Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - How quiet is your drive train

Just wondering - How quiet is your drivetrain?

-When I ride I can't hear mine unless I apply back pressure
-It is, however, not whisper quiet.
-When I spin the pedals while the bike is on the rack I can definitely hear it.
-Also when I ride in the hallway here at work where there is no wind I can hear it.
-Chianline is .5mm off.

Any whisper quiet drivetrains out there? If yes, what is the setup.
What lube do you use?

mine is exactly like yours. but i have an even bigger offset.

Just wondering - How quiet is your drivetrain?

-When I ride I can't hear mine unless I apply back pressure
-It is, however, not whisper quiet.
-When I spin the pedals while the bike is on the rack I can definitely hear it.
-Also when I ride in the hallway here at work where there is no wind I can hear it.
-Chianline is .5mm off.

Any whisper quiet drivetrains out there? If yes, what is the setup.
What lube do you use?

I've noticed that my quietest fix has the physically largest ring/cog combo (of my bikes) at 52x16. My loudest is 36x13 and the chainline is spot on. I can't hear em over the road noise most of the time other than when I'm applying backpressure.

I'm not allowed to ride in the hallway

not so quiet that i can't hear it on the stand, but quiet enough that its drowned out by whatever bike i'm riding with. Which is nicey-nice.

Kinda varies, but pretty similar to what you described. I can hear some noise if I put more pressure on one pedal rather than keeping it even, as well as noise when I backpedal. Usually the other road noise drowns it out.

I don't think I'm supposed to ride inside at work, but I've done it a couple of times. One of these days I'll spend my break practicing trackstands rather than surfing bike forums :)

Thanks for all the responses.

Just to clarify - The hallway at work is in the basement. This is also where the bike storage room is. I don't actually ride around the office. :)

I don't actually ride around the office. :)

Damn, and just when I though the Dot Com boom was starting back up

I get to wear t-shirt and carhartts though. :D

When i hear mine i know it's time to clean then lube my drivetrain. What's really loud and annoying is the guy i can hear riding on the other side of the street on the sidewalk on that walmart bike. They have these gears but they can't seem to:

1. Find a gear.
2. Maintain their bike.
3. Lube their chain.

Really annoying, it makes me want to offer to adjust their derailer and oil their bike sometimes.

My fixie is pretty quiet. Even when flipped to the freewheel, it's plenty quiet to sneak up on someone coasting.

My quiet test comes from riding through a pedestrian tunnel under I-10. In such a enclosed place, any chain noise bounces back to the ear. I think my quietest bike is my slick-tired, coaster-braked MTB. I can sneak up on someone in the tunnel on that bike.

pretty darn quiet, can you hear me now?

All four of my fixies are quiet.

All four of my fixies are quiet.

So when you turn the pedals on the stand and take your headphones off you hear not the slightest drive train noise?

Mine all use super secret stealth technology...a good chain line and lube. :D

Impressive!

What lube do you use?

what pitch rings are best for a quite drive chain....Im currently running a 1/8 cog and chain w/ a 3/32 chainring....would that make it noisy? Is mixing sizes bad? Is it better to have all 1/8th or all 3/32? Thanks for your help fellas, once my baby is perfect i'll post pics

Im currently running a 1/8 cog and chain w/ a 3/32 chainring....would that make it noisy? Is mixing sizes bad?

yes, and yes. well, mixing pitch isn't harmful, but it will be noisy.


Is it better to have all 1/8th or all 3/32?

either/or, as long as everything matches...


(edit) and for the record, i have a semi-noisy drivetrain, but i blame my cheapass $3 chain. it's gotten quieter since i switched bottom brackets and got the chainline almost perfect.

hmm...

when it's clean, it makes less noise than the hiss of the tires. quiet enough to roll up behind just about anyone and sit there unnoticed.

when it's dirty, not quite as quiet.

i thought my ride was ninja silent before, but not after riding in the rurals of iowa.
the squeeks and creaks were thunderous with no chicago-noise to balance

jeff

The only sound on mine seems to be the creaking of the saddle and the clicking of the reflectors moving around in the pedals. My chainline just happened to be perfect using the bike's original inside chainring (can't take the outer one off as it is press-welded to the crank). I have a 1/8" chain, gears are 40x16.

If it's noisey, it's in pain and wearing out, Keep it cleaned, tuned and lubed, it'll last a lot longer

I get to wear t-shirt and carhartts though. :D

I get to wear the Carharts and whatever I want basically, but then again I have never worked in an office, much less anywhere I can ride a bike to work :)

Yeah, the whole office gig is kind of new to me too, very different from construction. The biggest plus is that I get to ride my cletta 15miles a day.

1.2 decibels

mine is so quiet i forget i am riding it. not really since the feeling of 'stealth mode' is so awesome and then i realize how awesome riding a fixt is.

mine is more than quite enough to sneak up on people in copenhagen. for the most part, no one ever hears me coming and i just whizz by through stupid small gaps.