Originally posted by MichaelW
Im not sure that mashing big gears is the point of riding fixies. You should be practicing that fluid fast spin.
I agree there. The fluid motion of a good spin will go farther for you than pushing a big gear and getting aching knees. Choice is yours of course. Some people just like pushing harder than others.
I run a 80's vintage steel Trek that I stripped except for the front brake and I've played around a bit with the gears. I finally settled on a 39T front ring and alternated between a 16T & 17T rear. I have to do a lot of stops and starts in traffic and side street stop signs on my commute (I try to be good and not run the stop signs and red lights - makes for bad attitude amongst cars seeing you do that, but that's another topic). I found being close to the recommended 2:1 ratio seems to works for me. I can get spun out with a tailwind or slight downhill, but that doesn't happen often. I guess I'll continue to mess around with my gears since I've only been doing this a couple of years. I definately think it has made me a smoother rider and that was my goal.
The rear hub is not flip-flop, but is 70's vintage Campy Record with a locking ring on the cog. The front ring is old-school Shimano Ultegra. I have horizontal dropouts can get the chain quite snug with adjusting the spacing so I don't need any chain tension devices. So far I love to ride a fixie. My friends don't understand the fascination. Too bad for them.