Single Speed Hardtail Update

It all started when Steve noticed some of his riding friends on strange bikes with only one gear. Curious as he is, he had to give it a go. Steve made a 6-month commitment to give single speeding a serious try, but a third of the way in and it seems like he's sold already?
Our mountain bikes: Knolly Tyaughton Steel
knollybikes.com/products/tyau...
Our favourite portable jump ramp: Ninja MTB Approach MTB Jump Ramp
ridelikeaninja.com/product/ni...
Our favourite local bike shop in North Vancouver:
www.essentialcycles.com/
Want to up your mountain biking game in the North Shore? Our favourite local coach:
www.ozmosistraining.com/
00:00 - Intro
00:17 - About me
00:31 - North Shore gnar
00:51 - My bike
01:07 - Why I tried single speeding
01:17 - Inspiration
01:45 - Converting to a single speed
02:30 - MRP G5 chain guide
03:08 - Single speeding update
03:25 - Derailleur relief
03:57 - No gear choice
04:37 - No slower in single speed
05:36 - Get coaching
06:30 - Climbing in one gear
07:10 - Big difference when climbing
08:26 - Miss shifting?
09:11 - Worst part
09:58 - Conclusion
10:43 - Outro

[@PrestonLindbeck]

The beauty of single speed riding is that you may not always be in the right gear, but you're never in the wrong gear.

[@HardtailLife]

Haha it's so true! I'm one with the gear, whether it's the right one or not. 😂

[@hardmtnbiker]

Welcome to the SS club! I love my SS!

[@HardtailLife]

Thanks! A little late, but I’m here now! 😜

[@velo.voyageur]

That "chain tensioner" setup looks super clean, love it. I have a Kona Unit singlespeed showing up this week. Full rigid, but a little less gnar around Calgary than where you are. Thanks for this series, been fun to watch!

[@HardtailLife]

Thanks! I feel like I learned a lot about this lesser-known corner of mountain bikes, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience it. I hope more people give single speeding a try!

[@threeohm]

I'm glad you are having fun even when it sucks. After a SS ride I only remember the good parts and the suck just fades away. To be honest I even enjoy the suck. Makes me stronger physically and mentally. I have a low geared SS MTB and a higher geared rigid SS bike for around town use. Sure it's an extra bike, but having something you can lock up and walk away from without worrying is nice and the money you save in $$ drivetrains pays for that town bike pretty fast.

[@HardtailLife]

So true! I can see why people have multiple bikes 😅

[@davidperry7266]

Next stage is full rigid, I converted my SS hardtail to rigid a couple of years ago and have no plans to go back.

[@HardtailLife]

Stayed tuned for that experiment 🤫

[@russelrivera5044]

@@HardtailLife, rigid helped me make better line choices, but nothing beats having a suspension fork when things get chunky and fast. Hoping that you share ride data through the experiment to see if you notice any improvement. Also… be sure to taunt those full squish e-bike riders.

[@kevinburke1325]

People have a right to ride e mtbs. Making fun of people for riding emtbs just makes you look bad.​@@russelrivera5044

[@kevinburke1325]

​@@russelrivera5044people have every right to ride emtbs. Quit making fun of people just f9r riding emtbs.

[@luvinfunvan]

Nice one Steve, keep hammering!

[@HardtailLife]

Will do - hammering’s the only option 🫡

[@lem0nification]

Interested to see going full rigid :)

[@HardtailLife]

Maybe… 🤫😜

[@martinshortt7750]

Rigid single speed is MTB nirvana.

[@brendanhamill]

Frame with sliding drops is the only way to go. Then make it Ti. Then go full rigid. I am planning a full rigid build at the moment

[@HardtailLife]

Yes, that’s all great, but I already have a frame and it’s neat to be able to make it work! 😁

[@JustSnowglow]

Totally agree with you on all points here! I have a similarly aggressive singlesped setup (Pipedream Moxie) and the only time I regret it is when the trails are flat (or worse: slightly down hill). In those situations I have no choice but to chill and enjoy the scenery lol.

[@HardtailLife]

Well said! I feel like that’s part of the single speed life - knowing when to pedal and knowing when to chill. 😜

[@solobellimino2356]

Spot on But I don't think most will understand, until they actually try it. All my mtb are SS. The attention is also nice stroke on the ego lol

[@HardtailLife]

I wish I could convince everyone to try single speeding, even just once! 😜

[@ChrisTrunek]

I have had a few single speed mt bikes and they are brutally humbling. Currently have one in the fleet. It is an old schwinn Moab my friend was about to take to the dump, I saved it, ripped it down to nothing and built it back up with bin parts as a singlespeed. Its 22lbs currently. Put wider bars shorter stem on it, meatier tires, 24t TI granny ring up front and a 12t ghetto single speed setup from an old cassette in the back. tensioned with a short cage road derailleur ran with the tensioner arm pretty much maxed out forward. It works surprisingly well, never skips, has way less parasitic drag (perfect chainline, minimum chain path, etc) I do wish the hub had faster engagement, that is definitely a weak point for it, the hubs kinda suck. The old manitou fork on it works pretty well too surprisingly. My previous ss was a rigid 26er and that is really where it's at. Anyway I have way less than 40 bucks into this thing and its 22 lbs. cant argue with that!

[@HardtailLife]

Sounds like a pretty fun ride!

[@winchmode]

no quarter twice? beastly!

[@HardtailLife]

Dead. I was dead for days afterwards. 😂

[@dgriffinm]

Love my single Speed, I have had 3 different SS Bikes

[@HardtailLife]

But how can you ride them all? I only have 1 bike and I can’t find enough time to ride it 😜

[@augmented2nd666]

Time for a second bike so you have gears again too. I find where I am the trail climbs are often so steep that the only option is the absolute lightest gear and remaining saddled for keeping the rear tire grippy, so super long seatpost 210 dropper. Come ride some Island trails at some point, Mt. Benson in Gnarnaimo is steep but fun, especially the red zone on trailforks behind Westwood lake, the trails arent on the app but they exist and have signs, but alot of it is very steep, I cannot climb alot of stuff unless i'm all the way geared down to granny, but the downhill runs are pretty fun and fast, and surprisingly not unbearable on a hardtail.

[@HardtailLife]

We're definitely curious about riding in Nanaimo and that entire area!

[@kris8165]

Single speed only, for the last couple of years! Should have done it sooner 😅 Who needs ⚙️?😅 I have 1 hardtail ss,and one fixed/ss/tracklocross bike!(1 bike,not 3) It's 3 in 1. Greetings from Kris from Croatia 😎

[@HardtailLife]

Hi Kris from Croatia! Single speeding is so much fun! 🙌

[@kris8165]

​@@HardtailLife Simple and effective 😅😁 Greetings from Kris 😎

[@kssrider6766]

Usually, people who go the SS route don't return to the geared life. Been riding SS since 2011 and never looked back. Be it on 2 wheels or 1.

[@HardtailLife]

Interesting, I wonder why? 🤔

[@kssrider6766]

@@HardtailLife Sometimes, I wonder too. But the simplicity of a rigid SS is much more appealing to me than a fully loaded rig.

[@michaelavich]

Now u just need to make a cheapo SS townie bike. I am now at sS mtb Ss city bike sS winter/snow bike SS cx bike And a bmx so….

[@HardtailLife]

Only problem is where to store them all 🤔

[@user-yr8jr4vn1j]

Man fuuuuuck urban commuting in that gear. I understand it if all your mtb climbs are that intense but big nope for around town. I'm on 18/32 which works pretty good enough for most of my climbs (still got a couple on my local goal list) but it's tolerable on the flats. I started in 30/19 and that felt goofy af to me any time I wasn't on an incline.

[@HardtailLife]

Haha totally. But this is my only bike, so what should I do? 🤷‍♂️