DisplayERROR

Let me describe my situation. I'm kind of new to fixed gear riding and my friends recommended that for a pretty flat area, a gear ratio of 48/17 would be optimal for speed, but not too much for climbing for the amount of power I can push. However, after riding a 48/17 gear ratio for several days, I found it too fatiguing to ride longer distances and especially up slight inclines. The bike is even more difficult to engage skid stops. My question is, would switching to a 48/19 be a significant difference? I realize that the difference between a 17 and 19 is around 10 gear inches of a difference but I don't know what that would mean for my legs. Would it be too light or a bit more appropriate for me? I know its difficult to make suggestions but im open to more input.

illdthedj

i say go for it. nothing wrong with spinning.

Squirrelli

Try 48/18 first, 48/17 to 19 is a big drop.

Basically a 48/19 is much easier to pedal and get up hill and such, but you might have trouble picking up speed at flat areas.

dsh

The lower the better. Go with 48/19.

ph4nt0mf1ng3rs

Id say muscle up on a 48/17.

I pushed 48/15 daily for a few months and was out of the saddle quite a bit (loved it!).

I geared down to 48/17 and my acceleration was monstrous, and I learned how to spin.

But yeah. Its up to you. If you can't push 48/17, try 48/18. Going from 15 to 17 was a huge difference for me. So I say just try an 18 tooth cog. Im with Vixtor.


Btw, how do you climb? Do you just exert downward pressure on teh front pedal? cuz I use my back foot to lift AND front foot to push down. It works for me but I dont know if you've tried it yet.

Go with Vixtors idea if you dont wanna muscle up. But I like the idea of muscling up.

hairnet

Well, how fast do you ride on the flats or care to ride? I agree with going 18 first. I wouldn't "muscle up", might hurt yourself. I muscled up when I started riding everyday and I developed tendinitis in my knee.

ph4nt0mf1ng3rs

Damn. lol. I forgot to include that little bit. Yeah. If you go to slow, you might damage your knee.

Sorry for bad suggestion lol.

Good job Hairnet.

dsh

When you're climbing properly, there is almost zero conscious exertion on the downward-moving pedal. The vast majority of your focus should be on bringing your trailing knee to the handlebars while contracting your obliques to raise the hip.

Gravity and Mr. Newton will take care of the downward stroke.

Edit: Talking about climbing out of the saddle, obviously.

hairnet

no problem. It's just something I learned from experiencing it. I have no problem muscling up now since I've built a cycling base over the last couple years, but I keep that for my road bike since I think low gears on the fixie are too fun.

ph4nt0mf1ng3rs

lol fasho. Dude like I didnt even realize tho that my cog was 15 tooth. Cuz Bikes diirect said 15 or 16t no choice. So I assumed theyd send a 16t cog, But I only found out like last week when I replaced the bearings in my hub that the cog was 15.

But haha yeah. I need to run a lower gear ratio now to learn how to spin. I can spin fairly good on a 17t cog, but I dont know if 48/17 is anything good to learn to spin on, because I noticed that lots of people are pushing lower ratios.

XD

Squirrelli

I'd consider 48/17 mashing, I spin 44/17, not too low, but I can spin at 18-20mph with not much trouble.

DisplayERROR

I would use a 18 but the issue is that an 48/18 has 3 skid patches but meh, I'll look into it.

dsh

So go to 48/19.

Syscrush

A 19T cog is big and ugly. Go to 44/17.

Lower gears are better. Mashing a big gear just makes you feel macho until you mess up your knees. I didn't believe this for a long time until I started to really feel it myself. Spinning a lower gear is a lot of fun and it improves your technique more than pretending you're a tough guy standing and cranking.

ph4nt0mf1ng3rs

lol. I guess its more ignorance for me than being macho. Gotta admit tho....i kinda did feel macho =p.

tgscordv6

Tried both. 48x19 is super nice on the street, but you WILL spin out anywhere else.

twelsch42

Having gone from 48/17, 48/19, 46/19, and now 46/21; I can tell you spinning = faster.

But this question is more about gear-inches. https://www.bikeforums.net/singlespeed-fixed-gear/468351-gearing-primer.html

59GI is pretty fun. Learning to spin is about spinning out. I can accelerate with downtown traffic. Back-pedaling becomes much more friendly on the knees. Not to mention the ease of skiddz.

ph4nt0mf1ng3rs

hmmm.........until I pinpoint the info on sheldon brown, whats the difference between using large chainring/cog vs. using smaller chainring/cog that give the same ratio (ish).

squeegeesunny 

More wear on the cog.

ph4nt0mf1ng3rs

thanks

NateRod

What generates more wear on the cog? The larger combo? Besides needing a longer chain for the larger set (kind of obvious), I wasn't aware of a practical difference, i.e., one being better than the other. Interesting.

Anyways, I've ridden both 48/17 and 48/19. Though 48/19 is indeed quite easier for climbs, sometimes I think I felt more in control when I was running the higher ratio. Like the slower cadence actually helped me get a better feel for what the bike is doing, as opposed to spinning, which feels a little frantic at times... plus, for some reason, I feel that stopping / skipping / skidding were also easier for me at higher gear. Maybe, again, the slower cadence made it easier to dial in the backpedaling / leg locking at the right time.

WTF? Am I crazy? Anyone else thought the same?

Squirrelli

Smaller drivetrain, because there are less teeth to bear the load, it wears out chain, cog and chain ring.

Maybe this is in your head?

adriano 

i dug 48 19 a lot.

ph4nt0mf1ng3rs

I felt more in control with higher ratio, but skidding is easier for me at a lower ratio. Because the higher ratio is harder to push/accelerate, once you get it up to speed, its harder to resist.......idk thats me.

But I guess thats why we should all learn how to spin. So that lower gear ratios dont feel awkward and out of our control. I still needa work on my spinning.

DisplayERROR

Alright thanks for the pointers guys. Last thing, would changing from 48/17 to 48/19 require additional links in the chain?