Help me understand why I was slower
 

I usually take 51 minutes 28 seconds to 52 minutes to commute 20 km using my singlespeed Dahon geared at 62 gear inches from door-to-door with or without the fairing. Pics of the setup here.

To test the theory that I should be faster using gears, I put back gears (SRAM 8 speeds) on the bike, lengthened the chain and tuned it up again. I even have more aerodynamic trekking bars that allow me to crouch into a more streamlined position. The idea behind gears is that I can go spin uphill and go faster downhill and faster on the flats. So I cycled with the same commitment I usually do today.

Today's time? 55 minutes 12 seconds. Longer time by 7%. My average speed went from 23.3 km/h to 21.7 km/h.

I don't understand. I really wanted this to work. I was faster without multiple gears and using just a flat bar with bar ends. I guess for city-riding it doesn't really matter. I will keep the gears on for a little while longer and compare the times from a few more rides.

Tires under inflated? headwind ? not enough sleep? getting OLD !

I can't speak to your specific case, but I am not faster on around town rides with gears vs. my fixed gear so I'm not shocked by your results.

Having said that you'd need to ride the geared version of your bike a bunch of times to see if there was any external factor on that specific ride that caused you to be slower. I had a 25km bike commute with 1 traffic light and a variation of 10%-20% in avg speed was easy with different wind conditions and depending how I felt that day even though the bike was exactly the same.

Vik, I was just preparing a PM to you. Thanks for jumping in.

I'll be fascinated to hear comparative averages after a few weeks of commuting on the SRAM.

Try a few rides, not just one data point.

Oh, and loosen the brakes. ;)

Jur - hahahah.

Mulleady - based on this discussion here, I think I know: I'm losing time on the hills by spinning and not attacking the hill.

I do notice this however, there is more brain time devoted to thinking about shifting, timing shifts, and shifting down when approaching a stop light than riding singlespeed. It does take away from the purity of the experience. I'll leave it on for a while and see what happens.

try riding in a single gear (approximating your single speed set-up) and see if you are indeed faster just by riding in a single gear. The way your bike is set-up now you have a choice.

Personally, I seem to keep a more consistent cadence on my Dahon S1 than on the geared Fridays. Riding the Fridays in a single gear would likely result in a similar outcome.

Lou

I wouldn't think you should be that much slower on the same bike with gears... Certainly a few more sample runs are needed, but I'm a little surprised based on my own testing...

I've ridden the same 20mile loop once a week for a couple of years... over 1500' of elevation, and on many high end folders including my Airnimal Chameloen, a Reach Racer, a Moulton TSR-27 (and a TSR-9) .. the bike that surprised me the most was my 700c flat bar road bike with Sachs Two Speed Automatic (55/75 gear inches).. it consistently returns average speeds that are less than 1/2mph slower over the 20 miles than my fastest times on any of the other bikes... what does change is my average heart rate.. it is higher on the 2spd, indicating a higher average cadence at cruising speeds and more effort being expended up the hills...

I would expect your average speeds on the same bike to be about the same given your commute as you've indicated.. if that turns out to be the case, I'd run the single speed because of the zen thing .. elegant, lighter, less maintenance, no clutter, better workout.. and probably just as fast..

Brucemetras, I am right there with you buddy. I have recorded times with my Dahon Helios converted to singlespeed at 62 & 66 gear inches, with and without a Zipper fairing. They both come in around 51 mins 30 seconds to 52 mins 15 seconds - a 45 second spread regardless of traffic, wind, etc. I was surprised that my 62 GI was not substantively slower than at 66.

One day, it may have been I simply caught more green lights or whatever, but I remember spinning harder and my recovery times at the top of hills was quicker, but I set a time of 47 mins 12 secs with the 62 gear inches. This surprised me being a "slower" gear. I guess based on terrain, rider strength and cardio capacity, 62 gear inches is the sweet spot for my commute.

Its nice having the option of lighter gears especially if one is feeling tired. If my commute was flat, I would probably ride between 72 and 78 gear inches and spin it. But I need low enough inches to make my highest hill. The single speed IS more zen. I also hate the feeling of the derailleur slapping forward when I suddenly decelerate. And having gears and making shifts definitely involves more brain cycles than running a singlespeed.

OK, Pilgrim - You really want to know which is faster? I'll loan you my PowerTap hub. You ride the route with different gearing, but keep the same power output. That will truly answer the question.

On the other hand, you may just be overthinking the speed thing. On which bike do you have the biggest smile? Maybe that should be the question :)

You can't make a valid comparison after one run with gears... after getting used to riding the ss version it will take you a little while to adjust and get the most from the multi geared setup.

My old 13km commute could be done in 23 minutes on my fixed road bike and I never bettered that on my geared road bike... if the road got longer and the terrain and conditions were more variable my geared road bike is faster.

Have been splitting my riding between my r20 (3 speed) and my P20 (21 speed) and my urban ride times are only a little better with the lighter and more aerodynamic P20.

If I was riding a straight 100 km with no stops the P20 would be significantly faster.

Someone in the bicycle industry once told me "people want to believe its the bike, but actually, having a decent breakfast will make you go faster than cutting a few kg of your bike"

There is a reason I start my day with oatmeal or home made power bars.

With urban riding, I think rider comfort is more important than tweaking the bike for maximum performance. With traffic, traffic lights and other variables, there isn't a significant time advantage I've found between being stretched out over the bike or just using flat bars with bar ends. Same thing with the fairing. No speed advantage with the fairing but certainly enhanced rider comfort. However, one downside of the fairing is I lose the ability to fold the bike and its a lot noisier since the fairing reflects the noise from the chain and the road.

When I removed the fairing, its amazing how much quieter it became and how more zen it was again. This is all part of my learning. If anything, what I am finding is that it is impossible to be happy with just ONE FOLDER. One needs several folders. Each setup differently to properly indulge the passion ;)

Not really. He's probably faster BECAUSE he's outputting more power with the single speed. It's the carrot on stick effect. Gears make you lazy. Why pedal harder or faster when you can just shift?

Being lazy makes you lazy... the type of bike has nothing to do with it.

It most certainly has something to do with it. Why should a whip make a donkey faster? It's either a fast donkey or a lazy donkey so the whip shouldn't have anything to do with it, right? Wrong. Things are connected in stranger ways than you think.

The donkey is the one doing the pedaling... and there are fast donkeys and slow donkeys.

When the hills get hard, I shift to an easier gear instead of grinding it out with a singlespeed. With a singlespeed, my mindset is more "conquer-the-hill-or-die" rather than "hey-I-can-sit-and-spin".

OK, here are some of my commuting experiences:

1. When I was riding the R20, I found essentially identical commuting times on the 3sp and the 8sp hubs. I remember those were medium-hard efforts, so gearing differences in the end had no effect.

2. Once I made a dedicated effort with HRM to compare the lightweight Swift with the Birdy. The Swift feels way faster and yields substantailly lower commuting times. However, when I had runs with identical average HRs, medium-hard efforts, the commuting times also were essentially the same. These times were only actual riding times, not total times.

This result surprised me, but in the end I think what happens, the lighter Swift unconciously gets greater effort out of me; it just wants to go. So I go much faster on it because it seems so much easier. But when I take a brutally honest approach, there seems to be no difference.

So my conclusion is, you are much faster on the singlespeed because it "just wants to go faster". Call it zen if you must, but that version is just attuned to your style the best so unconsciously it brings out the best in you without you even realising it. But if you made brutally honest comparisons, the difference would likely evaporate.

Thanks Jur.

I was reading an article which said "your body selects the cadence" and I think that makes sense. When a rider gears their singlespeed to their terrain and ability, they will naturally gravitate to their natural cadence using that gear.

I often find my rhythm "between gears" working with derailleurs whereas on my singlespeed at 62 or 66 I accelerate until I hit my happy cadence and work hard to sustain it. I guess that is the zen of singlespeed. The hills are a harder effort no doubt, but EVERYTHING else such as cornering, accelerating out of a corner, accelerating downhill on the flats is all simpler with a singlespeed.

I'm interested in this thread because I have different set of issues - many with the Brompton older SRAM hub which provides 6 closer gears, and the newer BWR hub which has wider jumps, say the newer hub is slower. Mechanical efficiency seems near identical. That is counter to the single-speed is faster argument as on the BWR you're stuck in a particular gear for longer so less changing, more fighting through to hold a cadence, etc. Hence BWR should be about the same speed. That is, unless, the rider is taking opportunity of the wider gears to go slower up hills.

This past weekend, I changed the handlebars from trekking back to flatbars with bar ends. I also re-tuned the derailleur so the entire range was accessible and index shifting was flawless. Regular commuting times are around 51 min 30 seconds. This morning 11C/52F, no wind, I did it in 51 min. 18 seconds. :)

edit: double post.