My bike is a mountain bike and was setup with gearing proper for offroad. 32/18 was about right in the dirt with the big wheels I use (700x55 aka 29 x 2.2). I've been spending much more time on roads this winter. It's a bit wet to ride on the trails and not destroy them here. With slicks on this gearing was just not good fixed gear on the road. Going up hills wasn't much of an issue, but going down them was just murder. I swapped to the only other chainring I had laying around which was 42 teeth. I also went to a KMC Z610 chain.

Long story short I was a hell of a lot faster just about everywhere. Downhill that would be obvious. On flat ground I would think it was just easier to not have to spin fast to move anywhere. Uphills are what surprised me really. It could have been me putting out a much bigger effort because change can be good for the mind. I really felt smoother pedaling too. The new chain was heavier than the one I took off. Do you think all this weight could have evened out my pedal stroke and made it easier to climb?

I know added weight is bad and all that, but this has me questioning what the balance point of too much vs too little weight in motion on a fixed gear bike. Getting moving from a stop is slower, and braking I would have to think would be hurt pretty badly too. Whatever the deal is with the weight thing, it sure is nice having a somewhat reasonable gearing for riding around with. I'm tempted to get some expendable tires now so I can skid some. How heavy a gear do I have to push around here to be considered cool anyway?

weight has nothing to do with it. and added weight isn't neccesarily a bad thing.

most people push about 70 gi. I was running a 44/16, put on a 17 in the back and i like it, might go to a 48 in the front. Its really a preference thing. I would say you have a comfortable cadence you like to keep, hence the faster speed. I went from 40/16 to 44/16 when i switched my cranks and had a similar experience.

first off, thanks for considering respecting "the commons" and not destroying the trails!

as for the pedal stroke -- i find it's way easier to have a smooth one at a big gear. the bike pushes you into a nice supplesse. at a smaller gear it's way easier to work yourself up into an ass-bouncing flail-frenzy. but, if you're looking to smooth your stroke out, work the smaller gear and concentrate on it.

as for a 'cool' gear. well... who cares?

haha "ass-bouncing flail-frenzy"
pure gold.

my life is an ass-bouncing flail-frenzy

I'm gonna say riding a mountain bike fixed off road makes you cool right off the bat. I'd like to setup my Kona Stuff like that one day.

I misread that at first as 'my wife'

lol

my life is an ass-bouncing wife frenzy?

mos def