When people started singlespeed mountain biking back in the Tour de France or the 1870s or whatever, there weren't really any singlespeed frames. People took old ones with vertical drop outs or horizontal drop outs and used tensioners or didn't. Therefore, the bikes were pretty cheap. I've only read about this, because I think it took a long time to get to Connecticut and I wasn't born yet or something. Now, as you know, they make whole bikes of this sort of and they're fancy and not fancy, but with the exception of Redline Monocogs, I only ever see the fancy ones.
Anyway, which way is it meant to be? The lowest functional thing that can get you through the woods or the artisanal jewel? Can they co-exist?
Tensioners can be finnicky (and some would argue the whole POINT is to avoid finnicky-ness). But unfortunately so are most other "solutions" (whether squeaky, requiring a 15mm wrench, expensive, or weighing more than a pubic hair).
ReplyDeleteIt's just one of those things (like a bicycle to commute on) where people can spend exactly as much money as they want to and it will all work.
Derailleurs can be pretty finicky, too.
ReplyDeleteMaybe people should stop using bikes all together and start canoeing.