FixieManchester

Hi There,

Recently I bought my first fixie and have been riding it every day commuting to and from work, it's great, however the back wheel isn't running true.

Unfortunately I do not know that much about bikes & i'm looking for a new wheelset and gearing;

I'm looking at getting as new wheelset as the one I am using at the moment, the rear isn't running true. I have around a £150 budget, any good recomendations for a reliable wheelset?

The current gearing is 73.5 high side (53, 19) I am finding this too hard to maintain my speed over 25mph without my legs spinning like CRAZYYY, so my questions is, Decreasing my rear sprocket to an 16 or 17 T will help right?

GENESTARWIND

First, don't take this the wrong way but learn to spin. Better on the knees, secondly what kind of wheel set do you currently have. Rim and hub, pictures. You just may need to get it trued.
Unless you just want a new wheel set that is.
I also wouldn't recommend going to a higher gear inch for street use. Again the knees part is a factor.

velomine.com has a good selection of wheelsets if you just want to upgrade.
It will help to know your current setup to offer advice on wheelsets though.

cobrabyte

try slowing down. If you want to ride the road faster than 25mph, try a geared bike? Fixies are for college campuses and going to the coffee shop dude.

Take the wheel to a bike shop, they can probably true it for you for a few dollars unless it's totally shot. I'd be broke if I bought new wheels every time one went out of true.

GENESTARWIND

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic about the slowing down bit and their intended use. Because depending on terrain weather and what not doing 25 to 35 on a fixed gear isn't difficult even while spinning a lower gi if the rider is capable.

It's also almost 6am and my sarcasm meter may be broken or its the fact I'm tired and drinking because no work yay! Sleep soon I will.

Doohickie

I've been riding fixed for a few years and.... you're nuckin' futs. 35 on a fixie? Remember, the OP stated he was a novice. Sure he needs to learn to spin but it takes time. Glad to know you're so "capable" though.

cobrabyte

yep, start with funny end with advice

FixieManchester

Below is the front wheel, this is a Mavic wheel from my racing bike.




This is my rear wheel, I haven't changed it as I have no spare rear wheel. It is a Wolber Super Champions, I have been told these perfectly good wheels, but in truth are workaday rather than anything special.

Sixty Fiver

It does not matter what gearing you are running... maintaining 25 mph is something you need to train hard for and even then, not many folks can do it for any period of time and it is harder to do on a fixed gear if you aren't riding on a track and have to deal with environmental conditions.

prooftheory

53x19 at 25 mph is an easy 116 rpm. If you feel like that is too fast for you then you really should take Gene's advice and learn to spin. Unless you are on a track you don't really want to be going much heavier than 75 gear inches.

FixieManchester

Try slowing down? I don't fully understand, I might as well run everywhere then, speed is the thrilling thing about cycling in my opinion.

53 x 19 just feels in a sense too easy though...

For example, I'm cycling along the road around 18mph, I know I am approaching a segment (on Strava app) ahead, I therefore increase my speed but when I keep increasing my speed then around 25-30mph it's like my legs have turned into fan blades they're 'spinning' so qucik

bowzette

the general advice for gearing is around 70" for most conditions. I have gearing from 63-80 but use 70 most of the time. Most riders will be riding 65-75 with 70 being the most common. I don't know why you want to ride 25+mph on fixed gear unless it's flat with a tailwind.

Sixty Fiver

Uncle Sixty's Gearing Primer for Newbs

I take 3 cream in my coffee.

bmontgomery87

This is why they said "learn to spin"
I can hit 35mph or so with 44x18 gearing.

cobrabyte

It was a joke bud. If speed is thrilling why not a motorbike?


*that was a joke, too

if you like to mash on the pedals, go up in gear inches. If you care about your knees, learn to spin effectively. Good thing is, many cyclists take up fixed gear riding to work on exactly that.

bones_mcbones

53x19 too spinny? I smell a TROLL

Jared.

Maybe the speed is seat-of-the-pants measurement. It's really hard to maintain a speed of 20mph on a work commute. Pesky cars, pedestrians, stop lights, turns, inclines, etc.

If Manchester is the OPs actual residence, it's a fair sized city, and I really couldn't imagine maintaining that speed there.

Sixty Fiver

You can sustain this 25-30 for how long ?

The gearing you run is for sustained speeds and all possible conditions... I used to be able to top 40 mph in a sprint with a spin in the upper 160's and keep up 25 mph for an hour plus with 76 gear inches at around 115 rpm.

My fixed road bike runs a 53:20... I can cruise at 18-20 mph with this all day.

prooftheory

Listen to sixty.

keepgoinglegs

Do you have your feet attached to the pedals? Straps, cages, clipless, etc? That will help alot once you're up to speed as the more you get used to it the more you pull up slightly while you're pushing down, and because the cranks carry themselves as the bike moves forward once you're up to cadence there won't be much resistance to keep going at speed, the added pulling up makes it even more minimal... In my experience higher gearings aren't necessarily much harder to keep going once they're up to speed, it's just the stopping and getting up to speed that become harder.

Although I might be the outlier with a 52/14 and a 48/16, my knees do sometimes feel like they're going to asplode but I fly past roadies (they usually catch up a couple minutes down the road when I'm hyperventilating though)

Cute Boy Horse

>Recently got fixed gear bike.
>Calls it a fixie without irony.
>Calls it a fixie without irony in 2014.
>wheel already out of true, showing quality of bike.
>doesn't know you can true wheels.
>thinks he's doing 25mph for more than a few seconds on his "fixie" even though by his own admission, he can't spin.

Winner

prooftheory

He'll come along eventually.

GhostSS

A couple of points:

-Maintaining speeds over 25 on a single speed is not commuter, it's a training ride. At that speed riding solo it's going to be tough no matter your gearing because of wind resistance. How long are you trying to maintain those speeds for? I was obsessed with hitting speeds and attempting to average at or above 25 on my commuter as well, it's fun, I get it, we're working class athletes, but it's never going to be easy. I occasionally hit 30 for funzies, but I don't attempt to maintain that speed.

-I run a 53x16/87" GI, 20 mph is at 80 RPM, a nice easy pace once you get momentum rolling. However I had to adopt track style standing start technique so that I'm not captain slow when rolling again after a stop and it's much more difficult dealing with headwinds.

-Are you using foot retention and taking advantage of good pedal stroke technique?

-Maybe think about getting aerobars. I bought a mini aerobars for my commuter to help with wind resistance issues, both headwinds and maintaining slightly higher speeds (maybe 2 or 3 mph).

GENESTARWIND

Never said I maintained 35, I was going down hill riding with my pops on his geared bike and he has a computer we pushed up to that then allows slowed down,

killaspen123

his budget was posted in pounds so 35 is most likely KPH not MPH

Cyril 

That would put a lot of reality back into this conversation.