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MountainBikeReview.com's Forum Archives - Singlespeed
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Cycle Oregon: 2,000 bikes and 1,999 derailleurs (13 posts)
|  Cycle Oregon: 2,000 bikes and 1,999 derailleurs | cygnus
Sep 21, 2003 9:58 AM | | With encouragement from a few of you on this board, i rode this year's 7-day, 500+ mile Cycle Oregon ride on my single speed (42x16). the ride was dominated by beautiful road bikes, but there were also the assorted recumbents, tandems, and bike fridays. mine was the only single speed. the tour made a big loop in the NE section of oregon and included days in hell's canyon and some big summits in the beautiful wallowa mts (switched to 34x17 for the biggest climbing day). as many of you have discovered, i found that SS mt biking turns you into a monster climber. riders who noticed that i was on one gear were either curious or impressed, or thought it was a fixie, but they were never negative. the mechanics supporting the ride seemed to be the most interested in my bike, and the choice of gearing. one took pictures, probably of my fork, while i was i was in the 'beer garden' at the end of one of the day's ride. i love this road rocket and just had to take it out for a long tour. |
| re: Cycle Oregon: 2,000 bikes and 1,999 derailleurs | Kenss
Sep 21, 2003 10:09 AM | | Sweet sled. Way awesome. Do you carry an extra chain for when you swap chainrings? Sweet bars. Who makes those? What's the deal with the fork. I rode 38.6 miles yesterday on my 27spd, while waiting for my ss (2004 specialized) to show up (three more weeks). I'm really interested in the swapping chainrings thing.....
thanks
Ken Campbell
Bigfork, Montana |
| answers, and a pic of the fur bike | cygnus
Sep 21, 2003 9:45 PM | | yes, i did carry an extra chain and decided to change chainrings rather than freewheels. i only geared down for one day in the mountains. i just wasn't sure that i could remove my freewheels with the tools i had. you could get by with one chain: use two powerlinks and an extra piece of short chain to use with the big chainring.
The bars are WTB dirt drops. i like these in the dirt too. turned on by pics from shiggy and got them from webcyclery. unfortunately, they are now out of production and hard to find. do a search on this board to find out more. also, look for alex in UK to produce a similar bar sometime soon (hopefully).
The forks are carbon fiber pace rc31 hollowform rigid. produced in the UK. got mine from bromleybike.com. good luck.
here's a pic of the weirdest bike on the ride: |
| Good job and way to represent! | Sparty
Sep 21, 2003 8:15 PM | | As I recall, I was one of those who encouraged you to make your Cycle Oregon a SS experience. My trophy bride and I were considering doing C.O. this year but instead elected to visit the San Juan Islands. Although our trip was way righteous, now I'm kinda jealous of what you did. It's quite an accomplishment.
One question: are you happy that you rode the SS? Okay, two questions: was Cycle Oregon generally a fun experience? We're still considering doing C.O. in the future. FWIW, we've done the Oregon Bicycle Ride, which is limited to about 1/10th the size of Cycle Oregon -- O.B.R. is excellent.
--Sparty |
| beer garden | cygnus
Sep 21, 2003 9:31 PM | | Thanks sparty. yea, you gave me a word of encouragement a few months ago. 95+% of my riding is single, whether dirt or road, so i had to try the ride with my SS. really enjoyed the big climbs and the rollers (hammer up, coast down). i'm sure i burned more energy spinning on long flats than other riders, but who cares, they feed you so much food! would i do it again single? probably, as i've pretty much lost interest in geared bikes. i rode OBR (Oregon Bike Ride) with a friend about 10 years ago. the ride is similar, but 250 riders compared to 2,000 makes it little less hectic. The logistical arrangements for carrying out cycle oregon in the small towns of rural oregon are amazingly efficient. 7 days of riding in a remote part of oregon; how could i not have fun? after doing both rides, though, i'd probably ride OBR next time. that same group also conducts a ride in Idaho now. but, does OBR have the beer garden like cycle oregon does: |
| 1,000 singlespeeds, 999 gearies and one 1x9? (nm) | Biking Viking
Sep 21, 2003 11:10 PM | | |
| doing the math...single speed and prime numbers | cygnus
Sep 22, 2003 5:42 PM | | Adds up to 2,000, but how did you get there?
Pop quiz: what's the best combo of chainring-freewheel-chain length to achieve the LEAST FREQUENT chain link repetition on the chainring and freewheel? hint: consider prime numbers. |
| 2,000 bikes and <b>3,998</b> derailleurs | funkpunk!
Sep 24, 2003 5:08 AM | | front AND rear, remember. |
| guess i've been SSing too long | cygnus
Sep 24, 2003 9:32 AM | | As i forgot about front and back derailleurs. need a lesson in bike anatomy. |
| Nice job! | GlowBoy
Sep 22, 2003 12:56 PM | | Something I've considered doing myself, having done a SS organized century earlier this year. Why not a multi-day tour too?
My wife and I did CO two years ago (on geared bikes) and absolutely loved it. That year was the Prairie City-Steens loop (and 9/11 occurred during the middle of the tour). We saw at least a couple dozen 'bents, a couple of 'cross bikes, and one handmade lowrider recumbent trike ... but no singlespeeders. I couldn't say definitively, but you MAY be the first person to have done CO on a singlespeed. Congratulations! |
| hard to believe | cygnus
Sep 22, 2003 5:36 PM | | ...that nobody had done CO on an SS before. i don't see SS riding as all that much harder than geared. the first serious single speed i ever saw was about 10 yr ago on OBR (oregon bike ride); the rider was a real hammer named dennis. that sight sparked my whole interest. regarding 9/11, i spoke with some people about the 2001 cycle oregon ride; they described images of riders huddled around radios at the food and water stops trying to understand what had happened. i'm sure it took away from the otherwise feastive atmosphere of the ride.
By the way, your review of 26" slicks a few months ago led me to a couple of versions of panaracer--good road tires for a mt bike. thanks. i miss everything about oregon; it was sure nice to ride through a remote part of the state. |
| might be true though | GlowBoy
Sep 23, 2003 7:09 PM | | CO's a pretty conservative crowd compared to other bike events I've done - if others have done it before you, they have been VERY few.
CO 2001 was pretty amazing. True, not so festive ... but still one of the most incredible experiences I've had, on a bike or off. The previous night we camped on the school grounds in Crane, serving a district so empty it's more than 150 miles across and the school is a boarding school. As we were packing up our tents in the morning, the announcement came over a bullhorn. The rest of the day, at every rest stop it was just like you said. A bunch of people would be gathered around whatever vehicle was there - ambulance, Roto-Rooter truck, SAG - with its doors open and radio turned to NPR so everyone could hear the coverage. That evening, we rode to a ranch near Diamond, where there normally isn't even even wired phone service ... but because of the day's events they strung lines out there so people could call home. There was an hour wait all the next day. General agreement was that we were in one of the safest places we could possibly be, and we were all in it together - although several New Yorkers, an American Airlines pilot and those in the National Guard left to make their way home. The memorial service that evening was one of the most poignant and moving things I've ever experienced. |
| re: Cycle Oregon: 2,000 bikes and 1,999 derailleurs | DAS
Sep 22, 2003 2:47 PM | | nice!
I just had my Teesdale powder coated that same candy apple red (again). Pics to follow. |
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