Bandera

Actually "Most everything" that had had one chainring, and one sprocket in the back w/ 2"" tires back when was a coaster brake bike that freewheeled, not a Fixed Gear.
It's an crucial distinction.

-Bandera

quicktrigger

We will disagree on that. RBikes had one gear, one fixed ratio. Therefore fixed gear from a practical sense. No meaningful difference. Certainly no meaningful difference to a kid.

Bandera

Actually more like This:



Classic post WWII American w/ a freewheel coaster brake with no rim brakes, no hand levers or cables of any kinds.

-Bandera

Bandera

Fixed-gear bicycle definition:

"A fixed-gear bicycle (or fixed-wheel bicycle, commonly known in some places as a fixie) is a bicycle that has a drivetrain with no freewheel mechanism.

Most bicycles incorporate a freewheel to allow the pedals to remain stationary while the bicycle is in motion, so that the rider can coast, i.e., ride without pedalling using forward momentum. A fixed-gear drivetrain has the drive sprocket (or cog) threaded or bolted directly to the hub of the back wheel, so that the rider cannot stop pedalling. When the rear wheel turns, the pedals turn in the same direction.[1] This allows a cyclist to apply a braking force with the legs and bodyweight, by resisting the rotation of the cranks. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed-gear_bicycle

-Bandera

GovernorSilver

If you can coast, it's not a fixed gear - at least that's my understanding.

My coworker tried to describe her childhood bike. When she said she always had to pedal, even going down hills, and the only way to stop was a backward pedaling motion, we realized she was describing a fixie.

BlazingPedals

One of my recumbents was once set up with 63 gears. It had a SRAM 3x7 rear hub (7-speed cassette and 3-speed IGH) as well as a triple crankset. Gear range was 17" to 144". Yes there were lots of duplicates, but the main thing was the range. I typically rode it in one range until something extreme happened to the terrain. Not that large numbers of gears are a recumbent-only thing. I remember a news tidbit once where some guy had modified his Huffy so that it had over 500 gears available. Of course the ones that weren't completely unusable were duplicates, but he had bragging rights! (for something...)

Streamliners running at 60-85 mph at Battle Mountain NV typically have about 6 gears. They don't have to do hills, though.

SpeshulEd 

Fixed gear...pedals always turning.
Single Speed...you can stop pedaling, still one gear, hand brakes.
Coaster bike...you can stop pedaling, push back on the pedals to use the coaster brake.

Most cruisers and kids bikes have coaster brakes. Most fixed gear bikes are track bikes or old road conversions.

Riding fixed certainly isn't for everyone and it certainly doesn't have to be, but when answering the question, "how many gears are enough for a bike," technically only one is enough, more might be helpful though.

rex615

That is fixed gear? as in no rachet in the rear?

Bandera

Yes, the Old School way to learn pedaling dynamics Tyke to Tyro.

edit: Wrong image, it was the "Lil Tiger" model that was FG.




Right church, wrong pew.

-Bandera

caloso

A fixed gear has no freewheel ("ratchet"). But to blow your mind, I have a couple single speed wheelsets that have a fixed cog on one side and a freewheel on the other. A "flip-flop" hub. So if I want to coast, I can unbolt the rear, turn the wheel over, et voila. Still a single speed, but now it coasts. And I have to use my hand brakes now of course.

chasm54

Likewise. Usually ride it singlespeed rather than fixed these days.

rex615

OK, because even as far back as 1964 the Pixie had a coaster brake.

Dahon.Steve

I've never known anybody to ever do this. I like the 3 speed because you can change gears at lights while using your system of a triple crank only has merit. However, the Shimano Nexus 3 speed is about 2 1/2 lbs which should be close to a triple crank.

What people don't know is if you have a friction front, it's more reliable and less trouble than a 9 speed in the rear.

LesterOfPuppets

The trike I had as a kid was fixed

I had a bike with solid rubber tires when I was 6-7 years old that may have been fixed but don't exactly recall.

My first 20" wheeled bike was definitely coaster - a sweet Western Flyer.

Bikerdave222

Not in Nashville! You need a few more here!

SHBR

1KG+ for an expensive IGH (with fixed ratios), when I only need three gears seems like a waste to me.

I use this setup on two different bikes, both have indexed shifters. One of them lives outside in the rain, zero issues even with a rusty cable and FD.

Very simple and effective, replacement parts are cheap.

Retro Grouch 

If you don't think there is a meaningful difference, you have never ridden a fixed gear. FWIW, "coaster brake" means it can coast.

wolfchild

You sound like you have no understanding of what a real fixed gear drivetrain really is.

quicktrigger

More like I don't care.

End result is there is only 1 "gear", and I am never doing that again.

Bandera

Cycling involves using a rudimentary vehicle with easy to understand and quite specific technical terms in it's construction, design and use.
Not using these specific terms in conversation correctly leads to mis-understating and confusion, at best.
Willfully not caring to understand what these technical terms mean and using them incorrectly will certainly preclude any serious conversation about them.

Regarding riding a FG: It's not for everyone.

-Bandera

quicktrigger

However, my position is that in context of my local topography, a fixed gear/single speed bike, in whatever name context you want to name it, still results in "AIN'T GOING TO HAPPEN!" And the context of the OP was how many "gears" are enough, as in multiple "speeds". So in that context, they are not meaningfully different. That is an appropriate POV for this context. Oh, and I happen to have a friend that rides a fixed gear mountain Santa Cruz. Why, I have no ideal. Since he is the second person to own the basically new bike, I guess someone else learned it really doesn't matter from a practical POV.

Be as anal as you like about it. I don't much care about that either. IF that doesn't measure up to your standards, well you can add that to "don't much care" list.

loky1179

Amen to that.

Bandera

Did you miss:

As always, suit yourself.

However the technical accuracy of naming the various bits 'n bobs of bicycle components is immutable: a Fixed Gear is not a Coaster Brake.
Period/End.

If your point was that you did not enjoy riding a heavy single speed coater brake bicycle as a child and do not wish to ride one now: Suit yourself and don't.

That seems to have nothing to do with club cyclists riding lightweight fixed gear machines as we have been wont to do on the road for the last century or so.......

-Bandera

LesterOfPuppets

Singlespeed is easier to use in the hills than fixed gear, in a general sense. If you gear a SS (freewheel or coaster) low enough to climb all the hills in your area then you can just coast down the other side. If you gear your fixed gear low enough to easily climb up all the hills then you'll have to spin WAY too fast on the way down the hill, because there is no coasting with FG.

So for SS MTB for trail riding I go for around 50 gear inches.
SS around-town beater I go for 65 GI.
Fixed gear that can handle some hills I'll go for 72 GI.

Miele Man

I'm replying again because of an experiment UI just ran with an MTB converted to a drop bar bike.

I took apart a number of cassettes and used the cogs to build a 9-speed straight-block 11-19 cassette. The front triple crankset has 48-38-28 teeth. High gear is 117.8 gear inches and the ow gear is 39.8 gear inches. I've taken it for 40 kilometers rides on everything from smooth as galass asphalt to potholed graveley dirt roads.

Seems that i could get the EXACT gear I wanted Whenever I wanted it. This bike has 26" x 2.0" knobby MTB tires on it.

I'm very tempted now to put such a setup on one of my road bicycles.

As far ass the number of gears needed, many people in the late 1800s and early 1900s toured great distances on fixed gear or single speed bicycles. i think the number of gears came about to have the best efficiency for the various inclines and road surfaces found whilst riding distances. More gears means you can have higher highs and lower lows with smaller jumps between gears.

When bicycles came as 10 speeds it was common to see freewheels with 14-28 teeth on them. Now we have 11 teeth cogs as common items and 32 or 34 teeth cogs are readily available. if one buys two cassettes one could make a custom casette that would be like haveing two different ten speed caseetes. That could be done even with a nine speed cassette.

You could have a close ratio 5 speed group of cogs 11-12-13-14-15 teeth; and have another set of lower gear cogs set up for the big hills.

Another thing I thought about is that the number of gears depends on the rider. A lot of people want ever closer jumps between gears. other people even with 21 or 24 gears commonly use only one or two of them. I often fix bicycles where the front derailleur cable is seized due to no use and where only one ot two cogs on the rear are worn out again because the other cogs are never used.

A nice road bike frame such as my MIELE Columbus SL one can be built up into a very nice lightweight single speed that can be used very enjoyably on rolling terrain without any really steep hills. Others wiouldn't care about the s teep hills as they'd jusy mash up them. That same bike would be even lighter as a fixed gear bike as it'd not need aone of the brake calipers and lever.

When all is said and done the number of gears will depend on the individual rider's wants and riding style.

Cheers