jtarver

I found a little Fuji Junior road bike for my nephew and did the conversion to SS. I ordered up a 20 tooth freewheel without accounting for the difference in wheel size from a 700c or 27". Theres a 48 tooth chainring up front. My question is, is this gonna be to much gear for a thirteen year old kid to push araound some mild hills? Thanks for any input.

joejack951

A 48 x 20 with 24" wheels yields over 15mph at 90rpm and still over 10mph at 60rpm. I'd say that's way too much gear for a 13 year old on hills.

Personally, I'd put gears back on the bike.

jtarver

Maybe my nephew will sell it to you, want his number?

joejack951

Um....no?

stevetone

Stop the insanity. Convert it back.

HillRider

A 48/20 with a 24" wheel is 58 gear-inches which is fairly low but not low enough for climbing hills unless the rider is quite strong. It's almost the same as a 700c wheel with a 42/20 or a 39/18. Could you climb hills with those gear? Could your nephew?

I'll second the recommendation to go back to multi-gears unless the boy can't be relied on to use them.

jtarver

The question was not whether I should convert this bike. The question was about gear ratio.

joejack951

You've received two answers directly addressing your chosen gear ratio to which you have only offered some cryptic reply. I'm not sure what else you want at this point. I'll gladly tell your nephew to toughen up and push that 48 x 20 up those hills if you'd prefer that reply

jtarver

Again, if you want to buy the bike from my nephew and put gears back on it or call him to tell him to "toughen up" I'll PM you his number, although he prefers to text.

HillRider

Lighten up. You asked if a 48/20 on a 24" bike would too hard for your nephew. Did you expect a one word answer? OK, here is a one word answer: Yes