REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

When was your last geared, off-road ride?

1664 Views 35 Replies 29 Participants Last post by tube_ee, Aug 20, 2004

TrevorInSoCal

Discussion Starter · Aug 19, 2004 (Edited)

Realized recently that, with the exception of a demo ride on an Intense a couple months ago, that I haven't ridden with gears offf-road in nearly a year. Not since returning home from the Great Divide last year.

Even my roadie geared rides have been pretty limited. Did a few long, slow distance training rides early in the season, and I've made it out to the local Tuesday night roadie training ride a few times. Other than that it's been fixed-gear for commuting and running errands around town and singlespeed off-road.

Funny thing is I don't consider myself a "hardcore" singlespeeder, and never set out to intentionally eschew gears. It just sorta happened that way.

Anybody else find themselves almost exclusively one-speeders sorta by accident?

A big part of it is probably that I'm too lazy to do the maintenance required to get my geared mtn. bikes back in tip-top riding shape

. There might be an upcoming trip to Gooseberry with a group I ride with this fall, if I do that I'll probably get my gearie/FS bike rolling again first and at least bring it along.

-Trevor

1 - 20 of 36 Posts

Padre

· #2 · Aug 19, 2004

Saturday was the 12 Hours of Downhill in Big Bear.
The wife and I did that on our big, squishy, geared bikes.
LIfe is too short to only ride one bike.
To make up for it though, we've spent 3 days in Oregon SSing with the crew up here....
Sweet!
I ride the SS 80% of the time, the wife about 60% due to the fact that she races her geared full-squish.

shiggy

· #3 · Aug 19, 2004

I do not count the couple of Kona demo bikes I rode (downhill only) a few weeks ago.

Rode my rigid gearie on two rides two months ago and before than it was at least a year, maybe two.

Drevil

· #4 · Aug 19, 2004

The last time I can remember riding a geared bike was a few times in the winter when I was riding urban on a trials bike. I COMPLETELY suck at proper trials and have no more interest in learning it, so I just sold the bike this week. It was about a year old and I can count the number of times I rode it with one hand.

The last time I can remember riding gearie with a proper cross country bike was about three years ago. However, I may have snuck in a ride or two between then and now, but they must have been traumatically horrible experiences and I pushed them out of my mind.

scorcher seb

· #5 · Aug 19, 2004

At the Canmore gathering two years ago. Don't think I was strong enough at the time to survive a couple of weeks of epic rides in the Canadian Rockies, and it would have been unfair to all the other attendees to try. Would love to have tried SSing there this year though, having road tripped Colorado last year and strung together big/epic rides over consecutive days.

Like someone else said, it is the hassle of sorting a geared bike out, and I'm probably better off not having the easy option available most of the time.

JHESEE

· #6 · Aug 19, 2004

Geared bike - Last ride

Last weekend at a race. I had a choice this year. Move up a level and stay geared in races or stay and go SS. I chose the former. I am not sure I've made the right choice.

Pigtire

· #7 · Aug 19, 2004

Last Sunday

I just love my cyclocross bike way too much just to let it hang around.

dodjy

· #8 · Aug 19, 2004

Last weekend.

I do not discriminate when it comes to bikes. They all have their purpose and are all fun to ride! There is nothing more refreshing than being able to ride each of them to the fullest (whatever my mood may be).

I pity da fool that limits themselves to just one niche, life is too short. Extended experience feeds wisdom.

dd..''

.........................................................................

the_dude

· #9 · Aug 19, 2004

been almost a year now since my last geared ride. i didn't plan on riding only the singlespeed, it just happened. i'm in the process (and have been for waaaay too long) of building up a geared roadie, and rebuilding my geared fs. the problem is, every time i'm faced with either riding my ss or sitting home and working on the gearies, i always choose riding. i'm sure i'll get them built sometime before this winter (hopefully), and i know i'll ride them enough to justify owning them. i can't wait to ride the roadie this fall. but i'll be damned if my ss isn't the most fun i've ever had on a bike. i find myself going out for late night rides when i should be heading to bed, just riding all over town with a big grin on my face. life is good.

the_dude

a nice cake

· #10 · Aug 19, 2004

early december. I really wanted to try SS after I bought my new frame (w/ bmx drops) at the end of winter, but was completely intimidated by how poorly I might perform on the trails and figured I'd hate. I ended up being way too poor to put gears on the bike anyways, and cobbled together an SS setup once the trails thawed so I could at least roll around on the bike. Before the first ride I thought for sure I would die. But it was utterly anticlimatic. It felt perfectly normal. 8 months later I almost can't imagine trying to use a shifter again without it feeling like a novelty.

dodjy

· #11 · Aug 19, 2004

No doubt! I have an immense amount of fun on my SS's. Although I have an great deal of fun on any of my bikes. Bikes are fun.

dd..''

riderx

· #12 · Aug 19, 2004 (Edited)

It's been over 2.5 years and I no longer own any geared bikes. Don't really miss them either.

Earthpig

· #13 · Aug 19, 2004

One bike is never enough

Gotta go with Padre and dodgy on this one. My last geared XC ride was this past Sunday:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=42262

I like to alternate my rides between FS/XC and SS. Plus, the same trail can have a totally different character depending on what bike you're riding. Finally, there are just too many trails in Idaho that I could not possibly even think about riding my 32x18 geared rigid SS on, whether due to long, extended granny gear climbs, or rooty, rocky technical descents where suspension and gears allow for higher speeds and less pain. Heck, I even ride my road bike at least a couple times a week. I love riding SS, but not monogamously.

dodjy

· #14 · Aug 19, 2004

Earthpig said:
Plus, the same trail can have a totally different character depending on what bike you're riding.

Dang you're good! You took the words right out of my mouth!

dd..''

Drevil

· #15 · Aug 19, 2004

Boise, huh? Do you know Lawrence Haas or Gary Dinoso? If so, tell them to stop being slouches and start riding SS!

williamf777

· #16 · Aug 19, 2004

My DH bike has gears but I really only ride it once a week or less.

dodjy

· #17 · Aug 19, 2004

Of course, this whole thread is 'starting to' remind me of the cartoon series in the last issue of the Outcast. Makes me giggle just a bit.

dd..''

Ken in KC

· #18 · Aug 19, 2004

Ban This Poll Right Now!!!!

You lame-o's didn't include a What Would Club Do? (WWCD) category. How can you even consider posting a poll without considering the absolute binding opinion of a retro trustifarian who takes every opportunity to proclaim his koreness?

I propose that every poll on MTBR from here on out have a WWCD default built in to the programming. Failure to do this simply means that the man is again keeping us down and censoring us. Fight the man, WWCD!!!!!

Ken

P.S. 3 weeks ago I took my fully sprung geary to Colorado. I know I'm not nearly as cool as I should be because I should have run a fully rigid SS with a 4:1 ratio along the divide without having taken a shower the whole time I was there and ate nothing but foraged grain and purified water that I pumped from a stream. What can I say, I'm a lame poser who actually just likes to ride my bikes on singletrack.

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grey haired guy

· #19 · Aug 19, 2004

mission peak/wiebel side/last night

hurts sooooooooooo good!

dodjy

· #20 · Aug 19, 2004

So you got the FS squared away? No more problems?

dd..''

1 - 20 of 36 Posts

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