Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - yet another gearing question

is 48 x 19 a good gear for a first fixed.

The bike I bought is geared at 48 X 16. The gearing is a bit too high. Am I better dropping down the chainring size or swapping for a bigger cog?

Thanx

Cogs are cheaper.

I'm pretty happy with 48x17. I'm running 170mm cranks with a 34" inseam.
Not the greatest for frequent starts and stops, but when I can open it up and grab the tips of the horns, look out. Yeee-haw!

is 48 x 19 a good gear for a first fixed.

The bike I bought is geared at 48 X 16. The gearing is a bit too high. Am I better dropping down the chainring size or swapping for a bigger cog?

Thanx

48/19 is 69" which is a good overall gear.

Changing the cog is definitely cheaper and depending on the length of your dropouts (i'm assuming you've got horizontal) you might not even have to adjust the chain length.

48x16 = 1:3.00 ratio
48x19 = 1:2.53 ratio
48x20 = 1:2.40 ratio

I'd go with 48x19 or 48x20 to get your spinning up to par and then go back to the 48x16 when you're ready.

Kaz

its got a fixed fixed flip flop hub, so i can keep the existing one. If getting a cog is cheaper, i;ll go that route. the bike has track drops, so i dont know how that will affect the chainlength and other considerations you mentioned.

You might need to add a link or two.

Buying a new cog is cheaper than buying a new chainring, but if your cranks are 130BCD you can probably find a used 3/32" chainring for little or nothing if you do a little scrounging. Used track cogs seem to hold their value pretty well, provided they're not worn out. If you do some garage sailing, you can probably buy a whole bike for what an EAI cog costs.

Go to your local bike co-op and see what they have lying around in the bins.

m.

thanx for the info--much appreciated

yeah, come by freewheel (1818 Park St. South) on thursday afternoons. They'd be happy to hook you up with a chainring for a modest donation.

track "drops" are handlebars. track "dropouts" aren't called dropouts, they're called "ends".

Just by luck, all of my cranksets that I use are 110 BCD, which means that I can use old BMX, MTB, Road compact, or rings from touring bikes.
The few bikes that I found in the trash all had 110 BCD rings on them, so now I have TONS of rings, in many size choices from 42t-52t in 2 tooth increments, in both steel and alu. My favorite LBS also has literally hundreds of these rings, so they are cheap and plentifiul for me.

I guesss what I'm saying is that I am set for life on chain rings, and I've only bought one.

PS. Danscomp.com sells cheap rings.


EDIT: HERE is a really helpful trick on chain length and dropout position. Listen up people:

To keep the same chain length, and thus the same position in the dropouts, keep the same total # of teeth on the ring + cog.

i.e 44x16 and 42x18 will yield the same dropout position and chain length because of the same total number of teeth (60).