Originally Posted by trackasaurus
Another thing to consider is the ease of learning to skid/skip/trackstand with a low gear. I'm currently setting up my girl's ride with 38 x 15. which is 67 gear inches. a great starting point for fixed gear. i've ridden that gear for a while for work and it's a blast. your gearing of 42x 17 gives 65. which is perfect.
also remember how slow you rode iin general when you firts started riding fixed and brakeless. so a low gear is fine.
Well, she's no where near that level of trying to do track stands or skids. It's a singlespeed, effectively a BIG BMX :-) I think I may go with 42:21....to keep the initial confidence high. Just alittle background on my gf she'd rather ridein a BMW than on a bicycle and she thinks campin in an RV at a KOA is "camping".