A Single Speed Steel Downhill Machine?!

Now here’s something you don’t see every day. A single speed, steel 29″ Downhill bike. We like it!

The Starling Sturn is a steel, single-speed downhill bike with 29″ wheels and 180mm travel.

It was made by hand in Bristol, UK at Starling Cycles HQ.

It has room for up to 2.7″ tyres, adjustable geometry and can be built with custom geometry to suit a rider.

It’s made for riders that want no hassle from broken mechs or bashed up gears. It won’t skip a beat through the winter or through a season of gnarly riding. It’s a bike for a big summer in the mountains and is surprisingly good on the race track. It’s single-speed in order to be tough and simple – meaning absolutely no hassle on or off the trails.

The wild-looking cogs and chains make up what’s called a ‘Jack Drive’ and are inspired by the classic Brooklyn Machine Works designs. The ‘Drive allows you to run the suspension and the drive train through the same pivot which cuts out chain growth and allows the bike to be single-speed.

We’d had a downhill bike on the drawing board since day 1 and we’d always liked the idea simplicity of single-speed. When we visited Brett Wheeler at Wheeler’s MTB Holidays we go chatting, he was stoked on the idea and it was the excuse we needed. I got to work and made the first prototype of the bike, which appears in the video.

The first prototype of the bike was built earlier in the year and sent out to Lousa, Portugal for Brett to ride.

Since he received the bike, Brett has won the Masters categories at the Portuguese Nationals and the European Downhill Championships and placed 4th (with a puncture) at Masters World Champs. Brett and friends made this little RAW video to show off some of the fun he’s been having on the bike out in Lousa on his home trails.

You can learn more about Starling Cycles at https://www.starlingcycles.com
And you can learn more about Brett at http://wheelersmountainbikeholidays.com