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feature
Staff Bikes — Dave’s Custom Dward Design Single Speed
In the latest edition of our Staff Bikes series, Dave takes us through his custom Dward Design single speed. It has some very nifty touches and clever design features along with some more questionable bodges.
The frame itself is constructed from a mix of Columbus and Dedacciai tubing, assembled by Ed Mason, who actually used to review for us on road.cc. After a period of frame building, Ed moved into making some very nice machined titanium parts, which are well worth a look if you’re after an upgrade.
Staff Bikes: Liam's S-Works Aethos
The geometry of this bike is based on another bike that Dave owns, his much loved Kinesis Tripster ART which has seen action as a touring bike, a cyclocross racer and even a winter hack.
Dave had a few other things on his wish list when he was dreaming of this bike. He wanted disc brakes, because, in his words, “they’re better.” The bike also had to use thru-axles as this would give Dave a better selection of rims and hubs in the future.
The fork is a carbon model that comes from the Tripster and the headset, which gave Dave a few issues, is from Nukeproof.
One of the best mechanical solutions comes when you get to the dropouts at the back end. A single speed chain is tensioned by moving the rear wheel. Yes, you can also do this with an eccentric bottom bracket, but you open yourself up to a world of issues with mystery creaks, so Ed came up with a better solution.
Staff Bikes: Jamie's customised Lauf Seigla Weekend Warrior
He designed and built a set of machined aluminium dropouts, allowing the disc mount to travel with the rear hub. Very clever.
The brakes come from TRP and Dave opts for a 160mm rotor at the front, with a 140mm rotor at the back.
A threaded T47 external bottom bracket has served Dave well with no issues, and the Kinesis Fend Off mudguards also cause him no fuss.
Dynamo lighting is really useful for the audax riding that Dave sometimes does, and while he did forget to get the wiring routed internally, he solved this issue with some Di2 external routing conduit.
The wheels are Hunt 4 Season Superdura Disc rims laced to a Sondelux hub at the front, and a Paul Components single speed hub at the back.
What's a fixed-gear bike good for? Should you buy a fixie?
The lights match the front hub, coming from Son. The Edelux II lights the way ahead while a matching rear light is mounted to a special bracket to fit the mudguard.
The theme for the finishing kit is stuff that was knocking about in Dave’s shed. We think that this bike is an absolute cracker, but what do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
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You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
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Device with built in battery?? Shocking!!
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20 comments
Love the dropouts, I have something similar on my Pipedream Sirius hardtail. The purpose there is to change the wheelbase, and it works really well. Beautifully machined and very solid with an integrated mech hanger (which means that your mech is sacrificial, rather than the hanger). But perhaps that's less of an issue with modern clutched shadow mechs.
Is this the same single speed / fixie Dave rode on the Road.cc fan ride in 2019?
Audax riding on a single speed bike!
Indeed - but it seems that in that particular niche
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Oo - that Temple Bikes bike is lovely...
you've not been on many audaxes have you?
you've not been on many audaxes have you?
Nope.
Notwithstanding the comment that everyone should have one of these, I see myself as the American responding to Basil Fawlty's offer of a 'Ritz' salad, except with rather more valid justifications- 'never had one and don't think I ever will'
That rear end is a piece of art.
Always wanted a bespoke built frame. However, on my current (off the shelf) geared bike, I've never thought to myself, "I'll leave it in one gear for the whole ride, why not?"
What's the attraction?
I don't own one myself but I think the primary attraction is low maintenance. Primarily there are fewer moving parts and less to go wrong - no cables to adjust, no jockey wheels that wear out, no hangers to bend etc. Given that you don't need to change gears, you can also run a wider, more robust chain, and there is basically zero chance of dropping the chain no matter how rough the terrain. When you do need to do maintenance, replacement parts tend to be cheap, because they are so much simpler and don't need all the fancy tech that goes into making geared systems work smoothly.
Some people also like the simplicity of it and having one less thing to think about.
There's also a small weight saving and aero benefit, although neither of those is likely to be a primary concern on this type of bike!
I've never seen the point of a single speed freewheel bike, but a fixie will improve your pedalling style as well as being easier than the equivalent freewheel gear to get up hills.
How exactly without defying the laws of physics? I would say it would be almost identical weight of the bike itself not withstanding. My admittedly fashionista SS weighs more than my gravel bike too even with fat tyres on the gravel bike. Im pretty sure if I was masochistic enough to leave it in an equivalent gear the gravel would beat the SS.
And thats without taking into account the aero benefits of not having to wax my moustache on the gravel bike.
When you do need to do maintenance, replacement parts tend to be cheap, because they are so much simpler and don't need all the fancy tech that goes into making geared systems work smoothly
2x9 Sora is not really very fancy and is pretty cheap, and doesn't get much maintenance even on the muddy cart track back roads of N Lancashire. Scrape the filthy black muck off the jockey wheels and chain, and wash the chain properly once in its life. 2 chainrings, 1 cheapo cassette and 4 chains will take me to 15-18,000 miles and joyful replacement with lower gears. Even with the final chain approaching super-knackered terminal status, it's still changing fairly well
I'm pondering a single-speed/fixed at the moment, for commuting. My commute is pretty flat. And the mechanical simplicity of a single-speed is appealing.
My normal commuter is already pretty simple - 9-speed gears with bar-end friction shifters. But nearly every winter I'm still wearing through and breaking something. The chains and sprockets are flimsy and fast-wearing, cause they have to be narrow to accommodate the gears.
Breaking a chain on your commute in winter is a pain, as happened one year. The thick, strong chain on a single-speed/fixie just looks appealing after that.
My ultimate reliable commuter/pub bike would be a lot like this build. Ticks these boxes:
I would add/change
If you went down to 7 speed, you'd have a 3/32" chain, so not far from the 1/8" of a single and a bit stronger I think than for a 9 speed. And as you already have friction shifters, all this would cost (I think) is a cassette and chain (possibly a spacer depending on your freehub body). The wider chain will almost certainly be ok with your RD.
Parts are available for reasonable prices at SJS - who are very good for this kind of thing, and also very helpful if you have a question.
😍😍😍
Lovely build!