Hi guys,

I know that lots of things depend on gear ratios, etc., so I'm looking for a very general answer here:

What gear, on a triple chainring 24 speed, would be ROUGHLY equivalent to a "typical" fixed gear/S.S. gear?

I'm trying to get a sense of how hard you have to pedal on a fixie/S.S. I'm looking for an answer like "approximately the second chain ring up front, and the third smallest chain ring in the back".

Does my question make any sense?

Thanks!

I have an easy road gear: 45 -18. That's 45 teeth on the front, 18 on the back. This is about 18mph at 90rpm. A typical fixed gear often comes with a 48 - 16. It's faster on the flats, harder to climb the hills, and is about 21mph at 90rpm.

45 / 18 = 2.5
48 / 16 = 3.0

So count the teeth on your bike. The cogs in the back will usually have the number of teeth stamped on them. Pick a pair, and do the division to get the ratio. So a 39 / 16 is 2.43 and 39 / 15 is 2.6 which are similar to a 45 -18 for instance.

These ratios are usually converted into "gear inches" I'll let someone else explain what it means. The 45 -18 is 66 gear inches, and the 48-16 is 79 gear inches.

no you can gear your ss bike however you want. If you want 42/14 get 42/14.

Using your 42t middle ring up front people generally people seem to run gears that would be equivalent to 42/14-42/17 or between the 3rd and 6th cog on a 12-26.

Count the teeth on your big ring. Around 50? Find a cog on the back that is around 18. Try the cogs above and below it as well.