A singular happiness...

Yesterday was a fun day. After the ride in the morning, I went over to Sunshine to do some Christmas shopping. I needed to spend some gift certificates.

I walked out with a bike I had been looking at for a bit. Ever since first reading about single speed bikes, I've been drawn to them. The idea is to kind of return to your childhood when you didn't have gears. One sprocket in the front and another in the back.



Back to the SE Bikes Draft in a bit.

While I was there Mike let me take out his new Vespa 200L. Nice. He got it at BMW Touring Sports here in Greenville. I noticed it when I rode up after the ride that morning. As soon as I saw it I figured it was Mike's.

I got on it and it really reminded me of my vintage Vespa. The ergonomics and lines of sight were very similar. Of course, it was a WHOLE lot easier to ride. The bike was perfectly balanced and with no clutch or gearing you don't have to think about getting up to speed.

The transmission doesn't allow you to do burnouts, but it does have enough pep to get you up and going. The engine gives you plenty of power to reach speeds up to 80 mph. Now, I didn't go that fast :-), but I did reach 65 mph with power to spare.

When I got back, I couldn't get the smile off my face. It was so fun to be floating over the road. It's got me thinking of getting my old Vespa back on the road again...

After getting back to the house, I jumped on the single speed to give it a try. It was fun just getting out and running with the simplicity of Draft. The ride was smooth like a road bike. The downhill was nice and solid. The bike wasn't twitchy at all. Then when it came to climbing, things changed... I found myself thinking about the gears at that point!

Still, the simplicity brings a smile to your face. Want to climb that hill? You'll just have to pedal up. Your legs become the gears.

Another advantage is that it is a great bike to ride with my wife. She is just starting to ride and is working up to some bigger distances. When I have gone out with her on my road bike I outdistance her. With the Draft I really got a good work out keeping up with her on the hilly terrain in our neighborhood.

This will be my commuter bike. I plan to ride it to work when I can. It has a rack on the back and I may add some fenders for when the road is wet. It is going to be fun.

That will keep the smile on my face.