- Henry David Thoreau
I recently converted my Surly Pugsley "fatbike" from an eight-speed to a singlespeed. After a thousand or so very rode-hard miles in the past 8 years (and having been put away wet more often than not), the original drivetrain components had become seriously clapped-out. Rather than replace them (at great expense), I decided to just remove them. Best part of this decision: stripping off the no-longer-necessary gears, shifters, cables, and derailleurs shed almost four pounds. Today, the Pugs, and her one 34x22 gear, is revitalized as a bike that is (as it truthfully always has been) an unmitigated hoot to ride! In a way, it almost feels as though this was how she was meant to have been set-up all along.
I've been riding singlepeed bikes in the forests of northern Arizona for almost 30 years. Not counting a Surly Steamroller fixie, an old Ibis Trials Comp, and an even older Schwinn Typhoon, the newly reconfigured Pugs counts as the fourth legit singlespeed mountain bike in my garage. I dig riding one-speed bikes. Always have. Speaking honestly from experience, I can tell you: geared bikes are lots of fun. Singlespeeds, however, are truly enlightening (pun intended).
