Single-speed Trainer

There is a trend in the mountain-biking community of training on a skimmed-down, single-speed bike and then racing on your regular, supped-up mountain bike. This lets you push it hard with one gear, straining yourself on the uphills and being as efficient as possible on the downhills and flats. The theory goes that once you jump back on the geared bike you'll be a better rider.

With the help of a local bike mechanic, I recently converted an old 21-speed Schwinn mountain bike for these exact training purposes.

To make the conversion, we removed about a pound of superfluous gears, shifters, derailleurs and other parts. After taking off the rear cassette, adding some spacers and cutting off the extra front chainrings, we added one new component -- a Surly Singulator ($50, www.surlybikes.com). This component acts like a rear derailleur arm to keep tension on the chain so that it does not slip on the gear.

We then sanded and spray painted the frame black to cover the unsightly paint chips, rust streaks and early-'90s color scheme.

Total cost of the job was about $100, with $60 going to parts and $40 to labor. This is an average price for a basic single-speed conversion, according to the shop I worked with. (In most towns, there will be bike shops more attuned to the single-speed movement, so call around for some bids if you go ahead with a similar project.)

The end result of my Schwinn upgrade is a solid, skimmed-down bike that will make a worthy all-weather trainer. Hopefully, the lack of gears to depend on will jigger some of the slop out of my biking style.

One final benefit: Single-speed setups require little maintenance and upkeep, as moving parts are minimized. Typically, drivetrain tune-ups are the No. 1 expense and headache for bikers; this setup eliminates those issues pretty much altogether.


A close up look at the conversion job...


The Surly Singulator chain-tensioning component.