I was thinking the same. I didn't notice any issues with my pedal stroke, but I'm using ~68 gear inches and I'm definitely a spinner.

If you start off a spinner.......
When I was messin' 20odd years ago I had a lovely road bike but setup as SS with a bmx freewheel.
After years of spinnin' away on that, once I got to gears..... *click.... click* whoooosh.

I ride both; went mountain biking for some 2 odd hours this evening and for a geared road ride the day before that. During my road ride, I kept it in 39x16 for about half the ride to practice my 100+ cadence, though...

i dont like not having that slow-speed control on a freewheeling bike... but its not disconcerting

biggest epiphony when i ride a modern multi-speed bike after the fixed is that really only 3 gears are necessary: really bugging slow on killer hill, normal, and f**king fast. of course , normal is used 85% of the time.... which is why fixed gear is good compromise

I rode my geared road bike for the first time in several months today. I couldn't help bombing the hills and generally darting around more. Shifting was nice, but the jump between 39-53 in the front is too harsh. I think I'll swap out the 53-39 for a single 48 or so and this bike will get more use.

Ive only been fixed for a few months but Im still blown away by it
and wish I jumped the Nu-hipster bandwagon sooner.....
That being sed, the geared bikes feel like they have nerf frames and a big rubber
band for a chain :eek:. They feel loose and sloppy , jus like a fine h0'.
My previous commutes were 8 miles 1w with a few hills and I could do it with no problem
but my new job is over 12 miles and the last 2 are killer hills ! :eek: :cry: My knees and
feetz were killing me on friday. I hate to admit it, and worse even ride them, but Im
gonna have to dust off the old cross-X for the ride in this week. So yeah, I guess I go
both ways.... :mad:

I have a 2004 Specialized Epic Comp and 2 homemade SS rigs. I find that riding is MUCH more enjoyable on my SS rigs. I am taking the Epic riding most of the day today, but I have really been thinking hard about selling/trading that SOB for a real SS rig with proper dropouts. Don't get me wrong, the bike rides great, but it has gears....:p

The whole reason I built a fixed gear was to make me faster on my road bike. Modern road bikes wth their brake-lever shifters and 10 speed triple drivetrains facillitate a certain amount of laziness. Why sprint up that short hill when you can put it in to 30-26 and sit the whole way.

Needless to say, getting back on my road bike after riding fixed was rather cool. I didn't coast or shift hardly at all. Granted, the only "hills" near where I live are overpasses, but where I used to downshift I now sprint over the top. And I don't worry about cadence as much either.

Good thing you don't race or you'd be blown away.

Not if you know your gearing.



Most riders tend to stay in the big ring for flat and rolling flat terrain. The small ring is there for warm-ups, building base miles after winter hibernation, and climbing.

Speak for yourself. I just replaced the 42 on my road triple with a 40. If you like your cadence above 90, and you are not a sponsored pro, then 40-15 is just right. At 100 rpms, I'm going 21 mph in that gear. That's a really good day for most riders if you can hold that speed.

Sometimes I use 53-19, or 53-17 if I've got some help from Mother Nature, but otherwise, I'm pretty much on the small ring. Right now, too, my SS/FG is 39-16 and 39-15 respectively.

Don't triple setups tend to have wide ratio cassettes? The gearing dynamics are different. I warm up in 53-21 (12-25 cassette), which is right between your SS/FG gearings.