46 chainring
 

I'm looking to buy a wheel set off this guy on the cheap. He's willing to include any sized track sprocket with the wheels. I have a 46 tooth chainring, what rides good with that? I live by a few big hills but not too many. I've used 46/16 for 3+ years, should i go down to a 14 or 13?

pushing too high a gear will kill your knees. I've been riding 46/15 for a year and a half and i'm going to go and buy a 16 o4 17 tooth cog next time im near the bike shop. Not that i can't cut it with 80 gear inches, its just a bit rough on the knees doing that in a town with so many hills.

i ride 46x17

hmm
i have a 48 tooth chain ring around. maybe a 48/15 or a 46/15 or 14. what would be best for skid patches?

I've heard that an odd-numbered cog allows more patches. I ran a 46/16 for a bit, but switched to 40/17. I like the faster acceleration/faster cadence on that.

I was riding 46/13 and its fun but you definatly need a break and its sometimes tought to get up hills without momentum. I switched to another extreme and now run a 46/19 which sounds almost silly and was at first but I'm getting really good at spinning, sometimes goin down steep hills is a little scary but I haven't had a problem yet, also at higher ratios, I feel like my lock ring comes loose a little easier so check that alot. 46/17 seems really popular and is probably a good happy medium. I always use odd tooth cogs

Skid Patches

f you make a habit of doing "skip stops" you will wear your rear tire out considerably faster than if you use your front brake. This problem is exacerbated by certain gear ratios, because you may tend to repeatedly skid on the same section of the tire.

Riders who plan to do a lot of skip stops should consider the ratio when selecting their chainring and rear sprocket. The mathematics of this is actually fairly simple:

* Simplify the gear ratio to the smallest equivalent whole number ratio.
* The denominator of the resulting fraction is the number of skid patches you will have on your rear tire.

Examples:

44/16 simplifies to 11/4, so there would be 4 skid patches.

45/15 simplifies to 3/1 so there would only be 1 skid patch.

42/15 simplifies to 14/5, so there would be 5 skid patches.

43/15 can't be further simplified, so there would be 15 skid patches.

This is based on the assumption that you always skid with the same foot forward.

If you are an ambidextrous skidder, and the simplified ratio has an even numerator or denominator, your number of skid patches will be the same.

If you are an ambidextrous skidder, and both the numerator and denominator are odd, the number of possible skid patches will be doubled.

From Sheldonbrown.com

I rode a 46/17 for about a year and a half and was stoked on it. Then dropped a tooth and gave 46/16 a try. It was cool and I went on some longer rides with hills and it was a good gear, but it never felt as good as the 17 and I didn't feel like I changed my top speed too much.. so yesterday, I rotofixed the 16 off and put back on the old trusty 17. stoked. it is just a really good all-around gear for me.

42-16 works for me in a somewhat hilly area.
I would stick with the 46-16 or go 46-17 if I were you.

Same! I love this ratio it's very comfortable, perfect for flats and hilly areas.