Carcosa

Help me out you dirty fellows! I have spent the last 4 or 5 years riding fixed gear bikes on the street, but recently the off road, gravel bug has wormed its way into my head.

Photo proof:



That said. I'm trying to decide on a new bike (boo not another one of those threads) and I'm torn between buying something geared or single speed. I'd love to try my hand at a little CX (don't plan on being competitive) and spend more time on the gravel roads in the area. Maybe even do a little bike camping, but that's a different thread. My heart lives in the land of bike simplicity but I feel like I'm missing out coasting down hills and jumping over barriers.

Let me know if you think this is posed better in the SSFG forum (where I usually lurk).

So, anyone have experience geared and single speed off road? Is my money better spent on a brand new All City Nature Boy disc or something like one of these guys?

2015 Specialized Crux EVO size 54

Fuji Cyclocross Bike - 54cm (Medium)

Spoonrobot 

SSFG don't know nothing about gravel.

I hated riding single speed offroad as I'm a standing climber and it's hard to get in a good rhythm and maintain grip with a SS gear ratio that is also good for cruising the flats. So I recommend buying a geared bike. It's also easier/cheaper to make a geared bike SS then it is to make a SS bike geared. So you kind of have both options if you want.

Later if you decide you really want a SS get a used SS MTB as the second hand value for those is very low so you can get a good bike for a good price.

Carcosa

Useful input, since I really enjoy climbing fixed and have learned to be a standing climber as well. haha

My brain says gears but my heart says SS.

Suppose I should just try a used, geared, CX specific bike and if I hate it go back to something else.

SS MTBs have been on my radar for a while. Sucks. I really just want to own 6 bikes instead of one or two. N+1

RocThrower

What about a Niner RLT 9? I'm not a single speed guy or know much about eccentric bottom brackets, but my understanding is this bike was designed to be setup either way.

Seattle Forrest

I took my bike out on Saturday, drove 85 miles for a mostly dirt loop. It was a fun and scenic ride. I'd rather get a root canal than do it on a fixie. But this was in the Cascades.

Pendergast

I mountain bike with geared and singlespeed bikes. My singlespeed gearing is pretty low because I'm more concerned about getting up a climb than I am about how fast I can go on the way down.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to find one gear that I'd be satisfied with for gravel riding(especially since my gravel rides usually include some portion of the rides on paved roads, too.)

Carcosa

I'm sure you weren't talking about this exactly, but damn this is a hot bike.



Unfortunately even the frame set for the older Niner RLT 9s are little out of the price range right now.

Pics!

But ya, I'm four hours from the mountains and most – if not all – off road I'd do SS and not fixed.... Although a whip skid in some dirt is a good time.

caloso

SSCX bikes are great fun on dirt.

osco53

I use my gears to save my knee's,,,

Knee surgery,, no thank you, my momma didn't raise no fool

My Mountain bike Is a 1 x 11
My Gravel bike Is a 2 X 11
My LWB recumbent Is a 3 X 9
My Folding bike Is a 1 x 8

I had a single speed once,, was fun Unless I wanted to go real slow up a hill or go real fast anywhere..
I'd have one again for short Urban rides,, but not off road..

Seattle Forrest

Ask and ye shall receive!

Inpd

Agreed. As a former fixie owner, I liked the bike as it improved your pedal stroke, but its plain foolhardy to do this off road, doubly so if the route involves any sort of climbing or gravel.

Hiro11

I have both a single speed gravel bike and a 2x11 gravel bike and like them both for different reasons. I live in the flatlands of IL so I don't really need gears the vast majority of the time. The single speed has some advantages: simplicity, low cost, no derailleurs to get caught on stuff while riding through brush, no chain slap, robust 1/8" pitch drivetrain, less worry about crashing on the drive side. However, running a 48x17 on the SS I've definitely spun out the gearing in a gravel race at 25 mph+. The problem is getting the right gearing. I wouldn't want to run a lower tooth cog because I can't easily push anything bigger in most situations. Cruising speed in 48x17 is about 21 mph for me, that's plenty fast on gravel. However, as the pace accelerates running out of gear in a gravel race can be pretty sketchy. As a result, I prefer the geared bike for races. However for gravel training, the SS works great.

Fixed on gravel requires skill I personally don't have, especially when I'm trying to body-english my way through some loose new gravel. I have to have a freewheel. If you can successfully ride a fixie in sketchy gravel, more power to you.

If you live where there are actual hills, definitely get a geared bike. Grinding up steep hills on a SS with too big a gear is a direct route to knee problems.

Caliper

My fixed gear bike is a converted road bike. It's got a bit more tire clearance so I'm running 27x1.25 tires on it. For the gravel/dirt roads here it works fine. YMMV, of course, all depends on your roads. It's just as fun as fixed gear on pavement but you may want to add a tooth or two to the rear cog due to the extra drag.

thenomad

Flat and rolling, go for it and try an SS or FG. It'll legitimately give you something new to do and FG will force you to spin differently. Must be smooth, and fast and round. Hills are challenging, downhill is exciting, and flats are not as fast.

Put your current bike in a similar gear and never change it to see if you like it. Yes, I know this isn't as much "cred" and buying a whole new bike off the cuff but try it out, at least for SS.

On any "real" offroad I find the terrain changes come fast and often, and an SS can leave you struggling to make it up a small incline instead of "flow/blasting" over it. Sure, there is a perverse pleasure to be had doing it SS.

Honestly it seems like its best shared with others as in "you're crazy to do that SS", "look at this crazy guy on an SS", "wow you must be a beast doing that SS". I really think that's the main thing; hearing from others, or from your own inner voice, that you're more hardcore than most.

If that's what you like, then go for it. If the terrain is smaller incline changes then it may work well.

Rollfast

One of 20, all are gears.

Carcosa

More risky? Maybe. I wouldn't go so far as saying foolhardy though.

This is the thing I think I have the most trouble with. Not as much the peer to peer interaction – although I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a fun aspect – as much as the extra challenge.

Here's a fun resource I found recently if anyone is interested:

63xc.com--The Offroad Fixed Gear Site