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Silence Is Golden – SS Rigid Singlespeed Ride
The past week or so has contained some stressful events both personally and professionally. As any seasoned mountain biker knows, the best way to shrug off the stress and get your head straight is to get out and ride…so that’s what I did. This past Saturday, I grabbed my rigid, SS, 29er and hit the trail with a friend. No cameras, no review product…nothing but the bike, the trail and my brain ready to explode if I didn’t get some quality spin time in quickly.
There are two things I know when I grab my SS.
- It is going to be painful – When you ride as many longer travel bikes as I do…grabbing the rigid, singlespeed insures that I am signing up for pain.
- It is going to be nice and quiet – A rigid, ss makes zero noise.
We loaded up the truck and hit the road ready to conquer the dirt without gears. For those of you that haven’t ridden a singlespeed or are wondering why you can’t just ride your geared back without shifting…the singlespeed experience is a different form of mountain biking all together. Prior to riding a dedicated SS sled, there is a misconception among many that just riding your geared bike without shifting is comparable…but in reality…it is not even close.
Wolfhound Rigid SS 29er
When I get out on my SS, there is a different aura surrounding the ride. There is a calmness before the ride that is unlike any other geared mountain bike excursion. It is almost as if I am preparing my body for the increased power requirement but with a solitude of quiet calmness. The ride I am about to complete is going to require a much different approach. The rigid platform is going to be unforgiving to my mistakes…the steep pitches and climbs are going to have to be attacked without the aid of an increased gear range…the downhills are going to have to be navigated with a precise line…and all of this is going to be done with only hearing the rubber of my tires gripping the dirt and the wind on the leaves.
When you ride a dedicated SS, the entire ride is different and one of my favorite aspects is that you have to think…but in a different way. I am no longer worrying about gear selection as that is replaced by getting creative with ways to keep momentum. I am not looking for the nastiest line to plow through…I need the fastest, smoothest line from point a to point b (which is just as challenging in technical terrain).
By the end of the ride on Saturday…my ass was officially kicked. I really need to get out on that bike more often as it completely exposes how lazy and sloppy I have let suspension let me get. Every single one of my mistakes comes glaring in the face as the rigid bike takes no prisoners. You either ride the section right…or get a sharp reminder of what you are doing wrong. Riding my rigid, singlespeed keeps me honest.
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10:05 am
Due to some mechanical issues on my other bikes, I ended up riding my single speed 29er most of the summer and into the fall. After a few months, you get to know that one gear really well! You know exactly how much you have to pedal to do things like get over a rise or ride a wheelie. By the time I got back on my full suspension bike, it felt big and clunky. I was frequently in the wrong gear to attack something. It wasn't as flickable, and so I just plowed through all the obstacles instead of dancing around them. Didn't seem as fun. I also found I was slower in a lot of climbing situations. So now my single speed has become my bike of choice for most of my riding…pulling out the other bikes for special occasions!
11:55 am
it was a good ride.
11:58 am
Absolutely. We need to get out and do that more often.
11:59 am
That transition back and forth is a tough one. It really requires a completely different riding attack as you hit the trail. I thought I had gotten pretty good at it since I am on and off so many different bikes…but the rigid ss proved to be my litmus test once again!
11:57 am
Good post…and great shot of the SS drivetrain. Might take mine out after the big meal on Thursday.
5:19 pm
Big meal and then SS ride…that sounds painful!!!
4:00 pm
Great article! SS 29ers rock!
Last month (November) I finally sold my first and only road bicycle (I love MTBing much more), and bought a Fisher Rig. Not a full rigid ride, but having only 80mm front travel doesn't really factor like the 130mm front of my dual suspension.
Anyway, I knew I was in for painful rides, but I'd been feeling like I was getting slow and lazy in selecting lines on the downhill, and gear ratios on the uphill with my DS. I wanted a challenge. I want to really train, and I wanted to experience a 29er. Also, at the same time, I had to get rid of my vehicle that had a tow hitch, so on my replacement vehicle I could only use my roof rack, and hauling my heavy full-suspension onto the roof of an SUV was not something that excited me, so I was “forced” to ride my Fisher Rig for three weeks as it's only 25lbs, and much easier to lift.
What a difference! The first ride out just about killed me on the uphill, though the reduced weight definitely helped a lot. The downhill shook the cuss out of me, but I was forced to pick better lines, and was invigorated by being able to flick the tail around, and bomb through obstacles with the aggressive 29er tires. Also interestingly, the 29er (running tubeless, at about 30psi) seemed to ride a lot more like a full-suspension than anticipated, soaking up a lot of the trail, despite being a hard tail.
Well, after three training rides on the Rig, I decided to try my DS again, as I had a mud run to contest two days later, and didn't want to exhaust myself. WOW! What a difference in my riding. I had energy like never before while riding the DS, found myself riding uphill in the geared equivalents of my single speed (32f and 18r, I think), and finished a 15 mile ride with double my normal uphill with ZERO post-ride exhaustion.
So now, my plan is to run every third ride on the dual suspension, and train most rides on Rig.
9:00 pm
Great article! SS 29ers rock!
2:30 am
I couldn't agree more. I've got a black G.F. Rig with a Surly rigid fork. You're beat and tired at the end, but completely satisfied.