Winter climbing
Hi SS people. Tourist from the racing forum, here.
I'm building up a new winter SS with two different chainring/cog combinations, for two specific purposes. One purpose is hard training rides with my team. My current 42/16 (70 gear inches) is right for this. We hit some >5% hills, but nothing more than about 7-8 minutes long. The hills hurt, but they are supposed to. I also want to be able to do long rides through the mountains where I live. These are 20-30 minute climbs of 7-10% on crappy, slushy, sandy, salty roads. This means going as small as possible without making it too frustrating when not climbing -- after all, only half the miles are uphill. I'm thinking of trying 39/19 (55 gear inches) initially. I'd be interested to hear of other riders' experiences with mountainous terrain on a singlespeed, especially in the winter. |
Personally, I'd probably still go with the 42x16, or maybe slightly lower, but not by much. I use a 42x16 for winter commuting, and I also use the same gear for long distances. Winter clothing might slow you down a bit generally, but slush doesn't slow you down that much when climbing.
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If the question is to ever gear down, the answer is always gear down.
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Well, I've never lived in a truly mountainous area, but if I did I'd ride a multi-speed geared bike of some kind.
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Originally Posted by Coluber42
(Post 16338850)
Personally, I'd probably still go with the 42x16, or maybe slightly lower, but not by much. I use a 42x16 for winter commuting, and I also use the same gear for long distances. Winter clothing might slow you down a bit generally, but slush doesn't slow you down that much when climbing.
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Originally Posted by Dannihilator
(Post 16338909)
This....
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Originally Posted by TejanoTrackie
(Post 16338926)
So, you could handle 20-30 minute climbs on a 7-10% grade and rough roads in a 70 inch gear ? I'm truly impressed !
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Originally Posted by Dannihilator
(Post 16338936)
The gearing I ran for a while on the road was 42x15 and had no such issues with long climbs with steep grades mixed in. Since went to 50x18 in order to have a better chainwrap, but it is still close to the gear inch that 42x15 is.
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Originally Posted by globecanvas
(Post 16329661)
I'm building up a new winter SS with two different chainring/cog combinations, for two specific purposes.
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Originally Posted by TejanoTrackie
(Post 16338958)
So, did you steadily climb 7-10% grades for 20-30 minutes ?
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Originally Posted by TejanoTrackie
(Post 16338958)
So, did you steadily climb 7-10% grades for 20-30 minutes ?
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Originally Posted by TejanoTrackie
(Post 16338958)
So, did you steadily climb 7-10% grades for 20-30 minutes ?
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Great info, thanks. I think I'll set it up 42/40 in the front and 16/18 in the back for lots of options, that should give me 4 gear choices hopefully without needing a chain tensioner (or at least 2 choices).
Looking forward to seeing how these climbs feel with the various gears, and depending on the results, I might remove one of the chainrings, or one of the cogs, or both. |
What is your goal?
I think if you're going to be doing training rides with a racing focus you should use a fixed gear as opposed to a single-speed. These threads may be of interest to you. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...d-Gear-Bicycle http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...olding-me-back |
Seriously, what is the point of a single speed training bike? If you think it helps somehow, just don't shift.
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Originally Posted by prooftheory
(Post 16339666)
Seriously, what is the point of a single speed training bike? If you think it helps somehow, just don't shift.
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Originally Posted by hairnet
(Post 16339723)
Preference, isn't that why we are all here?
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Originally Posted by prooftheory
(Post 16339766)
Touche. But it sounded like he thought there was some training benefit for it. I probably just read that into his post.
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While recovering from the nastiest chest cold of the year I'm planning my training (should have started already!) for a 50 mile all uphill fixed gear event 5,000ft total climb.
I have a base of fitness, not what I've had in the past, but will have over a month of serious training time to get up to speed. I'd previously sold a bike I was going to use so have been back on gears for a half year. I'll be getting a fixed rear wheel and have a few cogs I want to try out. I previously hung at 70gi all the time but didn't do any real dedicated climbing routes. Really great all around gear though. Fast spinning keeps me on the wheels of the weekend roadies. I may try 65gi and see how it goes. I've been considering 55gi to just spin up the hill but may be too stupid on the downhills. How have others done with hard hill repeats (5-10 min each?) vs longer hilly rides as training for a climbing event? |
Originally Posted by prooftheory
(Post 16339766)
Touche. But it sounded like he thought there was some training benefit for it. I probably just read that into his post.
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Or you could lube stuff like cables, parallelograms, chains etc. like people have been doing for 60/70 years.
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Originally Posted by TejanoTrackie
(Post 16339791)
I can't see much advantage in mashing a not so low SS gear up mountains. Maybe it's some sort of MTBer macho thing.
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If the goal is to avoid maintaining derailleurs but you still need more than one gear, how about using a 3-speed hub? Spoilsport, I know.
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My vote is 42/18t.
My biek has a 42 ring up front and 15/18t fixed cogs in the rear, which I will utilize depending on the climbing on my route and the intensity at which I wish to ride. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8325/8...a8fcdb90_c.jpg |
Originally Posted by Germany_chris
(Post 16340573)
Or you could lube stuff like cables, parallelograms, chains etc. like people have been doing for 60/70 years.
I appreciate the climbing/gearing advice, some of you guys mash some big ass gears up hills. |
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