Single speed love

[DaveInDenver]

Honestly, if I was forced into buying hubs right now I'd probably just do plain old XT. Rarely ever had much trouble with them and they don't try to re-engineer the wheel (so to speak). Sort of the mini truck of hubs - boring, simple, cheap, more or less reliable, ubiquitous.

 

[Corbet]

Can't put XT's on a BMX Dave . But there are Shimano BMX cassette hubs. I thought about the Onyx but I had to draw a line somewhere on price. And I did get 20% off the Elites.

Profile appeals to me as it's an old school company and seeing as my first BMX was a 83' Schwinn Predator I think I qualify.

Custom stuff has always had its issues. Shimano/Campy always works. It just ain't sexy.

 

[Corbet]

Well once I get over my pneumonia I'm going clipless on the BMX

 

[Lastresort576]

as for bmx, ya know I never had an issue with a good old ACS freewheel. ha

But with mtb are you guys seriously tearing up drivers that easily? how many miles? ton's of climbing? Just dumbfounds me..Granted I've never been able to afford anything fancy but still.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Asking a cassette freehub to run singlespeed like I do is tough on it. It doesn't come as a big surprise when it shears. Even under the best conditions an aluminum body is marginal. The thru-axle and oversized bearings of the 3.30HD has seemed to be reliable on my REEB, though. The old bike has a 9mm quick release and standard duty 3.30 on a frame (Gunnar Rockhound 29) that is less substantial, so that factors in, too.

 

[aprosise]

as for bmx, ya know I never had an issue with a good old ACS freewheel. ha

But with mtb are you guys seriously tearing up drivers that easily? how many miles? ton's of climbing? Just dumbfounds me..Granted I've never been able to afford anything fancy but still.

Broke the Profile 1st ride not even a mile in. The rock climb out of the creek on Amasa Back (Cliffhanger) did it in.

Only had the hub for about 8 months... Just got rid of it. Ive already been dealing with hell from I9 about my new hub. Bearing play out of the box, they want me to de-lace it and send it back. I think I need to buy a back up wheel with this kind of luck.

 

[wesintl]

i saw a guy walking out last weekend with a blown freehub body. should have asked what he was running.

ironically since i adjusted my king i haven't had an issue with skipping. i guess i'll see how long it is til it needs adjusted again

 

[Corbet]

Proper single speed starting position.

 

[DaveInDenver]

That is awesome!

 

[DaveInDenver]

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/everything-you-think-about-single-speed-is-wrong-49614

Why everything you think about singlespeed is wrong
It's the 21st century; we have gears now

I never know quite what to make of singlespeed reviews. Normally, the process is simple: reviewer tests Thing X, lays out the pros and cons in text that everyone ignores, and finishes with a score that everyone argues is wrong. See? Simple. It’s how the universe has always worked.

Whether Thing X is a mountain bike, a thermonuclear weapon or a wrist-mounted canister that can trap and cryogenically store clowns* (to name the first three things off the top of my head), reviewing remains simple: how well does Thing X do what it sets out to do?

But it’s only simple until you get to singlespeed mountain bikes.

The problem here is, if you review a singlespeed as a mountain bike, it should get a terrible score – no matter how well it’s built. That’s because it’s a terrible mountain bike due to having a 3mph operational window on purpose.

Yet nobody reviews them that way, despite many SS bikes combining the ability to be in the wrong gear almost all the time with an inability to soak up bumps, on account of having no suspension, either. Apparently this atavistic approach is all very pure. Strength through joy, and all that. Hey wait, that SS moniker is starting to make sense…

Good commentary on Stevil's Facebook repost:
https://www.facebook.com/AHTBM/posts/1274858695885340

 

[RockOn]

SS with no suspension? Devin would like a word with him.

http://lenzsport.com/mountain-bikes/milkmoney-ss/

Or for those with rowdier tastes:

http://lenzsport.com/mountain-bikes/lunchmoney/

Those hub failures are amazing. What kind of power are you putting down? I only top out ~1200W in a full sprint but my 240s on the trail bike have been holding up awesome. Hadleys before that did fine as well. Little nervous about the Eastons on the xc bike at the moment.

 

[DaveInDenver]

1200W, nice. You're a better man than me. The only time I've ever measured power output is spin class and I'll maybe get 850W or 900W if I'm really, really pushing. I don't have a road bike or heart rate monitor or any of that, so I don't know how it translates.

My freehub failure wasn't during what I felt was high output, I was standing on a climb and it let go, so more of a torque and deflection situation. If I was guessing the power output based on perceived effort was probably 350 watts at most. My cadence was probably like 40 or 50 RPM.

 

[RockOn]

Ha, I cannot sustain that for more than a couple seconds. I'm also terrible at endurance - partly due to pacing, partly due to focusing mostly on strength/plyo instead of sustained cardio, which is something I am working on this year so that figure might have dropped. Will find out next week.

I heard from a coach that the pro/elite enduro guys can hit around 2k watts.