Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Is my gearing rediculously low?

40/15 fixed gear with a 16 tooth freewheel. Thats a gain-ratio of around 4.9-5.3 or barely 70 gear inches.

I know that 42-15 is a popular non-track combination, but on my road bike that's my "having a really good day, here comes a tailwind gear." I also like to spin a fairly high cadence.

Does anyone else (excluding SS mtb's) run gears that low?

Am I missing anything by using lower gears?

I ran 52x20 for a while, which is 68 and change. Pretty nice for around town, gets you off the line quick. A little slow for long runs, but I also don't have any hills to deal with. Recently bumped it up to 48x18, which is 70. Seems to be working fine for me.

70 gear inches is pretty standard for road use, especially if you have to deal with hills.

It might be a bit low if you're in a really flat area, but it's not ridiculous.
And using a lower gear can give you a bit more control over speed, as well as making it a bit easier to skip and skid, if you're into that.

Is my gearing rediculously low?

I don't know, is it? Do you fill like you spin too fast? If yes then your gearing may be too low for you, if no then it is probably fine.

It is neither rediculously low nor ridiculously low.

nah, it's not too low or too high for most folks. but how is it for you?

by the way, i have 43x17, about 66 inches, i rhink. not bad at all.

nah, it's not too low or too high for most folks. but how is it for you?

by the way, i have 43x17, about 66 inches, i rhink. not bad at all.

small gears on the street are way more fun. I ride 47x17, but I just got a 14t cog for kissena. I tried it on the street--no fun.

No, sounds about right to me. I run 40:17 so im really low. I once read traditional fixed gears ran about 63 gear inches to develop spin. Windy? No problem. Big hill? No problem.

I run 42-14, the acceleration is a bit slow but once I'm up to a comfortable speed I'm almost spinning out.

But yea, it's really up to you, if it feels good then stick with it.

There were several polls about gearing in the past. Most people run something similar to you.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=176154&highlight=poll

45x18 here. Low on the street means more control, better acceleration, etc. I'm all for it.

yah if you can spin it smooth and it feels good then its cool right?!

i gots 69.3 @ 44*17 and i stay around 0-300 ft above sea level

but what does that mean

I got stuck with 46x19.

My 48t chainring taco'd and 46 was the biggest they had at my LBS.

No problems whatsoever... in fact, I rode my buddies 46x17 and I can barely tell the difference. Or is it just me?

I ride a 52x15 and it is a tough gear. hills are really tough especially towards the end of rides. But when you have a wide open road, you can really get some speed and that is what I enjoy.

48x16 here. How do you do the calculations?

Either an online calculator like the one at sheldonbrown.com, a chart like the one at bikecult.com/works, or some old fashioned math (#t [front] * 27 / #t [rear]).

70 gear inches is actually quite a common choice for street gearing. I'm currently running 71, and a recent poll showed a lot of people in that range.

I like it on the flats because I get a good spin going. I like it on the hills, because I can ride up them instead of walking, and can still keep up with the spin on downhills provided I've got the space to fly. All in all it's a great ratio for hilly areas, but chances are I'd still like it even if I lived in a flat area, because it sets up a good fast cadence for the flats, and it's flexible for the times when you need to stop a lot or ride slow.

I ride a 52x15 and it is a tough gear. hills are really tough especially towards the end of rides. But when you have a wide open road, you can really get some speed and that is what I enjoy.
Um, yeah, 52x15 is quite a tough gear. Probably good for the track.

52x18 on 27" wheels. A tall gear by my standards since I'm used to mt bikes. It's relatively easy to ride for the 2 miles to work every day through a slight river valley. I'm replacing it with a 46t mostly so that it's less brutal on my knees and I get quicker starts in traffic.

you get many years to try different gearings and improve leg strength. only one set of knees though.

I ride different gear inches depending on my mood. :)

I like the speed that 77 or 82 gear inches gives me, and I like the control, especially downhill, of 70 or 72 gear inches.
If I lived in a really hilly area, or rode in very heavy urban traffic, I could see 68 inches as very desireable.
Fixed gear bikes provide more control and precision than do coasters, and lower gear inches mean even more control and precision.

If a person has knee issues, it has more to do with body mechanics than gear inches.
Higher gear inches only reveal the basic problem; they don't cause it.

For gear inch calculations, go here:

http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

Important: enter your correct wheel and tire size, and crank length; and consider choosing gear inches rather than gain ratio (for some reason, gear inches make more sense to me).

Higher gear inches only reveal the basic problem; they don't cause it.

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Gear Selection
A principal cause of knee problems is over-stress as the result of using too high a gear. For more on this, see my article on Gear Shifting.

honorable men can differ

doesn't 40-15 leave you with like one skid patch?

no, that would be 45-15 i think

Important: enter your correct wheel and tire size, and crank length; and consider choosing gear inches rather than gain ratio (for some reason, gear inches make more sense to me).

Crank length has no bearing on gear inches.

71.8 g.i. here on the other side of the Causeway. I really have to spin it to keep it above 20mph but since I mostly use the fixie to commute I don't think I could comfortably go higher with all the stop lights on my route. Steve Rex told me that 38-16 was the traditional training ratio for developing spin. That's something like 62 g.i. and that seems ridiculously low.

I'm currently running 48x16 (80gi) for the road... kinda much.

I ordered a 15 for the track (85gi)
and plan on getting a 17 for the road (around 75gi).

The landscape is obviously important to consider and the style of riding you do as well.
Moron sorority girls around here haul ass in their bmws and vw bug turbos... so I guess the 80 gi help to catch up to them at red lights and pull one of these:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b64/jimbobunyons4/259812071_l.jpg

Needless to say, the ladies love it.

i run 49x18 - 71.5 gear inches. it's a great all around gear, although it can be a bit of a bear on the largest hills that i climb. i'll probably go lower once i get my commuter built up for that reason.

the ladies do love it.
oh, waco texas, oh waco.

I geared down from 74 to 68 gear inches and love it.

I ran around 80 and loved it. Recently switched to 70 and miss the speed but I am really liking the control. Plus at 70 it is a lot easier to show off for the ladies.

-1



honorable men can differ


i think ken knows more about bodies and sheldon knows more about bikes.

I started with 70 inches and moved up to 73.
On most of my commute the 73 is great for rolling along
but last Sunday I had for the first time what all men have
happen sometime....I couldnt get it up ! Up the hill I mean....
For the first time ever I had to walk the 73 up the hill :cry:
I wished I had my 70 chainring on Sunday.

I ride 48-16 currently, and it's pretty nice for flat and cruising, most hills are tough in my area, but tankable.(BTW I'm not a person that likes to spin a lot) I went to place an order on a 17t d.a cog at my lbs just today because it makes a little more sense for me. Besides helping me on the hills a bit more , (48:17- 2.8 ratio) it gives me 17 skid spots, as opposed to my current 48-16 - 3.0 ratio with 1 skid spot. I'm not sure where this chart is ... but if I find it I'll post it.

I'm not sure where this chart is ... but if I find it I'll post it.


14777.

Thank you! ^^

I'm running 40x17 right now. It's a really, really easy gear for me, and I hate riding it for long hauls or anywhere that I need to keep up with traffic for more than a block or two at a time, but it's the tits for riding around campus. Constantly speeding up and slowing down due to all the peds, the easy gear makes life good for my knees. If I strictly rode longer distances I would get closer to 80 gear inches.

I'm throwing down with 42x16, which, according to the formula thrown out above (thanks, that's sweet) is 70.8 inches. It works really well for me.

40 X 16 here

I can understand this thread completely except one thing. What is a skid spot, or skid patch? And why/how does gearing affect it?

i run a 42x18 on my freewheeling ss bike and have absolutely no issues.

i can easily cruise at 30kmh but top out under 40kmh. which is fine, it's a very good gear for stop and go traffic, and u can climb basically anything on it.

dont worry about the gearing, it's about how you ride. if you dont like spinning but have strong legs, then u can push big gears...so just go for a bigger g.i.

i personally spin a lot...even on my 10 speed road bike i'm hovering comfortably around 100-105rpm when cruising, hence my low gearing on the ss.

i am runing a 54 to 14 my knees feel like **** i need to get a small chaingring

I can understand this thread completely except one thing. What is a skid spot, or skid patch? And why/how does gearing affect it?

Google is a wonderful thing

http://www.google.com/search?q=skid+patch

Very first one

Wow.

It's nice to know that there's one aspect about which I'm "normal" among singlespeeders.

The funny thing is that my road bike has an 8 speed drivetrain and came with a 12-26 cassette. For the longest time, I've pined for 13-23 cassette in order to have a 42-16 combo. But they don't make those for 8 speeds. 40-15 is very close to that which I now have on my fixed gear. My freewheel is 40-16 which is very similar to 42-17 which was my normal gear on my road bike if I was on a long ride.