View Single Post
Old 10-20-21, 08:20 AM
  #25  
rustystrings61 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Greenwood SC USA
Posts: 2,252

Bikes: 2002 Mercian Vincitore, 1982 Mercian Colorado, 1976 Puch Royal X, 1973 Raleigh Competition, 1971 Gitane Tour de France and others

Mentioned: 55 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 823 Post(s)
Liked 1,396 Times in 694 Posts
This has been an interesting year for me. In the time period I have mileage records for (1999 to the present) I've ridden almost as many miles on derailleur and IGH bikes as I have on fixed and single speed. If I narrow the focus down to 2010 through 2020, it's overwhelmingly fixed-gear cycling on a variety of road surfaces.

This year I've been riding bikes I picked up for the Clunker Challenge and couldn't stop riding, primarily mid-range classical UJBs from 1988, a Centurion LeMans with first year Exage Sport parts and an amazing Specialized Sirrus with "New" 105 parts. The latter has gearing that I would have flinched at in the past, running a 13-23 6-speed Uniglide setup. Now I wind up just romping up the local hills running 52x21 and standing on the bike, grateful for a 65-in gear instead of the usual 70, and glad that I can shift to the 19 and 17T cogs should I so desire, but not really running much more of the gear range. Fixed and single-speed riding has taught me to operate at different cadences and to use body English a whole lot more. I might feel different if I was lugging around camping gear and slogging around the steep hills close to the area's lakes, but in general, 65-80 gear inches handles most of what I do.

It is kinda weird to note that this year I have ridden almost as many miles on derailleur bikes as I rode from 2010-2020, as in, 13 more miles and I'm there. But I know that winter approaches, and the fixed-gears call to me, and maybe I'll set up a single-speed MTB and ride trails again this year. Stranger things have happened.
rustystrings61 is offline  
Likes For rustystrings61: