Skip to content
404 Gears Not Found

Featured story

Current Selection

Two old Shimano square taper bottom bracket spindles lying side by side on rocky dirt, one bare silver, one rusted and labeled Shimano BB-UN71

tech

The Humble Square Taper

Thirty-plus years of wrenching, a lot of old mountain bikes, and a case for one of the most underrated pieces of bicycle technology.

404 Gears Not Found Bike Overnight event poster for Rampart Reservoir, September 26-27, 2026 at Thunder Ridge Campground, with an illustrated loaded bikepacking bike, mountains, and pine trees

story

Rampart Reservoir Bike Overnight

One loaded lap around Rampart Reservoir, one night at Thunder Ridge, and just enough climbing to make a single speed interesting.

Three mountain bikers strung out along a red dirt singletrack across the Moab desert, the snow-capped La Sal Mountains on the horizon under a heavy gray sky

story

Why Everyone in My Family Has Gears Except Me

Single speeding makes riding deliberately harder. That does not mean everyone you love should be forced to participate.

Salmon Surly Karate Monkey leaning against the Shadow Pine Loop trail sign in a pine forest at Flying J Ranch

ride

The Flying J Ranch Lariat Loop

A shady, intermediate lariat on the Shadow Pine Loop at Flying J Ranch: loose Buffalo Creek style dirt, mostly tree cover, and a four-mile loop you can just ride twice.

Featured Rides

Brad riding a borrowed Surly Karate Monkey down shaded singletrack through ponderosa pine on the Genesee Mountain descent

ride

The Genesee Mountain Loop

A short blue loop above I-70 with an easy climb, a longer-feeling descent, a resident bison herd, and one neighbor's first single-speed ride.

Two mountain bikes, one orange and one black, leaning against a tree stump on a rocky overlook with granite rock formations and pine forest in the distance

ride

Buffalo Creek: Little Scraggy Loop

Thirteen miles of sustained climbing, granite problems, and a long flowy descent around Little Scraggy Peak.

Black and white photo of a mountain biker threading loose, rocky singletrack past a large spruce on Pikes Peak

ride

Fixie Dave's First Annual Birthday Adventure

Three bikes, a shuttle to nearly 12,000 feet, and a loose collection of old Pikes Peak trails leading back to Cascade.

A salmon Surly Karate Monkey and a black Spot belt-drive bike leaning on a split-rail fence at a trailhead, a grassy valley opening toward low morning light

ride

Green Mountain: The Hayden, Green Mountain, and Rooney Valley Loop

An eight-mile Lakewood loop linking the John Hayden, Green Mountain, and Rooney Valley trails: loose rock, zero shade, plenty of company, and the rare local trail you can legally ride after dark.

Featured Riders

Rider standing with a loaded single-speed bikepacking mountain bike on slickrock, under a clear blue sky

person

Brad Holtz

A lifetime of freedom on two wheels, from a Mongoose Minigoose to a loaded single-speed on slickrock.

Bearded rider having his head shaved outdoors, holding a can and a baby doll with a shirt reading SHOW ME ON THE DOLL WHERE SINGLESPEED HURT YOU

person

Fixie Dave

The straight and narrow of fixed gear off-road.

Rider giving a thumbs up next to a single-speed mountain bike laid over on a desert singletrack trail

person

Blake Cannon

Why fewer gears, a favorite ratio, and the dumbest idea that worked.

Featured Bike

Featured Collections

Salmon Surly Karate Monkey leaning against a trail sign post in a mountain meadow

Dumb Ideas That Somehow Worked

Decisions that had no business succeeding, and did anyway.

Rider looking out over the Salida valley from the trail, two bikes dropped in the foreground under a dramatic cloudy sky

Single Speed USA

One event, two towns, and a lot of very committed one-geared riders.

White On-One Inbred single-speed mountain bike leaning against a barbed-wire fence in tall green grass, with trees and open field behind

Start Here

New here? A guided way into the bikes, people, rides, gearing math, and questionable reasoning behind single speeding. Not a required sequence, just a good place to begin.

Surly Krampus single-speed mountain bike leaning on a rock beside a dirt trail, with storm clouds over the foothills behind it

Steel Forever

Bikes built from steel and kept far longer than intended.

Manifesto

There are no derailleurs here. Just bikes, rides, people, and places that prove one gear is enough.

Got a Bike, Ride, or Story?

Polished writing isn’t required. Good photos and a genuine story matter more. Submitting doesn’t guarantee publication, and accepted work may be edited for clarity and presentation before it goes live.

Submit a bike, ride, or story