Originally Posted by
noglider
32x18 works out to a 48" gear. That's mighty low. The fact that you can average such a high speed is very impressive. You must be a great spinner. That's good for long term health. On flat terrain, if I had to choose one ratio, it would be a 66 to 72" gear. I understand you need something lower for climbing, and you made a good choice, but I guess I wouldn't do SS for a hilly area.
My current SS roadie is set up with a 42/17, which is about 67 inches. I find that it works well for the kind of sustained mid-grade (5 - 9%) climbing that I find out here in western Washington.
With it being a singlespeed, I don't have to worry about the sustained downhills the way I did when I was riding fixed. Not much sucks worse than trying to control your spin on a 67" gear on a mile long 9% descent.