Winter Cycling - singlespeed gear suggestions?

hello,

i am converting my trusty geared winter MTB to a singlespeed this fall...
what i hope is to get gear suggestions from singlespeed winter cyclists...
i live in winnipeg, manitoba, canada.... we get lots of snow and ice... a variety of conditions...
this bike would be for the worst days... and becuase of all the ice and "brown sugar" i will use this bike most of the time...

thanks in advance...

jB

I would rather get a three speed internal hub, it's under 100$ including the shifter. If you have the money a 8 speed Nexus would even be better.

I'd say mid-to high sixty inch gear ratio. Are you going SS or fixed?

going SS with a chain tensioner on an old cannondale MTB with vertical dropouts...

thanks

jB

I'm running a 40 x 16 fixed for winter. It seems to be fast enough while cruising down the road but gives me easy control when conditions turn to crap.

I love the maintenance as well. Just clean and lube. :)

good luck.

I usually ride 52 x 15 on my road bike on flat roads but I'm thinking 42 x 16 would work well for winter for the single speed. I'm also building my first single speed for winter and will be experimenting with gear ratios. I know that I want it a little lower than what I usually ride in for summer but I don't want it too low or I will loose all leg strength from spinning too easy of gears.

I also have an old cannondale m500 I found thrown away. I have this set up with a tensioner and about a 65 gear inch ratio. I have this set up with studs and fenders and rack, and used all last winter

the gearing was enough for the really bad blizzard days and fast enough for the nice days...

just got it running again for this year, and I am just waiting for the snow:)

but I found around mid 60's to be the best for me, you will have to just experiment and see what works for you, but a good starting point for winter riding is 65....

what chainring sizes do you run?
i'm not to familiar with the gear inches.... how do u calculate gear inches?
i run 40/16 on my summer singlespeed rain bike and 52/19on my fair conditions fixie...
my chainring choices are 34 and 46... i was thinking of runnin 34/15 or 34/16..

my cannondale is a 92 m1000 or something... it's been my studded winter bike for 3 winters... i only run a fender on the back when it gets slushy... and occasonally a rack... i'll post pics when it's done...

jB

here is the gear calculator, I run different chainrings with the different bikes and tire steups....this calculator figures out the gear inches

http://fixedgeargallery.com/articles/steve-cadence/gear_calculator_fordfasterr.html
Gear Ratio Calculator by FordFasteRR © 2006

I did 44x16 over the last winter, having converted to SS. I did find it was a bit tall for snow-up-to-here riding but for general go-about-town riding it's pretty good. Here's a pic of my setup in the back.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/172/backwheeldetailrh2.jpg http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/6073/backstaycd2.jpg
I've been told a general offroad gearing is a 2:1 As I have the old proprietary XT crank/ring combo I'm going to grab 22 cog add to the two currently on there and be able to pick and choose depending on the day's requirements.

Then comes IceBike Racing. woohooo....bring on the snow!!!