The TransIowa discussion on MTBR has now turned to the matter of what is, or is not, a single-speed. I thought I would bring the discussion to the Snob as well since I think the same dialogue applies to other races and events.
Here's my two cents. Give me yours.
Single is one, which for me begins and ends the discussion. As soon as you start flip-flopping, wrenching or being clever in order to change your gear ratio, you've just shifted. It's no longer a SS. As you'll see from the thread, people have a lot of valid reasons why they might want to change things at some point in the race. The course does this and that, etc. Which is simply another way of saying, "I might decide at some point that I need to shift."
As I was typing this, Mr. 24 just posted the following to the thread: "For all singlespeed and fixie...Show up to the start line with a gear. Run it all the way to Decorah. Simple as that."
I couldn't agree more. What about you? I'm not afraid to admit I am wrong, but you'll have your work cut out for you on this one.
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5 comments:
one gear, is one gear.
once you start an event, you start with that gear, you end with that same gear.
if you stop, flip your wheel around to a different gear, you have shifted.
shifting can be as easy as a finger stroke, or as hard as having to unbolt the wheel, un-do the breaks, change the excentric bb to adjust chain tension, and put it all back together to ride a different ratio. that's not single speed.
I checked Wikipedia, and the first sentence of the entry would confirm what you and CVO have said, "A single-speed bicycle is a type of bicycle with a single gear ratio."
I don't know very much about this sort of stuff, but I would think that shifting is shifting, regardless of the means through which you do it. And once the act of shifting is involved, the label of "single speed" no longer applies.
I totally agree!! Within the rules set forth flipping fixed to free-hub while on the same ratio still qualifies as SS. I was actually surprised to see changing ratios allowed (or at least overlooked) at some 12-24 races.
Or you can enter open class on a SS and then still be free to change ratio, but not be considered a SSer!
flip-flops have no soul.
Well said, Patrick.
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