Originally Posted by
steve-in-kville
Okay, okay.... you're funny.
But anyway, to put things in perspective, on my Tourist I have a 30/42/52 triple and a 11-32 (9 speed) cassette in the rear. I can spend an easy third of my commute in the 30T chain ring and my lowest two gears in the back. I know this isn't a fair comparison to SS. I could become a stronger rider, but right now, I ain't!!
The laws of physics don't change when you switch from geared to SS to FG. It takes the same amount of work to climb a hill, regardless of the drivetrain type. If you are riding your geared bike with the 30T chainring and assuming your second lowest cog is a 26T, then that is a granny gear in the low 30 gear inch (gi) range, whereas a 46 x 18 is upper 60s gi. Even assuming that you are standing up the whole time and pulling on the upstrokes with 100% foot retention, it will be near impossible to ride up any hill more than a few hundred feet long. If I were in your situation, I wouldn't even attempt to ride a single gear bike.
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