Single speeding

The stick - the natural enemy of the mountain bike derailleur.

We were out at Lysterfied and i was putting in the hard yards/ogling behind mistress P, zipping in and out of the trees on one of the wonderful back-of-park singletraks when...
"CRUNCH".
skid.
stop.

"Oh fiddle sticks" (or words to that effect).


There dangling in a rather unmechanical way was my rear derailleur, no long able to change gears and more than likely DOA (dead on arrival). A half inch stick had neatly been spun up by my front wheel, deposited itself in the spokes of the rear, wedged against my derailleur and - voila - ripped the bloody thing clean orf.

"Oh sod" (or words to that effect).

But then comes the fun part, and surely a furture episode of bush mechanics, Lysterfield style. We werent exactly sure how far i had to go to get to somewhere civilised, so it was repair time. Out with the chain breaker.
"Clunk"
chain severed... derailleur removed,
"clunk"
chain shortened
"ker ching"
chain reattached and the worlds first full suspension singlespeed!!

Mistress P zip-tied the gear-change cables to the frame, and i was off. Worked an absolute treat!! (I would have included photos but we'd just used up the battery filming us being idiots on some log roll.) In fact i tried to chase the others (who were heading back to the cars in another location) it felt and worked that well, but then realised i had better be sensible and just head to the nearer car park.

Mistress P dropped the single speeder off at the bike shop a cupla daze later, and reported they were most impressed. (Thats great, but i doubt they'll give me a discount on a new hanger!)