A question for those who ride fixed gear and road bikes and record their rides.
 

On average, how much faster are you going on a road bike? I noticed that my data on both type of bikes are strikingly similar, clocking in at about 15mph on city streets. Is this normal?

city? sure. out in the hills and rural roads? noticeable

If I rode a fixed gear in the city, I'd have to stop at more lights.

Sometimes I'm slower on rhe roadie.

Most,maybe all, of my paved climb PRs are on fixed.

There's a short local climb that I set a PR on riding fixed but on the same climb using the same amount of effort I was 4 seconds slower on my roadie. On long 70+ mile rides I do feel a lot fresher by the end with gears then fixed but it takes about the same time give or take a few minutes.

'Bout the same for both. Lower Delaware is flat.

In the city, I get higher average speed on fixed, but spend much less time at lights on a geared or SS.

My times have been reasonable similar. I find I ride faster uphill (forced by 42x16 gearing) but slower downhill (restricted by 42x16 gearing)

On a somewhat related note, riding almost exclusively fixed for a summer caused a notable increase in my average cadence.

In town, the determining factor is traffic and lights. I commute on my fixed gear just because I like it and my gearing is pretty low (39x16). I wouldn't be any faster on my roadie with a 53x11.

I dont have data but a lot faster on the road bike. There are just too many declines here that a road bike will blow the doors off the fixed.

ya
i have a 2 hr loop i regularly do w like ~1500ft of elevation decline/incline at "tempo" HRs (167-173 bpm avg for me)
it takes like ~7 or 8 min longer on average on the fixed at that aerobic intensity.

also my climbing PRs are definetely on a road bike because at any given intensity i climb a little faster with a higher cadence

FWIW, a couple of years ago I did the local 10 mile TT in truest Merckx style by using my fixed gear (52x15). It's still my best time on that course. No thinking, just cranking.

It's not a fair comparison.

Despite my nickname, I'm more of a masher than a spiner, because our fixed gear are geared for *normal* street use, not top velocity, I simply cannot keep with roadies (have tried) because I fatigue too quickly trying to spin 48x16, not too bad but not high enough to spin along w intermediate/advanced roadies.
Having said that, on a long uninterrupted 20 miles flat stretch I can gain few mins on my geared bike, which in terms of commuting is nothing but is a lifetime in racing, depending how you see it.

What the crap is a spiner?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...spinner&page=2


You're welcome.

Mine are pretty much the same. Some times faster, sometimes slower. If it is windy, or I take a hillier route, then I'm definitely feeling it more on the fixed gear bike.

That's a spinner, but what is a spiner?

It's a device used to check shafts for golf clubs. Not sure how that applies. :)

I finally put a cog on my SS and rode it for the better part of a month without riding my geared bike. Last week to keep up on my 200km brevet/month I took out the roadie. It was an odd feeling about the pedal hesitation at the top/bottom of each stroke. The one thing I took away from all the FG training is it does indeed cause you to pedal 100% of the time. Was my time over the course faster than normal? It was faster than many of last season's permanents. Instead of coasting down grades now I would shift to a higher gear and push the pace a bit more.

^ Agreed. Riding my fixed gear bike more often and in more conditions, made me faster on my geared bikes because I now tend to spin faster and not coast as often / ever. When first starting to ride fixed, it felt weird not being able to coast; now it feels weird being able to coast. I always take the road bike on longer or really hilly rides to preserve my stamina, just because I can't do 100k of riding with 1k+ meters of climbing fixed (yet). Even if I could do those long/steep rides fixed, I'll always be faster on the geared bike -- but riding the fixed bike improves my technique and allows me to be that much faster on the geared bike.

I always commute on the fixed bike because it's both more fun and a better workout, and I've never noticed any difference in time at all. My 11 mile city commute takes the same amount of time +/- a minute or so, on just about any bike.

I found this to be the greatest hidden benefit during racing and race-type group rides. When I'm tucked in the draft, the temptation is to just coast. Now I keep my feet turning over. I may not be applying much or even any pressure to the pedals, but you're just an instant from engaging the pawls. The other thing is that if there's a surge, rather than drop a gear and then dig, I just spin up in the same gear and then drop a gear. It's much smoother and more efficient.

I've kept records for years. On city streets in Los Angeles, I average about 13 mph, on any of my bikes, on any flat route. Too many traffic lights and stop signs, no matter how fast I try to ride, that slow me down.

When I'm in NYC, I ride a little faster, since I run almost every traffic light and every stop sign.

I commute on a 44-16 single speed. My times on a given ride are much better on my roadie than on the SS and when I take my roadie to work its almost effortless on it. Here's a few reasons why:
-Hills
-My single speed weighs about 29#, my roadie somewhere around 20#
-Better gearing for taking off from a start (I need to toughen up more)
-32c tires on the SS, 23c tires on the roadie (less rolling resistance)

My road bike is just a more efficient machine than my single speed. I ride the single speed to work and grocery getting because it has fenders and its a little more resistant to hopping curbs.

YMMV.

+1

another thing ive noticed (along the same lines) is that I rarely get out of the saddle anymore, unless **** gets real serious and I have to dump 100% of my reserves out there and engage my quads like mad.
Even in crits with punchy big ringable climbs, im seated for pretty much the whole damn race till the sprint.

its great passing people who are out of the saddle churning a huge gear while u are spinning away.