Single Speed Starling MegaMurmur Build

This is my Starling MegaMurmur. I pieced it together back in June, starting with a new Starling frame because I’ve always admired the brand, and finishing it with whatever components I had or could track down. I ride it more than any bike I’ve ever owned. Fox long travel front and rear, Hope brakes and crankset, Hydra wheels, and a Reverse tensioner out back. I’m not even going to try to justify the single speed decision because your thoughts are correct.

I would describe my use of this bike like this:
Do I need 170mm of travel? Not at all.
Have I been doing goofy stuff to purposely find out if I can use all of it? You betcha.

As it’s built, this bike isn’t great for any discipline. But good golly, it is fun. I’ve ridden it around Nashville at least twice a week since mid-June, probably forty or fifty rides by now. It is completely overqualified for everything I point it at, and I am completely underqualified to get the most out of it. That combination makes this thing fun in a very addictive way. I feel confident riding more technical trails, I can roll off ledges I shouldn’t, thread it through construction zones, or just wander around town. I also ride it to work, which might be the silliest choice of all. And for what it’s worth, at my current endurance this isn’t an all-day-on-the-trails bike. It’s more of a one-or-two-runs-before-the-legs-turn-to-jel-o bike. Aside from that, it is basically a Nintendo Game Genie for having fun.

By the way, what single speeders say about single speeding is true. A few things stand out. You’ve heard the joke that with a single speed you are never in the right gear, but to me that feels like an understatement. Riding single speed has mostly taught me that I don’t actually know how to use gears. Not being able to shift is strangely freeing, partly because it removes the urge to be the fastest, and partly because it forces you to figure out how to climb with the ratio you have. In my case, I chose a fairly standard 1.67 ratio, and back in June I struggled on hills at first.

Today I clear those same climbs without thinking. I’m not setting any Strava climbing records, but speed doesn’t matter to me anymore because I can’t compete.

So are single speeds better than geared bikes? Definitely not. But they may be more fun, and it is surprisingly easy to forget what fun actually feels like.

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I tend to build a handful of bikes per year. If you’re interested in this project, more to come @manualstudy_