By Mike Rosso
“One gear bikes have two speeds: riding and pushing.” – Anonymous
I remember clearly my first bike. It had one gear. If you needed to climb a hill or gain momentum you stood up and pumped hard. Downhill you wound it out to the maximum RPM, slamming back hard on the pedals to bring it to a screeching halt. No hand brakes, no derailleur, no multiple gears – very reliable except for the occasional flat tire or broken chain. But who could resist the lure of multiple gears? The decisive click of a three-speed grip shifter found on the typical English commuter bike? The sudden ease of climbing hills? I then became smitten with the five-speed in-line stick shift on the gold Schwinn Stingray I was astonished to find on Christmas morning one year (thanks again Mom and Dad). Sure, the Stingray was kind of a ridiculous contraption; the banana seat, sissy bar, high-rise handlebars – but that cool shifter! Man, you could do some serious climbing and get some great speed, all the while imagining myself another Mario Andretti.
In high school I got a job at a local bike shop and bought a ten-speed touring bike. I was never crazy about those drop handlebars, but for a 15-year-old without a drivers license it represented freedom. Freedom to go long distances; five, ten, fifteen miles away from home with little effort, not to mention speed, especially on the downhills – dangerously tailing cars down back roads with my buddies and no helmet. This was the 1970s of course.
Fast forward to Durango, Colorado 1983 and a brand new style of bike is blowing everything else out of the water. Fat, knobby tires, bullmoose handlebars, thumb shifters, and yep, fifteen speeds – all of which got used on the crazy off-road trails that sprouted up overnight in the hills outside town. I had rediscovered the joys of bicycling with the advent of the mountain bike.
28 years later and I’m on my third one. It’s got adjustable front shocks, disc brakes, 29 inch wheels, an aluminum frame and 21 speeds! There are few places this bike can’t go. But, many years – and a few pounds – later, I’ve discovered I’m not so prone to healing as I used to be – a crucial ingredient to the sport of mountain biking.
Subconsciously I began to crave that simple bike from my early years. The one with the single speed and foot brake. I also began to see more adult bikes with one speed parked on racks in downtown Salida. Single-speed mountain bikes were also becoming more prevalent on local trails. Something was up. One factor in Salida is a local builder named Don McClung, whose Backyard Bike Company was (and still is) producing high-end, hand-crafted single-speed mountain bikes. Further research led me to Jason Shelman at Subculture Cyclery, who was converting a lot of old, dusty garage relics into functioning town bikes with single-speeds (at least 100 to his count so far).These bikes even have names; bootleggers, rum-runners, messenger bikes (for the bikes used for weaving in and out of urban traffic to deliver documents to skyscraper dwellers).
I brought Jason an old cross-bike frame along with some 700cm knobby tires and gave him carte blanche to do what he will. What he produced was an incredible machine. One-speed, aluminum wheels, front handbrake, foot brake, North Road (moustache) handlebars, with many spare parts coming from the Subculture boneyard. I jumped on it and haven’t gotten off yet.
Suddenly I was transported back to my childhood like nothing before. Once on this bike, you don’t have to think, just pedal and go. No thoughts of shifting or which brake to apply, just quiet movement. This is now my primary bicycle. I use it for commuting, exercise and for stress therapy. Maintainance-wise it’s chain oil and a tire pump. Can’t we all use a little more simplicity in life?
Let me take a moment here to explain the difference between a single-speed and a “fixie.” A single-speed allows you to coast with your pedals in the same position, a total zen thing. On a fixie, the pedals are always turning when the bike is moving. If you want to coast you must stick your legs out and let the pedals spin. Fixie’s often have no brakes. To stop you simply quit pedaling. Fixie’s are not for everyone.
Most beach cruisers that are popular these days are single-speeds. They won’t go fast but that isn’t the point. The point is to cruise. To enjoy the scenery, wave to friends on their porches and haul your kid, dog, and groceries around.
It’s curious; all my life I’d been striving for more gears and now that I’ve come full-circle, back to the bike of my childhood, I couldn’t be more happy on two wheels.
