Originally Posted by
mihlbach
Note that I was comparing a fixed gear and SS so chainline and derailleur are irrelevant. They are of extremely minor overall significance anyway.
Okay, fair enough.
Second of all, a fg does not help you pedal through deadspots unless you are being extremely sloppy. When you pedal a freewheel bike, does the freewheel click everytime your pedal hits 12 o'clock. It shouldn't. The pawls should be engaged the whole time, unless you are deliberately coasting. For a normal pedaling stroke, there is no complete dead spot. If you are pedaling properly (i.e. your legs are spinning the cranks through the full rotation), it makes no difference if you are pedaling a fg or freewheel.
If you truly do have a dead spot when you are pedaling uphill (unlikely unless you are seriously lazy), your are loosing momentum and basically making things worse. If thats the case, switching to a freewheel to help you learn to pedal through the dead spot will actually make you climb more efficiently.
I agree. However on a steep enough hill with a large enough gear your pedal stroke is going to get sloppy. Most people have a really sloppy pedal stroke when they get out of the saddle. In those situations a fixed-gear is advantageous because it will smooth out your pedal stroke. True, in doing so you are wasting energy, however that is better than falling over.
In any case, when the climbing starts to get real (say over 10% for over a mile) I much prefer a road bike to a fixed-gear.