Today, my dad and I went out on a short but intense ride- he was on his 20 speed and I was on my newly converted single speed commuter. HOLY CRAP! Going 25mph was a complete pain in the ass, I had to accelerate as fast as I could, then coast until I needed to get going again.

Uphill was another story- it seemed that since I was forced to keep a lower cadence, I was going much faster than usual.

Hills are my new best friend.

You should try fixed and drop his sorry ass.

Up the gear inches

That's cool that you and your dad ride together.

I would, but there's a 2 mile hill to get to my house that's keeping me from doing that... actually now that I think of it, I'd rather muscle through that, and enjoy the rest of the ride.

Uh... how would fixed make me any faster than freewheelin' ss?

2% more mechanical effiency, omg! totally change your life.

NOT

Efficiency is pretty subjective to untrained riders, I'd say.

Because your inner Zen messenger force will channel into the rear wheel 800% better without all those pawls and springs there.

You'll just get your sorry ass dropped on the way down a long/steep hill.

ride rollers and work on your techinique learn to spin fast and even then you will have your dad burnin out quick

A suggestion: Buy a fixed hub (will run a SS freewheel) for training on said hill. Go out and put some miles in on hills, flats, and such. Spin your arse off. Build up your saddle time. Later on, ask father to go out for a long ride. Lay the wood to the old man. Buy him some ice cream afterwards and cherish the moment. Memories for a lifetime.

Anybody riding with their Dad should be riding a fixed gear. Either that or ride a heavy MTB and put rocks in your panniers. You should have some sort of artificial handicap when riding with old guys.

Youll get stronger riding fixed.

Yup....he will drop you going down the hills, especially ones that take you out of your max cadence range...but on flats you'll hang on him like glue with 3/4 of the effort. Going up hills (depending on how strong you are and your gear inches) you'll drop him again.

If you ride with roadies drop your gear inches back about 5". So if you run a 16 tooth cog in back normally buymp it up to a 17 tooth one and you'll notice how much more fun you are having staying with them.

Cool that you ride with your Dad, hope my daughters like riding me.

The correct handicap would be to give your Dad the fix and take the 20 speed for yourself :-) Too many gears make you lazy.

Better fix that.

Darn that speed typing, the Never Nudes are going to have a field day with that one :-(

They do enjoy riding with me, as long as it doesn't interupt something important... like their favourite tv programmes.

Back to the original post, riding a fix makes you stronger. Forces smooth spinning by not allowing you to coast. Not unlike running Track when the coach makes you do over-speed towing drills to increase leg turnover.

Could you explain how or why riding a fixie would require 3/4 the effort of a geared/freehub'd bike?

You have to close your eyes reeeeal tight, say the magic words, and then it happens. You know it's working when you see the sparkles flying out.

Momentum.....sit on the wheel of a geared bike and draft with them on a fixie, you'll see what I mean. The momentum of the direct drive drivetrain really decreses the effort...you get sucked right up very different than on a freewheeled bike.

For example. I ride with a cycling team a few times a month. Until the past 2 times it was always on my road bike (like they all have). Sitting in a paceline or drafting with someone I could watch my RPM and heart rate and feel the effort I was putting out to stay at a certian pace. The last two times I rode with them I was on my fixie. I saw a dramatic drop in my effort and HR and thus my increased endurance for the ride. Granted I got my ass kicked going up some of the steeper hills and it was hard staying with the pack on descents (coasting at 35mph is WAY easier than spinning at 35mph)....but on flats, pacelines and longer more mild climbs....it was MUCH more easy...

While I don't doubt your personal experiences, and I've never ridden a fixie, I'm having a really difficult time understanding how this could be. There's just no scientific explanation I can imagine to support the implication that the jockey wheels in a derailleur are sucking up 25% of the energy your pedals put out!

It's not the jockey wheels. It's the freewheel and the ability to coast. You stop pedalling, you coast....you loose your momentum much fast on a freewheel'd bike than on a fixed gear bike. Plus on a fixie your legs never stop moving, thus the blood keeps flowing and you don't get fatigued or tired as fast (once you get in good shape).

But if you've never ridden a fixie...it all seems counter intuitive. Google it. You'll find many training methods that used fixed gear bikes. Read Sheldon Brown's articles on fixed gear. Read track bike training articles to learn even more.

I would spy on your buddy's gear ratio as he rides (note what gear he tends to stay at most of the time, or at times you fall behind/get ahead), compare it to yours (accounting for his derailleur drag), and retool appropriate to what you want to accomplish.

I've heard this a fixie POV a few times. I ride ss freewheel, and I don't coast, unless I'm coming to an abrupt emergency stop or taking a really steep turn. Sure, there's a more complete workout of the leg with the fixie as there are forces to deal with in every point of your revolution uphill or downhill, but that has its disadvantages too. A lot of that "disadvantage" of a freewheel can be rectified with good-old-fashioned self discipline and technique, especially when we're talking about touring. Yes, riding a fixie may be part of the solution to that technique, however you'll have to reduce the gear inches on a fixie for the downhills (to sustain control), while the SS will give you a extra little advantage as you can spin a freewheel while coasting down, keeping your legs juiced, with no fear of spinning out. Because of this factor, you'll be able to run a higher gear ratio on the ss fw, which will help you out on the flats (it will work against you on acceleration, but once you're at speed, it'll be a higher speed at your maximum crank rpm). Also, if you're trying to compete with pops, the fact that you can't coast on a fixie is going to work against you on any considerable distance longer than a leisurely 1 hour spin. He won't waste energy stopping, or on declines. I would much rather ride a SS fw with a roadie than a fixie... unless it's on a track. A fixie is the wrong tool for the job.

At least in my meager experience.

Not true, on downhills the higher the gear the better. It is the uphills that determine the highest ratio you can have (or else you walk), the downhills (and your maximum cadence) that determine your minimum gear.

I find the fixed great on flat and gently rolling rides (Surly called theirs the "Steamroller" for a reason!); however, having to accelerate from a stop (eg. at lights) is slower, and downhills are slower for me too, as I am limited by cadence. A freewheel overcomes this limitation.

The gentle uphills that I ride fixed are not a problem in terms of speed.

I don't think there is any doubt, however, that on varied terrain you go faster overall on a geared bike.

Okay, I get what you're talking about now. I just wouldn't refer to that phenomenon as "momentum", because it's not a closed system; so long as you're constantly pedaling (which is a given on a fixie, and an optional choice on a freehub'd bike) you're contributing energy to the system that's extraneous to the inertia & velocity of the bike.