Riding a Single Speed Rigid
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If you have been riding a single speed bike for a while and have a suspension fork on it, you may want to explore your set up. When I first started on a single speed mountain bike, I purchased a stock kona unit with rigid fork. After the first couple of rides I was not feeling the love for the rigid set up. I decided to remove the kona steel fork and opted for a fox vanilla.
It did not take too many rides for me to feel right at home on single speed bike with suspension up front. I actually started riding mostly the kona unit and my other bikes did not see much riding time in the begining of my single speed experiment.
After a few different builds and set ups, I was happy with a single speed and preferred suspension over rigid forks. Once I had a year under my belt I felt it was time to explore my single speed moutain bike options. This was back in 2005 and 29er mountain bikes really started picking up momentum and it looked like single speed 29ers was the next new thing.
After a few weeks of research and much deliberation over who to use for my first 29er, I wanted to go custom and deceided on a waltworks full custom with a rigid fork. The order process was simple and the wait time with Walt was right on schedule. I knew after the first ride on the waltworks 29er single speed set up rigid that I was starting to come around on the whole rigid set up. The difference this time around was the 29″ wheels seem to just roll over objects much better and the bigger wheels really took that sting out of my hands. Each single speed mountain bike I have set up since has been run rigid for most of the time, in somes cases I did throw a Reba 29er on there to mix it up a little, but for the most part I am a big fan of riding a single speed rigid especially the 29er.
Back on topic now, my top three rigid set ups:
1) Carbon on one Fork with a seven Ti flat bar (thomson x4 stem)
2) Steel Groovy unicrown Fork with a Groovy Luv Bar (salsa steel stem)
3) Carbon on one Carbon Fork with a Syncros carbon Gain bar (x4 stem)
The set ups were all done on single speed 29ers and tires have been carefully chosen, my favorite 29er tire
is the racing ralph 29er. One other critical part of the rigid set up is the grips, I like 2 set Oury lock ons and foam grips have been very nice to my hands.
Riding rigid really changes the dynamics on the trail and imo can really improve your riding skills, from learning how to really pick lines and how to use your body to take some of the load off your elbows and knees.
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Do you run your rigid set up with a tubeless up front ?
thanks will
Comment by Will — October 4, 2008 @ 11:21 pm