I had been trying to sell my old road bike for a long time, and last spring I finally found a buyer. The bike was custom-built for me by John Cutter of San Luis Obispo, California in 1986. It was a work of art in its time, beautifully fillet-brazed and powder-coated in a turquoise color. But I knew I would never ride it again and it needed to belong to someone who would use it. Some guy somewhere back east gave me $750 for it, and promptly put red tires on it. Yuck.
Coincidentally, right about the same time a friend tipped me off that a local shop was offering a smoking deal on a slightly used 29er Haro Mary SS. I never thought I would enjoy singlespeeding much, but I took it for a ride and the fit was so good I just couldn't pass up the bargain.
One ride on the rigid fork was enough, though, so the first upgrade was a RockShox Reba. No complaints about that fork, it has worked beautifully and the lockout feature is great for long climbs. The Avid BB5 brakes sucked, so next up was a pair of Avid Juicy 7's that I scored on Ebay. I've tried numerous tires on it and have settled on a Continental Mountain King in front and a Kenda Nevegal in the rear. Perfect for the loose conditions frequently encountered around Santa Fe.
Learning to ride the damn thing was another story. The local Dale Ball trails are perfect for SSing, nothing too steep, but the numerous tight switchbacks proved challenging in the uphill direction. My most sucessful strategy has been to get some speed up and try and stay seated through most of the turn.
Singlespeeding is a lot more work than riding a geared bike. Once I got in better shape I started taking it up higher trails with longer climbs. By the end of the summer I was (barely) able to ride it all the way up to the TV towers above town for a total of 5,000 feet of climbing.
Half of what makes singlespeeding so much fun is the simplicity - no thinking about when and where to shift, just pedalling and enjoying the ride. The other half is the amazingly fast acceleration out of corners. Even with the 29" wheels, you can just get up to speed in a hurry.
Thanks for looking!
