Singlespeed Mountain Bikes are Taking the Sport Back to It’s Coreby Mark Riedy
The singlespeed phenomenon has created a new market for purpose-built bikes and components. Now that many bike companies have added singlespeeds to their product lines, riding with one gear no longer means converting clunky, heavy beater bikes with parts pulled from the scrap pile. Based on traditional mountain-bike frames, singlespeeds use either vertical track dropouts or elliptical tandem bottom-bracket shells to allow for perfectly adjusted chain tension. But while the gearing is simple, the rest of a singlespeed can be as cutting edge as any geared bike out there.
Seven Cycles, a leading builder of titanium and steel frames based in Watertown, Massachusetts, offers a full line of singlespeed options to suit budgets large and small. Seven’s Sola 29’er boasts cutting-edge titanium tubing built around a 29-inch wheeled platform; with the bigger wheels allowing for better climbing and smoother descending. Bontrager’s carbon-fiber bars and seatpost provide incredible strength and durability at feathery low weights, while the White Brothers air/oil fork dishes out four inches of plush travel. Avid Juicy hydraulic disc brakes show everything down in short order and TruVativ’s beefy singlespeed cranks get you going again. At a hair under 20 pounds, the Sola is not cheap, but if you’re serious about the one-gear revolution it surely a worthwhile purchase. Get crankin’.