Right now i am riding a 42-14. Its fine for riding the flats but I do have some difficulties, for example on the hill in Prospect Park. I can get up the hill but it does wipe me out. It maybe because i am weak but I was considereing changing it to a 15 or even a 16. Would i feel that much of a difference going from a 14 to a 15. Or should i just suck it up and stick with the 14.

I am waiting for my new wheels from nashbar so i want to get everyones opinion on gear selection.

I'm riding 42:14 right now, and it's a bit mashy... once you're up to speed, it's great, but I'd like a little more spin myself. That's an 80" gear -- I'm moving to 48x17 (73") on my next bike... I rode at 69" for a while, which was a little light, but 73" seems like a good happy medium.

Of course your mileage (and legs) may vary.

most of the racers at pp ride around a 49x15 to 51x16 depending on preference, but most have at least somewhere around 49x16

If you search for the term "gear ratios" in the Prospect Park thread you'll come up with some answers. I think the average ratios are around 49/16, 48/15 and as high as what, 51/14?
Of course, it all comes down to your ability.
oh, I'm at 48/15.

Most people are pushing at least 82 gear inches and up.
It should be a good ratio that handles the downhill without spinning too hard, cruises on the flat, and still manages to get up the hill. I roll on 46x14 most times.

Yoshi rides a gear in the 70s and is very fast. I ride an 88" gear and I'm sort of fast. Andy rides a gear in the high 90s and he was very fast. What do we all have in common? Racing up that hill is, ugh, kinda painful.

So many pushing high gears in the park.

Who'd have thunk it------

And at this time of the year, as well, with the omnipresent wind.

I believe it but it is amazing.

hey, where is the prospect park thread? can't find it. call me dumb.

since its a flip flop hub I may run a 14 on one side and maybe a 16 on the other. I'll have to look the calculator to see how much a difference there is with the 15.

I ride a 49X15 pretty much all over the city (street, park, velodrome)...and I get my slow ass beat at just about all of the aformentioned locations. But it feels GOOOOD.

Just curious, what are the speed ranges (uphill minimum and downhill max speeds)?

Al

damn them's is some stiff gears. i like my seventy three inches. it's sprinty, spinny, hill-capable, and smoothe.

Well the leaders usually finish a lap in under 8 minutes and 30 seconds. The loop is 3.3 miles long, so that would give an average speed of between 23 and 24 mph. I don't have a cyclometer so I can say what the uphill and downhill speeds are.

I spin out at 35-38 going down the hill just fooling around but that kills me for racing... I feel like I go 30-33mph on the hill during races. I think that the fast people climb the hill at 15-18mph. You really need to keep your speed in the 22-25 range for the rest of the lap to come in fast. When I'm in a mass start it seems like we start fast (26-28mph) for the first few hundred years and settle down.

Not every lap is fast, though... if you're with the leader group and no one is attacking a lot of times everyone is conserving energy and going less than 20mph.

i go 22 mph up tha bump on my road bike . really hard for me tho. when are we starting spring racing?

um... tomorrow night at 10.