I've been riding my Surly Pacer lately with the wife and leaving the UNBRANDED bike at home, even though the original purpose of that bike was to do those types of rides. After some seat time with the Surly Pacer, however, I've grown to re-love that bike: the feel, the comfort and the speed of road geometry. I've had my Surly Pacer for two years now, and although I've swapped out all kinds of parts (even made it into a singlespeed for a quick sec), it's now at a happy place.I gave it a little thought and decided to repurpose the UNBRANDED back to what the frame calls for: mountain biking. I gathered up the parts from the parts bin and converted it to a singlespeed.
HOLY SHIT! I forgot how much I love singlespeed riding! It was so nice to mash through climbs and rely on momentum - it's a whole different style of riding that I took for granted... there's something about a direct chainline to your pedal stroke that just feels right.
This bike is 100% analog - v-brakes, rigid fork, skinny tires, ancient wheels, and an old 110bcd crankset with a square taper bottom bracket - a little throwback to the pieced together "winter" bikes folks would ride to protect their multi-speed race bikes from the harsh elements. There is a purity to riding these types of bikes that modern parts just can't compare to: I guess it's like listening to music on vinyl.
I do not intend to change this bike to geared, nor do I intend to upgrade any parts on this bike; I want to leave it AS IS, replacing only things that break (the On-One Inbred 26" frame does sound appealing, though). Selling it would be futile - I would probably only get about $200-$300 on Craigslist. However, the enjoyment I'm going to get out of this bike does not have a price tag.
Source: http://www.dionridesbikes.com/2011/06/oh-singlespeed-why-did-we-ever-break-up.html
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