Show me your single speeds!

I got my 1952 balooner frame Columbia single speed ready for the Ore to Shore mountain bike race. It’s August 10. It’s Michigan’s largest point to point race, about 2000 races. It goes from the iron ore mines to Lake Superior. I’m doing the Soft Rock, a little under 50K. There are no age groups for the single speed category so I’m planning on coming in last. There are also the Littlest Rock and the Hard Rock which is 80K. The bike is a hodgepodge of parts I had laying around. Sling shot stem, drop bars, MAFAC cantilever front brake, old Phillips rear brake, flat pedals, layback seat post, homemade red seat cover, 700C wheels, 40 mm gravel tires and early Sugino Maxi crank. It’s different.View attachment 762892View attachment 762893
I built this bike many years ago, I dusted it off . The biggest concern is pinch flats.
 
I got my 1952 balooner frame Columbia single speed ready for the Ore to Shore mountain bike race. It’s August 10. It’s Michigan’s largest point to point race, about 2000 races. It goes from the iron ore mines to Lake Superior. I’m doing the Soft Rock, a little under 50K. There are no age groups for the single speed category so I’m planning on coming in last. There are also the Littlest Rock and the Hard Rock which is 80K. The bike is a hodgepodge of parts I had laying around. Sling shot stem, drop bars, MAFAC cantilever front brake, old Phillips rear brake, flat pedals, layback seat post, homemade red seat cover, 700C wheels, 40 mm gravel tires and early Sugino Maxi crank. It’s different.View attachment 762892View attachment 762893
How was the race?

Here are some of my Singles

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Another of my mid 90's singlespeed Slingshots:

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Well....yesterday was H O T
To avoid melting, I skulked in the workshop when I should have been cutting hedges - now....which would I prefer...oh I know...spannering.

Singlespeed 1
Genesis Day One...needed quite a few things sorting.
Cranks - easy.
Horrible heavy square taper BB out. Shimano 24 mm external, in.
Cheap road cranks off. XT Mtb with 48 ring, on.
Then...blo+dy nightmare five hours sorting TRP brakes.
Flat mount caliper supposed to fit on rear with a new bracket. IS front caliper goes fine on front.
But that rear just won't fit. No way. So I instal Shimano caliper. Horrible. Incompatible. No bite at all. Prob different piston diameters.
So....flat mount to front. Hurrah it fits. IS calliper to rear. Hurrah it fits. But bleeding procedure awful.
I can do Hope, Shimano and SRAM in my sleep. But these Hylex drop levers won't suck in oil from the Bleed Solutions funnel.
Swop to syringes. They won't push oil through easily at all.
I fiddle and push and pump the lever and fiddle and curse. The cursing seems to work along with random lever pumping and finally I get some proper resistance into the system. A bit of adjust at the rear...all good. Shim out the front calliper...all good.
Five hours.
Grief.
But powerful brakes, with overkill 180 on the front since that's all that will match with the caliper.
So it's nice to do the handle bar tape with well-discipled figures of eight over the levers, and anticlockwise wind on left, clockwise on right. Looks lovely. Brown synthetic leather. Goes with the tan wall Gravelkings which are a second blo=Dy nightmare to seal tubeless.
But......D O N E.

Today

H O T

Singlespeed 2
Great ride first thing...two hours' singletrack blasting in the cool of the forest.
Socialising pm.
Then evening fiddle with Grom's Charge Plug SS.
Perished and split rear tube out. New Conti inner in.
New chain and freewheel went on earlier in the summer.
Tugs are nicely adjusted.
A loose chain is a fast chain.

Nice.
 

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