Originally Posted by
fredlord
I love the look and idea of single-speeds and used to ride one in the early days of my cycling rebirth, but I'm a little worried about my knees. Sometimes I experiment on rides where I do more more mashing than spinning, getting out of the saddle more. The next day my 60-year old knees feel like they have a few more twinges and niggles than usual, but I may be imagining it.
I’m almost that age, and what seems to help me a lot is to drop my heels when I’m pedaling slower, whether standing or seated. It reduces the angle of knee bend at the top of the pedal stroke, and that seems to protect my knees. My knees seem to be at least as happy as they were with multi-gear setups. YMMV.
Otto