Gravel single / fixie
 

Anyone try it? I have my old fixed gear beast with28’s maybe fit 30 on frAme just to mix it up on some dirty roads/ trails
i just changed out 16 for 18 so now 46x18 feetpretty good but it is a learning curve riding regular bike 99% of the time to fixie
but it is fun
thanks guys for reply’s

I have a single speed cross bike that I use for dirty gravel riding sometimes. 35mm tires. Could definitely go a little skinnier but I have no reason to. Haven't tried riding it fixed yet though.

First, there's this site; I have some of my own old stories up here, and the ones you want are in early 2006, especially; and then here's the bike I used most frequently for those rides. I was running about a 70-in fixed gear for pavement and would flip the wheel 'round to the 63-in gear for the usual long miles of dirt road, especially when the local fire service roads were all accessible. I did it with Continentals that measured 26, but have since switched to Paselas that are a true 28mm.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9b83d64b84.jpg

SSCX is a thing.

There's even tracklocross if SSCX is too normie.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4a611053d9.jpg
dirt clod machine...

I had a san jose that I took out to the singletrack and regularly tried to ride it on as many dirt roads as possible.
Pretty fun. Wish I could have done some cx races or something.

I wouldn't get another cx/gravel bike if it doesn't get used specifcially for offroading or work for at least 30% of the time (for the latter, this time around I would just get a track frame).
It wasn't "sloped" enough to be something that I can bunnyhop around and mess around on, and it was too sluggish to be used on the street regularly.
I took it to the skatepark a few times, caught a sliver of air and did some fakies, but again, it was too tall and roady to really mess around with.
Probably a good thing. I don't need any injuries right now.

But man, it was ridiculously fun on the single track and going from the single track, striaght onto aw inding asphalt road, then hooking back onto the single track again (I lived near an urban mountain with bike trails), was one of the best experiences ever. For that particular purpose, and for riding on cx style mud/grass/dirt, they are amazing.
It had amazing geo when it was used for those purposes. Biggest smile on my face ever.
That's a rare situation though, and I still woudl have probably had more fun with a hard tail. But I would want a cx bike on a long, easy, kinda bumpy scenic offroad trail with a few sections that were like the singletrack above. That woudl be a dream match.

cx/gravel bikes also make great workhorses as they seem to be built strong and can carry good loads and be relatively fast. I also used it as a side gig workhorse for a few months and it served that purpose well. But there were many times when I wished that the bike was ab it lighter, had less rolling resistance, and was a little snappier (i.e. I wish it was a track frame).

Actually, now that I think of it, i'd probably get one again if I could get one with disc brakes, and if the geo was tighter.
Riding one single speed is a ton of fun. I lived in an incredibly hilly area and only about 15% of the time I wish I had gears. Every other time I appreciated the simplicity.
I've been eyeballing a local shop that is coming out with a cx bike as it seems to have tighter geometry than the san jose, and it accetps disks.

If you're never going to take it off road or check out the local light scenic trails and go on adventures, don't get one. You can get a better bike suited for urban riding.
They have high BB's and are a bit sluggish, but these are obviously good traits when you take them into the gravel.
Also, please never get one with canti brakes.

Riding one fixed is totally pointless IMO. Maybe if you "urbanize" it with skinnies and some flat bars sure you can ride anything fixed, but the geo just doesn't fit, and
why would you want to ride fixed offroad? If you want a challenge go on a more technical trail. Fixed is for urban assault. Sometimes I see people do it and it's cool and looks fun but you rarely see people doing it like as a thing that they specifically buy a bike for.

I took this out on short ride to the store tonight. I've had a few drop bar MTBs,a few "Track" bikes a few SS Road bikes and quite a few SS MTBs. O can honestly say I had more fun on this bike in that short ride than any other bike. I bunny hopped over a median while on the hoods and still put it a little sideways. I'm going to put my Fixed/free wheelset on it to run it fixed when I want also. If you run a 27.5/650b MTB then you can run 29x2.0 tires more often than not. My wheels are 700c with a 35c Continetal Cyclocross Race in the back and a 42c Specialized Trigger in the front(Aluminum Kona P2 fork is stiff) and both have lots of room left. Go 1 size down on an MTB frame to keep a similar TT length and adjust with the stem after that. Understand what it is you really want to do,I wanted an N-1. A do-all bike isn't easy to build if you don't understand how to ride Road/Fixed/SS/Trail. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1e00e4c6bc.jpghttps://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...83bf2595cf.jpg

You could say the same thing about riding fixed on the road, or riding bikes at all. Isn't being fun reason enough?

Sure. But we're talking about what and what not to buy here as a person wanting to try out a gravel bike.
Realistically, most people are not going to find fixed mtb/gravel riding an enjoyable enough experience to warrant buying a bike or parts specialized for that purpose.
More likely than not, you will see people throwing fat tires on their urban fixies and taking it out for a weekend or something.

There's just too much going on that you can run your crank into, and you can't just hop the rear wheel and reposition your feet when you also have to lift your front wheel to clear an obstacle. I mean I guess you can bunnyhop and reposition, but really? lol (actually sounds kinda fun now that I think about it).
Whereas on the street you get a much more immersive experience riding fixed.

YMMV, but I think that most people are not going to buy a gravel bike to ride fixed offroad on anything but smooth hardpack.
Their geo is also really slack and built specifically for gravel ridnig , so I personally think that you would be sacrificing handling and responsiveness for no reason because you'll rarely use it for gravel.

I would think that a person starting out on a fixed gravel bike would not have a good time, but someone who has had their gravel bike for a while might throw a fixed cog on it once in a while just for the sake of it because they are bored. I never found a good reason to do it.

But yeah, everyone should just do whatever is the most fun for them. I'm just giving an opinion based on experience. Some people might find that gravel geo on the street fixed works for them for some reason. That's why there are many people contributing to this thread. Everyone is different.
OP will go with the opinions that he resonates with the most and make a decision.
In fact, maybe you should toss in yours so that there is more in here and the quality of the thread goes up.
I'm already getting good bike ideas myself by reading some of these posts.

Is there such a thing as single speed dirt/road races? Not cyclocross per se but just a combo of dirt/street racing w/out the dismounted hill climbing. Although I think I'd have to mount a set of 28s to be competitive as the stock 23s would lose grip alot I suspect. Regardless riding my Windsor Hour+ on streets mixed w/ some dirt fun is a heckuva lotta fun to me.

Are we? I honestly can't figure out what OP's asking but it seems like he/she is just putting bigger tires on an existing bike.

Paved roads are a lot alike anywhere you go, but what constitutes gravel in one place can be a lot different from another. So what works for one might not work for another. Try it if you want, or don't. If it works for you, cool.

Lots of people enjoy the challenge in underbiking, so all of the issues associated with a fixed gear drivetrain can be part of the fun.

As far as geometry, it's been pointed out many times now that modern gravel bikes aren't really that different from road bikes of 50 years ago. When people ran fenders and slightly bigger tires, fenders, and didn't think that if they just had an aero crit race bike they'd get signed to a world tour team. Lately I've been riding a cross bike all over and I think it's just fine on the street. It's not like we're talking about a full suspension trail bike with a 66 degree head tube and 100+ mm of trail.

Say no more:

Oh cool you like to make racist jokes too. You're just the best.

To say my post is racist is stretching things very, very far.

Ignore list is awesome.

As I've already told you ......Think whatever you want I couldn't care less.

It was racist and unfunny, and doesn't belong here. Please go back to fawning over your bike.

Nah, it was racist. Straight up. Why don’t you just feckin bounce out of here.

Straight up racism. Take that somewhere else.

You nailed it.

@Hr1 So... what did you mean?

Did you just tell another member to go **** himself and you don't give a **** what it was? Oh and I spelled it correctly because going around the censor is against the rules that you signed up for. Just like telling someone to go **** themselves. :)

I love people who will talk until they're blue in the face about not caring what other people think. :)

But anyways, here's an old picture of my gravel bike. Some parts and clothing items have changed, idea is the same:

https://i.imgur.com/jkFA3WL.jpg

The post was different when I read it the first time around (edited yesterday). Now I don't know what's going on either. Thread will probably serve both of those purposes well when it eventually floats and waits for searches.

I think that everyone on this subforum is underbiking to a certain degree (ss/fg).
My personal philosophy is that you actually gain benefits of ss/fg on the street (extreme simplicity). I also legimately dont' know how to ride a geared bike well and haven't made that jump yet so I don't feel like I am underbiking. Not a learning curve (both riding and maintanence) that I wanted for my one and only that I needed for transportation and work. Haven't experienced that feeling of "never thinking abotu shifting" that alot of people seem to bring up. I guess i'll have a different perspective then when I do eventually try a geared bike since i'll be going "backwards".