anm89

I am used to riding a pretty hard gear ratio because Iuse my bike for very quick commutes. That being said I have never ridden ss before and dont want to get stuck with an impractical gear ratio.e

Right now I'm looking at 46 in the front 15 in the back. Does that seem practical for short fast paced commuting.

On a side note I'm having a hard time figuring out what freewheels are ok for a road bike application. Obviously my front ring is 1/8. Could I use this freewheel?

https://cgi.ebay.com/Dicta-Single-Spe...item5633a7f12d

Thanks

hairnet

using a big gear isnt any more practical or fast than a low gear. You'll have an easier time with a low gear and you'll still be able to go fast

anm89

how is it not more fast? My top end will be lower right?

Saddle Up

It's called cadence.

hairnet

Do you mean your top speed with be at a lower pedaling rate?

Yes, but you'll have to put a lot more force to get the bike up to speed where as a low gear is easy and quick. And you're riding SS, so if you spin out you can just coast instead of fight the pedals

cnnrmccloskey

thats really an unanswerable question as each person has different muscles, I ride 44x15 fixed and i like it, good cadence on flat but i can still climb well, you could be a much stronger or weaker riding than me so I can't really say.
do you have a geared bike?
if so you should ride around on that until you find the perfect ratio, otherwise you just gotta experiment.
I originally rode a higher gear ratio for the same reasons your talking about but I relized just working on getting a higher cadence is more practical and is better training than fighting a higher ratio

anm89

I was basically saying I'm worried about running out of gear as my rides tend to be pretty flat and I like to be able to keep speed in traffic.

All else being the same are these dicta bmx free wheels good for a single speed road application?

cnnrmccloskey

Bmx freewheels maybe a different thread(? I know some are but I'm not a BMXer) I usualy use suntour freewheels and have had no complaint (other than their large tooth freewheels arn't ment to ever come off, which is... frustrating and odd)
And as said the gear that keeps you going at your prime speed is different than mine or eddie merkx or some nu-fred, gotta experiment yourself, a friend who I recently set up a bike for wouldn't do a test ride to find his favorite gear, he insisted that I just ran the same ratio as I run (he hadn't riden a bike in years and I ride everyday... recipe for disapointment) He had to buy a new freewheel cause he ended up unhappy with 44x15

hairnet

well, how short is your short commute anyway?

silver_ghost

If you're using a regular single speed wheel (as in, not a metric threaded BMX hub) that freewheel won't fit the threads of your hub. The smallest freewheels made to fit regular hubs are 16t.

lverhagen

silver_ghost is right. 15t freewheels are pretty much bmx specific due to their threads being smaller than those on road bike hubs. As for gear ratio, base it off of your most used gear on your former commuting bike if you have one.

wearyourtruth

yup, you gotta get a 16t freewheel, if you want to keep the same gear ratio you can always bump up the front chainring

CharneK

I would just stick with a 16. You wont run into threading problems and the speed difference at 110rpm is about 1.2 mph or something. Not a huge difference. Also with lower gears, its easier to accelerate which is nice in traffik. Now if you get a cog and lockring to fix your ride in the future, then get a 15 or 17, each will give about double the skid patches of a 16.

Soil_Sampler

https://store03.prostores.com/servlet...eewheel/Detail

wearyourtruth

yeah if that's actually in stock, it's the only 15t freewheel that will work. i am almost positive they aren't made anymore (never heard why though), but i do know almost nobody has them in stock and no one knows if they are going to be getting any more, so good luck!

Brian Sorrell

When you say a "hard" ratio, in my mind that means a ratio that gets you spinning fast enough to tax your heart and lungs. But I bet you mean "high" ratio, because you likely want to keep your cadence low. One can only speculate as to why you would want to do that, but likely it has to do with (insufficient?) cardio conditioning. My recommendation: go with a low ratio, learn to spin, beef up your heart and lungs. Your knees will also thank you in the long run.

Soil_Sampler

maybe, maybe not.

https://www.webskis.com/catalog/Adven...l-p-16703.html

AEO

cadence and gears works like this:

more work, less often
less work, more often

my ￡100 GBP goes for just as much as $163 USD

adamzee

Some good stuff here: https://sheldonbrown.com/singlespeed.html about 2/3 way down the page.

Mr.OBrien

i currently am useing a 48T Chainwheel and a 16T Freewheel with 20" Rims and ive experimented with others before and it seems to me that with that ratio my bike get up to top speed alot faster and with less work my uphill is still very easy obtaining top speed in 8 or 9 seconds on something like a 45 degree slope upward. ive rode my friends bike which is a 42T/20T and it takes the breath right out of me trying to keep it at a decent speed but he thinks my bike is too hard to pedal so its all about what you think is right for you. if you increase your gear ratio it will become harder to pedal but you wont have to pedal as much. also if you increase it and puch yourself your legs will become stronger and you inturn will be faster. lower gears are for just cruising around town usually but can take you around town just a fast if you want them too but lower gears tend to require stamina more than strength. its all about your personal prefrence and how fast you want to go. however for what your doing and looking at your current gear ratio a slight increase might benifit you. but as mentioned above a lower ratio will benifit you because then your not rideing on pure strength and you will be able to ride farther if you go with a low ratio and then beef it up.

MrCjolsen

I go back and forth between a fixed gear and a geared bike. I've found (through extensive swapping of cogs and chainrings) that the optimum gear ratio for fixed gear is just slightly higher than whatever your most commonly used gear is on your geared bike.

However, what the bike is used for also comes into play. The longer the ride on my fixed gear, the lower gear that I want. So right now, I have a 44/17. If I were to do a flat century on this bike, I'd probably switch to a 44/18. And if I only used the bike for quick jaunts around town, I'd run a 44/16.

Sixty Fiver

That gives me 56 gear inches... a 42:20 on a road bike is 55 gear inches so your friend's bike is geared a little lower.

You guys must ride in the Andes.



Seriously... I use that kind of fixed gearing for off road and fixed touring.

My P20 has a 52:14 (70 gi) and I find that pretty light for high speed riding and am going to install a 12 (fixed cog) when I build a new rear wheel.