queerpunk

Extremely possible.

brawlo

Definitely! It would be different if you were talking about a road bike with multiple gears to choose from where the difference will only really be felt in the highest or lowest gears. On a track bike/single speed/fixed gear, you only have one gear from start to spun out and even one tooth on the front is noticeable.

Baby Puke

Alright, this is suitably random, and probably utterly pointless, but this entered my head today and I'm curious: Has anyone ever bothered to balance their wheels?

taras0000

Had an old pair of ZIPP 440's that I had balanced. They were out 40g opposite the valve hole, spread out over about a quarter of the rim (just less). Apparently this was within spec. Used lead foil tape. Not the stuff you buy at the hardware store. These were cannibalized from coated lead inserts that the dentist has you bite on when you get x-rays done. They were about 1-2g each if I remember correctly. Had to "taper" my application of the tapes to get it balanced correctly.

taras0000

AS noted above, it is possible. Even if it wasn't, tailoring your gearing to the task and your limitations is reason enough to pay attention to the changes it can make. take the Kilo. If I put a 50t ring on your bike when you weren't looking, and your ideal gear is 49x15, it would reflect in your time, even if you couldn't tell during your race. Similarly, your gearing can be used to fine tune your performance in minute increments relative to others. Think Team Sprint. Man 2 might have a better start than Man 1, but maybe his top speed is more valuable in second spot versus a fast start. Gearing up a tooth can prevent him from overtaking Man 1 AND smooth out his acceleration so that Man 3 can stay tighter to his wheel.

Baby Puke

And did you notice the difference? I used to be a motorcycle tech and we were quite religious about balancing wheels. As sprinters we just start to hit the speeds where you could feel a motorcycle wheel was out of balance (40+mph).

taras0000

This was usually only really noticeable if the wheels were in phase. You could notice it on tighter tracks for sure, as well as when doing overgear/overspeed work (downhill or motorpacing). Going through the turns, you could notice the "surge" in the rotation of the wheels as you picked up speed when you leaned in. Balancing the wheels I definitely notice that it went away. I first clued into the imbalance during a motorpacing workout. Prior to that, I just thought the wheels were "twitchy" the way a race bike would be in regards to handling. My dad would come out and pace me (I was a cadet, so this is going back a few years) on a long smooth straight stretch of road. I noticed that there was a surge/hump/wobble and it changed every time i doubled back to head the opposite way. Front wheel and back wheel take a different radius thus affecting the phase of the wheels. Mentioned it to my dad and that's when it was decided that maybe balancing was in order. Got around to it about a month later after getting the foil bits. Spent about an hour on the pair. Paced the next day and it was gone.

Brian Ratliff

On a regular road, because of the variable terrain, it would be hard to discern a single tooth difference in the chainring. On the track, you will notice, which is why many track sprinters carry all chainring sizes between 46 and 50.

carleton

I missed this post.

Noglider posts here often, too.


+1

Roadies change gears (and as a result, cadences) so often that it won't be noticed. On the track, in a somewhat controlled environment, it will certainly be noticed by intermediate and higher level racers.

Here's a technical explanation why:

FYI: Based on my calculations, this rider is riding a 45/13 gear for this effort:


500m Time Trial (Women)

Quinn8it

Was thinking that was pretty low Watts- then noticed it was a Slow Time. When was that? Must be a while ago right?

On A random note- I see her last lap power range as a common "maintenance output" for last 750m of a decent kilo.. Key is how hard/fast you go in the opening 250m

carleton

Wait...that may not be Anna Meares.

The notes on the file mention stuff like: 01/01/05 500m TT LA WC VP 36.182

So, I did some digging.

There were only 2 world-class events in LA: 2005 World Championships and 2008 World Cup. None of the ladies rode a 36.182 in competition. Maybe this was a training effort?

The initials on the file are "xxx" (usually this would be the owner's initials). This probably means that the head unit is part of a team kit. Not many teams used power meters back then. The British did, though.

Could "VP" be Victoria Pendleton. She's light enough where 1,100W may be a lot for someone her size.

Quinn8it

Maybe...
but 36.1" is "old man slow"

carleton

By today's standards, yes. But back in 2005, that would have been 15th fastest at the World Championships and around 10th at any of the World Cups that year.

https://www.tissottiming.com/File/Dow...FFFFFFFFFFFF00

Quinn8it

I tend to open kilos 1" faster than that... And I'm old, have 2 kids, a job, and my wife thinks all this stuff is Stupid..

Oldan Slo

Google "500m 36.182" and the results indicate that it may be Victoria Pendleton at the Dec 10-12, 2004 Track World Cup in LA. The 1/1/05 could have been the download date.

carleton

!!!

Thanks!!

Voodoo76

What's in vogue for gearing right now? Used to cover 95% of my racing needs with 48,49,50/14 & 15. There was a bit of a movement towards smaller chainrings/cogs around the time I stopped racing, is that school of thought still out there?

Been living under a rock.

queerpunk

Nah.

In vogue is huge ****ing gears for sprinters. And large gears for national- and world-class enduros, especially guys with lots of roadie power.

wens

What's large, mid to upper nineties?

queerpunk

I've seen bigger. I'd say upper nineties is the low end of large. Middle nineties is still moderate. 93" is small.

Quinn8it

A couple of 40'something masters are riding 10.9"-11.1" on 110"+/-..

I on the other hand am still on 96"

MrMinty

If I bought a flip flop hub, how easy would it be to remove the freewheel side and can I replace it with a spacer?

wens

Flip flop hubs have threads machined into both sides. The freewheel side doesn't have lockring threads, and may have more cog threads. You can use the fixed side of a ss/fixed hub on the track just fine if you don't need a lock ring.

Because the threads are machined onto the hub, you can't take the freewheel side off. Unless you're asking about removing a cog? Either way you won't need a spacer.

SBUndefeated201

Is there an aerodynamic difference between track drops and road drops? Or is it just preference? I know the track drops have a lower drop. Is that the main difference?

Huffandstuff

You can but a fixed/fixed hub.