS, folks. Big ones, steepones, long ones. I was stunned by 'Skins transformation.

How could this happen? My reality was becoming distorted. I did not understand. Coonskins went on to race the Cascade Creampuff. To say he'd earned new respect is an understatement. Currently, if he's not the strongest rider I know, I don't know who is.

I decided I had to get a piece of this singlespeed action for myself. I wanted to become a strong rider, too. I wanted to keep up with my friends, no matter how little sense riding a singlespeed seemed to make.

Honestly, I never expected to like it. I just wanted to get strong.

And I did. Get strong, I mean. That was six years ago. But I found that once I got strong, I liked singlespeeding, too. What's funny is I can't say exactly why I like it so much. I just do. In fact, I like it better than any other kind of bike riding. It's so rewarding. My mega-bling FS bike doesn't see much action these days.

And that's why I ride singlespeed.

Personally, now I think the title of that other thread should be, "Why not singlespeed?" Just askshiggy, or Josh, or General Coonskins -- they'll tell ya.

So hopefully that clears it up a bit. I'm a new convert, but I'm here to stay.

Post taken from MTBR.

Teaching a Kid to Ride a Bike

I only started riding just before my son was born in February 2008. But when he was born I knew he'd be on a bike soon, judging by how much I loved it. There was no way I couldn't teach him to ride as early as possible.

When I was five, my mom threw my on my older brother's 20" dirt bike and pushed me down a hill. I remember it clearly. I learned pretty quickly, without any training wheels, but the way my well-meaning mom taught me scared the hell out of me.

So after my son was born I started looking for a bike he could easily learn on. I found the KaZAM at a local bike shop. It's a bike that doesn't have any pedals, so the child can focus on balance and steering.

I could really appreciate this bike - it had real wheels with spokes, nipples, tubes, tires (12"); a quick-release seat clamp, proper bars, and grips. 

The KaZAM.

I bought it right away and took it home. At 26 months my son could just barely touch the ground while sitting on it (with the saddle all the way down).

A few rides and he was propelling him self along, oblivious that between his strides he was actually balancing. He could ride.

Check out the technical skills he learned at 28 months in the video below. These will come in handy on the trail soon.

How to do a Singlespeed Conversion

For about a year I've been wondering what the attraction to singlespeed was. Why would anybody want to remove their gears and have to resign to one ratio that probably wouldn't ever be optimum? What's the appeal in being neither ever able to go up hills or fast on the flats?

Well after reading a few forum posts in mtbr.com and some content from Sheldon Brown, I could see the answers clearly:

1. Simplicity. There's a lot to be said for 'keeping it simple'. It's elegant, clean, and not much can go wrong.
2. Speed. Yep, speed. All the singlespeeders I ever rode with blasted past me. I could never catch them and I wanted to find out why.
3. And the most obvious one, weight.

 Conversion kit, including cog and lockring

So I took a trip to Fab's Cycle (Singapore) and picked up a singlespeed kit. This is simply some aluminum rings (in a variety of sizes), a lockring and a cog. The one I got was 18t.

You will probably also need a chain tensioner, as your rear derailleur will be removed, you'll need something to keep the chain taut and from falling off.

I couldn't find one when I did my conversion initially.

Step 1: Remove lockring
To do this you will need a chain whip and a cassette lockring tool, along with a wrench.

Goodbye cassette, we won't ever need you again.

It may be tight, but crank the wrench counterclockwise with your other hand on the chainwhip to prevent the cassette from spinning. The lockring will come off.

Step 2: Pull the cassette off
Now here's where I ran into my first problem: The cassette's cogs had dug into my soft aluminum freehub body, gouging itself in. I had to rally yank on the cassette to get it off.

Step 3: Put the spacers and cog on
Once the cog cassette is off, all you have to do is slip a few spacers on and then add the cog. But those grooves in the freehub body prevented me from sliding the cog on.

Cassette partly off.
Notice how the three biggest cogs are all connected. 

Cassette off.
Notice the grooves in the freehub body.

 

The cog wouldn't fit!

...and it slid right on.

A bit of filing...

Tightening the new lockring.

And the final result.

Somewhere along the way you have to remove your front and rear derailleurs, and maybe front chainrings (unless you're already on 1x9 or 10).

It's obvious from the image above that the chain is too loose. If you are lucky and your chainstay is just the right length, and you have chosen the right cog sizes, your chain may fit perfectly. But finding this 'magic gear' is hard.

There are a few solutions to this - get a tensioner, buy an eccentric bottom bracket, or get a frame with horizontal droupouts (ha!). I chose the first.

With the tensioner.