Troggie

I recently sold my mountain bike ( it was the wrong size ) and instead of getting another one, ended up getting a single speed road bike. I am wondering if there is any advise, besides ride, ride, ride, to help with getting used to and building the stamina to ride it for long distances ( 4 miles is the longest ride I have done so far). Any exercises I could do in the gym when I take my daughter there to run on a treadmill ( she dislikes running outside ) beside ride the stationary bike at a similar resistance?

corwin1968

Go with lower gearing than you think you might need. I rode a SS 100% on pavement with the gearing most people use for off-road. I weigh 400 lbs and it worked for me. Pushing my weight with a "typical" pavement gear on a SS would severely limit my ability to ride. I was riding a 36 x 18 ratio or 54.6 gear inches.

MRT2

What gearing are you using? I hope for your sake you mostly ride flat terrain.

oddjob2

At the gym, the steppers and the eliptical machines are great for cardio.

jsigone

are your normal routes hilly?

do you like to suffer some?

fixie or freewheel SS?

Troggie

My route is fairly flat except for one area that is a gully. The bike came with 48/16 for the gearing and it isn't too bad with slower rides around the development I live it ( between 8 to 10 miles ).

The hub is a Fixed/Single Speed currently set on Single speed so I was not sure of swapping the chainring of the increase the back gear. As far as suffering, I can handle that as my legs are stiff and sore every day after riding, though I go out and ride again to get used to it.

I do hiking as well for non-biking exercise with 500 ft + elevation changes near my house.

stevel610 

Ride, Ride, Ride......

I like my fixie and use 39x16. I ride mostly paved trails on it and tend to spin out on pretty slight declines but spin reasonably everywhere else. My ratio is a bit low for most people, but this is a conversion and the 39 is the stock inner chain ring. The other choice was a 53 which is much too high. I had an 18t freewheel put on it, but rarely use that.

jsigone

If pretty flat then gear to what speed/cadence you want to be at. I ran 48/18 on my SS roadie and was comfy on most things plus mid 20's when the road flattens out. Nice crusing speed IMO.

Ride it as it is than adjust there after a month or so. Its cheaper to change out the back gearing, and if you get good at fixie than you can have two different gears on the bike w/ the flip flop hub.

chasm54

Personally I have my FG/SSset up with a 42/16, which I find to be a decent "all-day" gear that will allow me to tackle hills. And at 90 rpm I'm still cruising at 19mph, which is fine. So were I you I might consider swapping the 16 sprocket for a 20, you'll find it easier to spin and maybe get a better cardio workout over longer distances. It's a very cheap fix.

As far as strength work is concerned, squats. Whatever bike or gearing you ride, squats.

CliftonGK1

Similar to chasm54, I roll a 42-17 on my fixed gear 'round towner bike and it is good for flat cruising without having to strain myself from a dead stop, and also handles hauling 85 pounds of groceries on a 16 pound trailer just fine, too.
It is a far lower gear than many street riders will use (typical is around 72 - 78 gear inches) but for what I do, it's a perfect combo.

tmac100

I am in Doha at this time and have a small 7 speed (IGH) with 20" wheels. I see a bunch of Indian workers driving Indian made SS bikes 44 X 18 gearing. ideas on this gear combo? They are LAA very thin.... BUT I don't know if they were Clydes once.

Here are a couple of link to their bikes.

</title> <link href="/templates/inner/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon" /> <link href="https://www.atlascycles.co.in/component/search/?Itemid=483&format=opensearch" rel="search" title="Search Atlas" type="application/ope This one has 44 X 18 gearing with 28" wheels and

</title> <link href="/templates/inner/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon" /> <link href="https://www.atlascycles.co.in/component/search/?Itemid=483&format=opensearch" rel="search" title="Search Atlas" type="application/ope This one has 44 X 20 gearing with 28" wheels.


Lots of bike mechanics here and repairing these bikes here is thus easy.

Just interested in their gearings with the 28" wheels.... Whatsay?

RubeRad

I would rather just ride the bike (for free) than be trapped indoors on a stationary machine (for a gym membership fee), but if your circumstances have you spending time in a gym, I would recommend spicing things up on the stationary bike with intervals. There are lots of schedules to try, my go-to is "10-speeds". Warm up (5min?), 10 reps of (10s sprint+20s easy) takes 5min, spin easy-medium for 5min, another 10 reps (5min), cool down 5min = 25min. In&out in half an hour.

Or how about this: if your daughter dislikes running outside, she's pretty smart (if she also disliked running inside, she'd be smarter!) -- buy her a bike and ride together!

Troggie

Thanks you all. I haven't had any chance to ride or work out after fighting a nasty illness. Getting back to it today after work.

I will look into getting a new freewheel with an 18 or maybe even a 20 tooth gear. I can then put that on the other side of the wheel by taking off the fixed wheel gear, that way I can just flip the wheel it I want to use the 16 tooth for some reason.

ypsetihw

you asked about exercies, so I'll chime in on that: if you have weights available (freeweights or machines), or even a couple dumbells and body weight, there are lots of good exercises for cycling. squats, deadlifts, leg presses, calf raises, leg curls, lunges, running, plyo exercises (like standing explosive high jumps), and burpees. do these 2-3 days a week and you will see a major increase in your power output (wattage) probably pretty quickly (within a month or two), especially if you are untrained in these exercises.