Bike Check: Austin Warren's Single-Speed Racer - Crankworx Les Gets 2018

Californian shredder Austin 'Bubba' Warren is in Les Gets, France, with his YT Dirt Love hardtail, and the setup he's using is among the simplest around. ''It's the same bike that I'd ride in pump track and speed and style,'' Warren explained to PB photographer Matt DeLorme, with the steel frame seeing a setup that, aside from the Pike DJ fork, is essentially a giant BMX bike.




The Dirt Love takes 26'' wheels, so that's what Austin is running, and the plain looking steel frame has seen a good amount of hydroforming that means they don't need to weld on gussets everywhere. The dropouts are horizontal, with integrated tensioners to push the wheel back, and there are also threaded holes up at the headtube for gyro tabs. Warren hasn't used them, though - there's just a really long rear brake line instead.

''It's been a tough choice this morning trying to figure out between dual-suspension and a hardtail, but right now the hardtail is actually pretty good up top,'' Warren said when he was asked about his bike choice. ''But the bottom corners are all just grass right now, so I think if it dries out a little bit, and gets a little more worn in, we can get more traction.''




His single-speed setup consists of a 30-tooth chainring and a 14-tooth cog mounted using a conversion kit. ''It's actually pretty fast out of the gate and, honestly, we're not pedaling much. We're doing, like, three cranks out of the start, no pedals, and then you've got those last flat corners that we have, and that's pretty much where we're pedaling,'' he said about why he can get away without running a derailleur.

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