I’ve been dying to get into mountainbiking recently and am maybe one check away from buying a bike. I’ve been lusting over the Redline Monocog 26" for a while now and was wondering if it’s practical to not have gears (for climbing and stuff). I’m just a beginner so I doubt I’ll have any epic climbs or anything to start off with, but once I get better, will I outgrow the bike and need gears too quickly?
Mountain biking sans gears is just a different kind of riding.
You may outgrow a fully rigid bike with tougher terrain, but unless you are looking to go faster then the next guy or for long long rides SS is fine.
[quote=“NitroPye”]Mountain biking sans gears is just a different kind of riding.
You may outgrow a fully rigid bike with tougher terrain, but unless you are looking to go faster then the next guy or for long long rides SS is fine.[/quote]
Yeah I’m fully prepared to drop some more cash on a suspension fork when I need to. I just want to make sure there’s no course were I go “oh well, I can’t do that” because I don’t have the granniest of granny gears.
Well the strategy of riding SS on the trails is pretty much, see a hill start sprinting. If you want to ultimately be able to roll over anything the trail can throw at you, a geared bike will be needed as the climbs get more technical. Its not so much the length or the grade of the climb, but your inability to take some of them slowly like you could spinning on a granny gear while you pick a tricky line.
Just throwing a Front shock on a fully rigid frame isn’t a good idea. It will change the geometry of the bike A LOT. Just save up and buy a new bike if you decide you need suspension.
Go low.
Out here 32x20 or 22 isn’t uncommon.
the old 2:1 standard is usually too high for a lot of the trails.
You have to spin like mad on the flats, but you’re right with the geared folk on the up hills.
Anything should have a suspension corrected rigid fork these days so don’t worry too much about the geo change.
I scored a new Redline MonoCog 26" off Craiglist for ridiculously cheap. Actually, it was all new parts, and I just put it together, but none the less, it was a great deal. Guy I got it from ordered it from Jensen and gave me all the parts I needed except for a headset and seat. Seemed a little shady but the dude was really into bikes and knew his stuff, not to mention I scored a brand new bikesdirect.com Windsor from him too.
I just got back into mountain biking, I used to ride a lot on my old Trek hard tail with a cheap suspension fork, like 4-5 days a week. I was a little scared about going with the Mono cog cause its a single speed, but its either geared low enough, or I got a lot stronger; probably a combination of the two.
I can out climb all the people I ride with, but they kill me on long sections of flat, smooth terrain (like main trails near trail heads) cause of the low gearing. I have 18t freewheel with a, I think, 34t ring on the crank. Steep, technical spots are tough with my gearing, and I sometimes just have to get off the bike which sucks, but anything else is fine.
I really think it comes down to how strong a rider you are. If you ride a fixed gear a lot, you shouldn’t have a problem, but if you ride occasionally, you’ll have a tough time keeping up with others, but I’m sure you’ll be alright if you ride by yourself.
As far as the rigid fork, I’d try your trails first before investing in a good suspension fork. There are only a few spots where I ride that make me wish I had a suspension fork. I’ll probably stay with the rigid, I’m not out to win any races and can always just not bomb the hill like I would with a suspension fork.
I love the simplicity of the bike, from not (thinking about) shifting to a rigid fork, and the faces on people with $1000 bikes I leave in the dust.
True, trails I ride are pretty tame for the most part so my rides are pretty easy I think.
You’ll fall on your face (not literally, but maybe if you suck) on technical climbs unless you go with a really low gearing, but then fall behind on any rolling terrain.
But ultimately, you’ll become a better, stronger rider. You’ll power over stuff and keep balance where you’d lose it on a geared bike, which makes me finally understand the appeal of the 29ers.
This isn’t 1993 the monocog fork is suspension corrected. Look up how much for your year and buy a new fork accordingly.
SS is hard on technical climbs not just because you can’t go slow but because you can’t provide even force and you can’t shift your weight as much while pedaling. If you’re new it will likely cause some bad habits on extended climbs. On the other hand it will strongly reinforce some good ones. It especially forces you to conserve momentum. Over all I find that anything with many climbs longer than a few hundred meters(horz) ss isn’t as fun as geared. On the other hand for rides with short climbs I enjoy it more(which is pretty much everything within 30min of here.)
You just said basically what brought me to this bike. $500 for a solid and gorgeous bike. It’s just so dead simple. I can’t even find a bad review about it. My sis works for a bike shop which carries redline so I might even be able to score a deal!
Yeah, I think I’m pretty sold on this bike! Just gotta figure out my size… last time I had a mountain bike I was like 12.
This isn’t 1993 the monocog fork is suspension corrected. Look up how much for your year and buy a new fork accordingly.
SS is hard on technical climbs not just because you can’t go slow but because you can’t provide even force and you can’t shift your weight as much while pedaling. If you’re new it will likely cause some bad habits on extended climbs. On the other hand it will strongly reinforce some good ones. It especially forces you to conserve momentum. Over all I find that anything with many climbs longer than a few hundred meters(horz) ss isn’t as fun as geared. On the other hand for rides with short climbs I enjoy it more(which is pretty much everything within 30min of here.)[/quote]
I totally didn’t even read the part that said it was a monocoger. I just assume that fully rigid frames aren’t suspension corrected. That’s what you get for working at a bike co-op just start thinking that if its rigid it must be old. Lol
I recently (last week) converted my conversion into a fixed cross bike. The frame was built for 27" wheels, so it has clearance galore, even for fat, knobby cross tires. I’ve got a 700c x 38mm tire in front and a 700c x 35mm in the rear. I wanted a 38 in the rear, but it couldn’t quite fit. I’ve tried drops and bullhorns off-road, and I just don’t get along with them, so I went with some nice, wide risers. It’s fun to ride on fire roads, mellow singletrack, easy trails and the like, but 65 inches (32x13) is a bit much to push up long climbs, and I honestly don’t think I have the skill or the balls to ride fixed off-road. I think I’m going to put a rear brake and a 17t freewheel on it. Then it will be all kinds of fun.
I ride a full rigid MTB fixed, 32/18 with front and rear brakes, through some moderate crunch single track. Its good for solo rides or when riding with other SS’ers but its a bitch on group rides with the geared folk.
I have a fixed cross bike as well and have done a couple of races with 40/20.
I just built up a squishy full suspension rig at the beginning of the season. All this talk of ss/fixed/rigid mountain biking makes my bike feel lame.
Just buy it!!!
In the interest of showing off my bike, I’m reviving this thread:
1985 Trek Sport Touring model (might be 400, but I’m not sure) frame
Formula 32h hubs laced to Alex Adventurer rims
38mm WTB Cross tire on the front, 35mm Maxxis on the back (couldn’t fit a 38)
Shimano BR-A550 long reach caliper brake
MKS GR-9 pedals
Oury grips
Dura-Ace 13t cog
Fizik Pave saddle
SRAM PC-1 chain
parts bin risers, stem, seatpost, bottom bracket, crankset, 32t chainring, toe clips and straps.
why this thread for it?
Because it is a single speed bike intended for off-road use that I talked about earlier in the thread.
Interesting setup. Those bars seem a bit skinny, how do they ride? Are they cut down?
Because it is a single speed bike intended for off-road use that I talked about earlier in the thread.[/quote]
No rear brake? I’d probably tumble over the bars if I didn’t have a rear brake on my SS Monocog