Singlespeeding can be an experience that demands more of a person, and so a person finds that extra drive, that extra strength to do something that perhaps he didnt believe he could accomplish before. Or even relate to. Singlespeeding is quiet. Its simple. Its pure. But its way more than that -- its personal.

Boredom . Some of the people on this forum are extremely accomplished mountain bikers. They've ridden it all. Singlespeeding is a new challenge.

Making a statement . There are a lot of people who are fed up with planned obsolescence, Shimano's dominance of componentry, and/or the over-engineering of today's bikes. Some people like making a statement about one of those things, or about noncomformity, stickin' it to the man, or maybe something else they think singlespeeding stands for.

Cachet . It's a fringe activity. You're a member of a pretty exclusive club if you're a singlespeeder. There's always the danger of it being a trendy fad, which means someday it won't be cool anymore, but I don't think where anywhere near there yet.

Pride . Let's be honest here. It feels pretty good doing that bad beeotch of a climb in a gear twice as tall as you would have on a geared bike. And people that aren't ordinarily impressed by others' riding are sometimes impressed that you can ride a particular trail AT ALL on a singlespeed. Those are the reasons that are most important to me, but singlespeeders are a diverse group (which is a good thing, in my little worldview) and here are some other potential legitimate reasons which I also respect: Elegance . A singlespeed bike (other than mine) has a really nice clean, elegant look to it, with no derailleurs hanging off various places, shifters cluttering up the handlebars, and shift cables running along the tubes. Now if you saw my bikes you'd know I'm not exactly seeking out a "clean" look, but I can appreciate it in others' bikes, and a lot of other singlespeeders appreciate it too.

Momentum . 1. On a geared bike, when you start losing speed on a climb, you downshift, and you let off the power to do it ... which slows you down even more. On a singlespeed, you stand up and hammer. You get more momentum going up the hill (although it can be exhausing at times!). 2. Because you know climbing can get tough if you bog down too much, you pay a lot more attention to preserving your momentum, and you're less likely to sap away precious momentum with your brakes when you don't need to. 3. Because you carry more momentum going uphill into difficult technical sections, you have an easier time getting through them in the uphill direction. Why is technical terrain harder going uphill than downhill? Speed.

Concentration . You don't have to think about what gear you're in. You don't have to plan your downshift ahead of time when you come to a stop in traffic. It's not like shifting is THAT much of a mental burden, but you'd be surprised how many brainwave cycles singlespeeding frees up for other things. Like paying more attention to traffic. Like paying more attention to your body english, line and speed when you attack that rock garden. See my writeup below under the "Inaugural SS ride at Cutthroat PaSS" for a better description of what I mean. Singlespeeding makes you a better technical rider.

Weight savings . To be honest, I still have the rear derailleurs on my bikes so I can run gears when I want, so I'm not seeing that much weight savings. BUT even so, when I pull off my cassette and replace it with a single cog, I'm taking away about 220 grams. That's half a pound. I can easily feel the difference when I pick up the bike. Go truly singlespeed by stripping off the derailleurs, shifters and cables, and you can end up saving 2-3 POUNDS. People spend hundreds of dollars to lose that kind of weight off their bikes, but with singlespeeding you can do it for free.

Durability . No rear derailleur to tweak on trail obstacles, no shifters to go bad, no front derailleur to jam, no 11-tooth cogs to wear out early and force you to replace your cassette before its time.

Maintenance . No derailleurs to adjust, no jockey pulleys to lubricate, no cables to clean. Most of the maintenance most of us do, other than tires, is on the drivetrain. With a singlespeed all you have to do is take care of your chain. That's IT.

Efficiency . A singlespeed's chain runs directly from the chainring to the rear sprocket and back. A geared bike's chain snakes around two jockey pulleys to a sprocket that is out of line (left-to-right) from the chainring by much as an inch. Even without the chainline issue the improvement is at least a couple percent, and compared to some of the more crooked chainlines you might run on a multi-geared bike, the difference can be quite a bit more than that. Believe it or not, you can feel the difference. Don't believe me? Find a bike shop that sells a few singlespeed bikes, and pull both a singlespeed and a geared bike off the rack. Now crank the pedals backwards pretty hard and let go. Notice how much longer the pedals spin on the SS bike? That's the difference in efficiency, and it's even more pronounced under load.

Well, there are a lot of different possible reasons. And yes, people do ride them on trails. It's not as hard as you might think. I run geared some of the time (road rides, some mountain biking), and singlespeed some of the time (commuting, more and more mountain biking). Here are my reasons:

Of course it takes a little time to come to love singlespeeding. Maybe the magazine boys aren't willing to make that commitment. Or maybe they've become so high and mighty in their own minds that they just want to tell the world what's right and what's not. Perhaps the care and feeding of their know-it-all egos is where their real commitment lies.

It takes commitment to enjoy singlespeeding at its highest and most rewarding level. It takes a dedicated bike with one gear that cannot be shifted. Leaving a geared bike in one gear involves you in singlespeeding, but it doesn't commit you to anything. What's the difference between "involvement" and "commitment?" Well, think of the ham and eggs you had for breakfast this morning. The chicken was involved; the pig was committed.

Singlespeeding is not just a bike. It's way more than the bike. Like I said before, it's a dicipline. That's where the mag editors don't seem to get it. Ever notice that the people who think singlespeeds are dumb are the people who don't ride them?

Singlespeeds are real. Them that knows know they know. Them that don't know don't know they don't know.