How Hilly is Too Hilly For Fixed? How About for SS?
 

I know it comes down to the rider, but for YOU personally how Hilly would it have to get before you ditched the SS and or Fixed. This is the last 6.5 miles of my rides. No, it's not the whole ride. I'm just showing the pertinent last bit I have to bike to get home. Obviously I'm also coming down that hill into pretty busy traffic with a light at the bottom of the hill.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a3df4f444c.png

I'm asking because I'm seriously thinking of getting a Wabi or Kilo TT. I live the mechanical simplicity of the fixie!

I need some information to know what I am looking at. Vertical scale? You have two final climbs of 2.0 what? I need help on both grade and elevation gain of the two. What gear are you riding? Brakes?

I've been riding fix gears forever. Love climbing on them but am getting older and don't do what I used to. I prefer to live in places where I can do a cool down of the last couple of miles but that is easier to arrange when you know before you buy or move that you will be riding fix gear. Did ride up ~150' to my first house every ride but it wasn't steep and I was in my 30s and 40s then.

You could ride a flip-flop wheel with say a 17 tooth fix gear cog and 21 FW. Stop and flip at mile 5.2. (Gotta have a brake though.)

I have two fix gears set up so I can ride fix-fix wheels so I can ride serious hills/mountains with gears as low as 42-24 and 36-24 and as high as 42-12 and 46-13. Stop and flip to use two cogs. One bike is set up with three fixed cogs. The other, I have to carry a chainwhip. Not really the answer for your situation.

You can run more than one chainring and have the two or more rings line up with their respective cogs. Now you can have really big gear ratio differences and have all work with a track end or dropout that isn't all that long. (As long as the number of teeth total between front and back doesn't change, the hub moves very little.)

I mean with the right gearing nothing really. However if I know I am going to be on a ride that is super hilly I probably will take a geared bike because I have multiple bikes. I mean it is easy enough to get a flip-flop hub and flip the wheel to the other side with a larger cog or freewheel.

79pmooney had some excellent points.
Also we have a Mooney in the shop now it is lovely blue and white beauty that someone has modernized slightly with some 10 speed DA. Such a pretty bike. Thankfully they aren't coming till Friday so I can look at it a bunch before that.

I ride fixed in downtown Seattle, we are known for our hills similar (we're a distant 2nd place) to SF.
It's a cliche but the term "spin to win" really makes sense.
I'm in my 40s now and run a super spinny gear (47x18 or 47x19) but I can still climb hills.
For downhill you just adapt and build up your cadence. If you think you're going too fast, just scrub some speed off.

What is your front ring teeth? Rear cogs are cheap, you could just run a larger rear cog at first (spinny/high rpm) and experiment to see how you like it.

For years I rode fixed 48x15 w/a 550 foot drop into work w/a 550 ft climb homeward. Most of the vert was on one hill. To climb it I just did shallow switchbacks. Then as I got stronger I extended the vertical until I was only doing 4 turns. This was very rural and at night as I worked 2nd shift. So no traffic worries.

My r/t daily commute was 42 miles. For 6 years my mileage averaged 12,000+. It seems crazy now, but it seemed normal at the time. So, there really are no rules. Find a gearing that works best for you on your commuting terrain. In retrospect I should have used ss to save on my knees, but I just loved riding fixed. lol

I'll pile on - it's all about the gearing. I live in Atlanta. It's damn hilly... unless you compare it to Seattle or SF. Let's call it very rolling ;-) I ride a single speed fairly often with my club - regular roadies on regular road rides. Both of my single speed are around 95-99 gear inches or 52/14. Yeah, I grind up the hills, but I need the big end for the fast flats.

My uphill is a busy two lane road with a 35 mph speed limit that cars typically do 50-55mph. Zig zagging even a little bit to get up a steep hill is not good for your health

Same. Just about nothing that a single speed can’t handle with the right gearing. Also do regular club rides with the roadies, and choose the appropriate gearing depending on the route and grades. Having a flip flop hub also helps, and if necessary can change gearing during a re-group on the ride. Only issue is if I gear for the hills, can get dropped during extended 25+ mph pace line runs by the pack :/

Yeah, I was fortunate in that the amount of traffic was virtually nil for my entire ride home. I hit that hill around 11:30 PM. It was about an 8 minute climb once I had it sussed. I can't recall in 6 years being passed on that hill from either direction. Doing switchbacks on any busy road is strongly ill-advised. lol

I live in Rock HILL. 47/18 is great for me where a 300ft gain over two miles is common. I tried riding 49/16 for awhile, but that got old kinda quick. I am 55 years old, and usually have to remind myself of that. But, I strongly recommend the Wabi! I’ve got five bikes and three of them are Wabi’s. The Classic, Special, and Thunder. They’re each great bikes.

I just finished a Super Randonneuring series fixed. The 200 was flat, but the 300 had 8,500 ft and the 400 had 10,500 ft. The 600 this past weekend had 12,000 ft, most of that on day 1. Day 1 mile 141 was at 300 ft elevation, mile 150 was at 1,200 ft elevation. I ride a 44x17, with a 19T cog on the flip side for climbs or headwind stretches. I had a printout taped to my top tube listing the mileage of every climb over 6%. Most of those I grunted up, but I walked a half dozen or so.

There is no hill you cannot walk.

I’m typically running 65 gear inches on the MTB and 67 on the drop bar bike. Above 15% grade I’m probably walking or maybe running. I use flats and shoes I have run in, so it’s no big deal.

Otto

About the same. On the road, run 65 gear inches on the rides with decent hills, and run 75-80 gear inches on the flatter rides with only small or short hills that I can stand and power up (with my flat bar and bar ends, find climbing better with that set up than drops).

Agreed. I use classic touring bars on the old MTB. A grip bit more forward (like you do on drop bar hoods) is great out of the saddle speeding up on flats and slight grades, but a bit more back to the grips and wider is better than drop bars when it’s steeper. Still I like riding drops a lot. 👍

Otto

I'm not sure if this clarifies anything or not - I live in what the local developers and promoters have taken to calling the Lakelands of South Carolina, which tends to have a lot of rolling terrain, short sharp climbs and very spinny descents galore, coupled with some long slow climbs. The most memorable climb in my usual routine routes is about 140 feet with a stretch of it around 8% grade. When I am in shape, I manage all of this riding 70-in fixed. For this area and for my general level of fitness, that seems to be the magic gear for me. I DO usually have a 63-in or lower gear on the other side of the hub, a fixed cog if I am likely to take in any distance on gravel, sometimes a freewheel if I want a bail-out gear.

Rolling hills no problem. I live in Charlotte and that's what we have here. A bona fide mountain climb like in the North Carolina mountains, nope, not interested. It's not the steepness, although that is an issue, it's the unbelievably tight switchbacks. Nnnnnno thanks. Riding the Blue Ridge Parkway wouldn't be a candidate either on a SS or fixed. Geared bike, no problem.

I live in the mountains of Virginia and run a 46x18 (69 gear inch). I avoid any real steep stuff though but sometimes you have no choice. There's a couple kickers on my commute that I have to really fight to get up. It's a catch 22 because it's nice to have a climbing gear but it makes going down a lot harder. I like the bullhorn bars for climbing so that when you stand you can really pull up on the bars and stand out ahead of the bike.

I've ridden a fixed gear of 72-ish inches (51/19 or 48/18) for nearly 60 of my 72 years, including in the very hilly terrain of Baltimore County for the last 40 years, and I doubt I could still manage those hills without bullhorn bars.

Awesome! Yeah they really do make a difference.

Single speed, reasonably fit for mid 60's, short climbs up to 14%. I can't currently make those climbs without going 43/20 (58") and often have to use the "standing" gear. But I have gone up to 60 miles with this set up.

I've come to a handlebar/brake lever setup I love for mountain fix gears. Out of the saddle handholds that work all day. There is compromise on the flat and into the wind but in the mountains it rules. So much so that I'll pay the penalty 90% of the time to make the climbing time so much sweeter.

Wide pista bars with V-brake levers (and powerful Shimano dual pivot calipers). My old racing HBs were 39/40cm narrow. Now its 43 or 44 pista bars or criterium bars with the generously rounded shoulders. I push the brake levers halfway down the bar bend so they are roughly horizontal. (For me, the exact position as well as HB rotation is critical to keep my hands and wrists injury free. I do rides w/o bar tape and carrying all the wrenches until I like it.

Those V-brake levers made superb handholds, at least for these hands. Wide bars make better levers for rocking the bike so simply making the upper body work easier. And on that screaming descent on the other side, both of those features step up again. Wide = less aero. When you max speed is RPM limited, aero is NOT your friend!

And those levers? My first big descent with them was on my brand new TiCycles "Jessica". The bike of my avatar photo. I was a little nervous about tossing out all that power so I did a few hard slows and they seemed to work. From the drops, plenty of power. Got into the flow of the corners. Fun! Then I hit a blind corner steeper and tighter than anything I'd seen. "Oh ****!" Slammed on the brakes because I was going way to fast for my pedals to stay off the pavement! Pure adrenaline. And the bike slowed really fast with no skidding, no hops, just totally behaved. Went around the corner with 5 mph to spare. Blew me away. Best high speed slowdown ever on a braking combo that's supposed to be dangerous. Now, if you are a rider who rides the hoods that can be dangerous. It takes a lot more braking pull.

That avatar photo of Jessica was taken when my those pista bars and V-brake levers were earning their keep. That was a 2 mile hill with a patch at 14% and another at 14.5. Photo taken at one of those. (I never saw the photographer. I was a 60 yo in a 42-17 and my eyes were straight ahead. You can see the veins standing out on my forearms. When I touched them with bar of soap later it hurt.)

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...24984fedcb.jpg

I live in NWNJ and a SS/Fixie is difficult to ride and enjoy. I needed to set up my gearing to accommodate the hills so on flats I cannot go very fast .. I use a Fixed gear Street fighter set up wit 19 cog and risers and a drop bar with 16 for my longer rides when kinda flat.

Nm

Up to Women's Forum, down to Crown Point, then back. 44x19 ascending, 44x17 descending. I didn't set any PRs either way, but it wasn't killer. Super fun.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e58a3331cd.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a976d26869.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d0b93a2684.jpg

Do you have a preference for any of the 3? I’m thinking of a Thunder.