dougb

This has probably been covered but I haven't found anything.
I'm currently running 42x16 on my singlespeed road bike and it's perfect, but sometimes I get spinning like crazy and I end up coasting because I can't keep up.
So now I'm assembling a fixie and I'm thinking I need something steeper.
1. because I don't want to get in a similar situation where I can't resort to coasting
2. because I see all these girls in mpls riding 52x17 and I'm shamed.

So the question is...is a good gear ratio for singlespeed equally good for fixed or because of the inertia(?) built into a fixed drivetrain should it be steeper? And, if so, has anyone developed a formula for this conversion? Or am I just confused?

stephenhatesyou

my first gearing was something like 44/16, but after the first few months of that i've been riding something around 47-49/17 and love it; don't think you'd have a problem with that.

shishi

47/48/49 should be ok. Will take some muscle to stop if you are riding brakeless.

TNCLR

It's all personal preference man. 42x16 sounds dinky to me. But if that's what you like, go for it. You'll probably spin out if you hit any downhills. My suggestion would be to add a few teeth to the chainring, try 45x16 or 47x16. Check out this link for a good gear inches calculator: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

ka12na

and a few pieces of knee

TNCLR

exactly. riding an unnecessarily big gear on the street will give you some knee pain real quick.

baxtefer

2 thoughts.....

1. i find i can generally climb a hill in a harder gear fixed, than I can geared.
2. it's harder to "spin out" a lower gear fixed since you can modulate the speed with your legs.

shishi

my knees feel fine, I ride 49x16 and 48x16.

I rode 42x16 for a long time, but was happy to gear up and get more speed in the flats.

pfe

48x16 or anything else 3 to 1 is a good place to start. At least, that's the word on the street.

barba

I like 48X18 with 16 on the other side of the hub if I need more speed.

The LT

I run 46x17 and live in a very flat place.....but I would also rather spin than mash....my knees don't like to mash

DoshKel

I would think 48/47 x 16/17 would be a great gear to start out with no? Most entrance track bikes use the gear. Spinning is fun an everything, but as a begginer to fixed gear riding I would, personally, want to start with a bigger gearing and have a brake or two. Maybe not?

TNCLR

I started out on 48x18 in SF with a brake. Then I took off the brake. A new crank purchase sent me up to 49x18. It was plenty of gear for me. This past weekend while I was there I had loaner bike that was 51x18 or something. Definitely harder to stop, skid, slow down. I would HIGHLY recommend starting on a smaller gear and working your way up.

mezza

I run 48/16 in a hilly area. I find it quite adequate.

sers

this thread got me to thinking about how the weight of your rear wheel, and the bike affects gearing.

pedex

only if you have knee issues to begin with or bad technique

you want a gear that you can just barely spin out on flat road no wind

I started with a 44/16, and went up from there, im at a 52/16 or 52/17 depending on which bike im on and have ZERO knee problems, and I do this for a living, ive been putting in around 275-300 miles a week for several years now, and im not some youngster at 40 yrs old either.

another often overlooked issue is the setup of the bike, I see the same bad things done by even experienced people all the time, things like saddle way too high, toe cages not deep enough, things like that, if your bike is setup wrong I dont care what you do, you ride much and something will hurt

LóFarkas

Haha, you came across mplsminx from BFSSFG. She rides a 52/14 or something like that.

My take on the matter is that gear ratio is reciprocally proportional to d!ck size (Hey, it applies to mplsminx!)

Shame is justified if you're slow, not if you ride a low gear. Spinning a 150 cadence at 25mph with a low gear is soooo much more impressive than rolling 10 mph on 90 gear inches...

ka12na

53 x 11

tomacropod

inversely proportional.

- Joel

Eatadonut

The guy at the shop today got all impressed when I told him I was rocking the 44x18, and looking to size up.

What can I say? I'm a real man.

Aeroplane

Being able to spin is a lot cooler than being able to mash. Any idiot can mash. In my mind, it's like the difference between standing and trackstanding at a red light.

shishi

Learning to spin is good. Like I said above I rode 42x16 for a year or two. This really helped when I jumped up to 49x16.

dutret

Good for you, you have knees of steel. Mashing is alot harder on your knees then spinning is no matter how you bike fits or how good your pedaling technique is.

dougb

Affirmative.
And she passed me too.

dougb

I already have a road crank with a 52t chainring. Will 52x17 work about the same as 48x16 or do you have to push harder to get the bigger chainring around?