Which Component Do You Drop First?

Easy - go single speed and earn some massive ham-hock quads like me.

Suspension. Your body already provides suspension in the form of your arms and legs. When I first started riding mountain bikes I did a full season at Northstar on a hardtail. It beat the hell out of me but it really taught me how to use my body, skip over holes, and pick lines. It was rough, but it was also super fun and pure.

Surely it's gotta be the gears ? Most of the stuff I ride has barely a pedal stroke in it anyway !

Stopping and traction/bump absorbing are pretty high importance.

Might be diff if your riding involves riding up or across hills tho !

The brakes! V-brakes are more powerful than mechanical disk brakes, so I think that should work as long as I am not riding full on DH. Proper suspension is vital, and gears is needed for most riding I do.

Dirt jumpin and 4x doesnt require gears so I'll just stick with my single speed DJ!

I would gladly go single speed again. This just re lit the fire to convert my sb66 to single speed.

Too much pedaling needed here in East Texas. No need for brakes.

I once did a forty one mile single speed race on my downhill bike and survived. Though the race was rather flat and I didn't use much of the suspension or brakes, I still say loose the gears.

Gears are the only components out of the above which are less safety related!!!

Gears because that's the least important part of your bike.

Easy choice as I run my "do it all" Trek Ticket S as a single speed anyway. If the hill is that steep- I'll push it up the hill.

Drop the front mech and shifter ~1 lbs shaved.

I'd lose the gears. Sure I'd be pushing up a lot of the climbs... but I do that anyways.

Singlespeed as well. Man legs!

Lose the gears, for sure. On a mtb, I like at least a suspension fork and hydro disc brakes rule. I've always liked single speed, anyway. I've been on a lot of very long single speed rides, and for me weight doesn't really matter that much. Heavy is reliable!