Spin a lower gear at a higher cadence, instead of mashing a ridiculous ratio.

58/4 if you're man enough

My preference for the past few weeks and 400 miles of riding has been 25-76 gear inches.

Thinking that tomorrow I might rock a 52/16 for a while.

Seriously. My commute includes a couple brief but very steep hills that just can't be avoided. I initially had a pretty tall gear ratio and I was just mashing/grinding up the hills. My knees hated me. I moved to 42/20 and life's much easier for me. Going up the hills is easier, and going downhill really builds up that souplesse.

65-70 gi for normal street riding.

We ride with tall gears because we want to go fast, and then we pay the price in terms of difficult acceleration, deceleration and climbing ability.

When we gear down in order to accelerate, decelerate and climb better, we find ourselves limited in speed by our ability/inability to spin at a high rate, and so we go back up in gear ratio.

I say, take the time to learn to spin at a higher rate, ride a lower gear, and have the best of all worlds.

If I wrote an e-book on spin that would make it easy and comfortable for you to spin at one and a half times your presently fastest rate of spin, would you pay $3.95 for it?

Yes. But I wouldn't mind a hard cover. :)

That's an excellent gear. I ran the same on 25c tires over last winter and until about June this year and was mostly happy with it, especially on flats.

I'm running 50x16/25c now, and it's great, especially on hills. Climbing is essentially the same, but you have to attack hills like you mean it, don't just stay seated and spin. The ONLY downside is I get slightly more worn out on flats, but since my city has almost zero flat areas, I get along fine.

Some of you guys who say you live in hilly areas must have perfect knees, is all I can say. There are plenty of 10% - 12% hills around here, and 42/16 - 70GI - will get me up them without my actually hearing the cartilage wearing away as I climb. And I certainly spin out pretty fast on the descents, but it's better than walking...

went to the bike kitchen last night and installed the cheap Cog and Lock Ring. Was glad I went and didn't try to ghetto ring it all at home (which I could of via cheap universal bike tool + rotafix) I went in, after waiting 2 hours, they give me a helper. I grabbed the grease and greased up my sheettt, grabbed my rear wheel, a chain whip and tightened the cog until my hands were in agony. Found a much nicer lockring tool then I had and tightened the lockring. Then the nice kid who was helping me held the wheel in place and again, I tightened the lockring til my hands were in agony and I'd developed a little crowd watching me as I struggled. Got everything done, went back and threw my wheel on my bike with a 17T Cog. I'm under the weather at the moment so I didn't get to really push myself but I felt a HUGE difference riding. The slight grades around Echo park were much easier to take, to feel I was cruising at a comfortable speed my cadence was much higher and I was able to do a fairly steep hill to the top with a lot less effort.

oh, and I managed to successfully skid for the first time as I rolled up to my house. Told my friend I could no longer drink any of his good beer, its only PBR and skinny jeans for me now. lawl.

If I find myself consistently riding on the 17T i'm going to grab a better cog and lockring and removing them will hopefully not strip my hub. Still feel to under the weather to really ride so next time I do a night ride or really push myself I'll be able to tell if I can get what I want out of this gearing.

Thanks Bikeforums, I managed to wrench it myself, ride it myself and enjoy the **** out of the whole process.

47/18, ridiculous hills around here

46/17

I was running 46x18 which was great for hills, but not flats or downhill. Then I tried 46x15 which was great while messing around at the velodrome, but unbearable in the real world. Running 46x17 now which is a little better. Still debating whether to swap to a 47 or 48 chainring.

i started out at 49/15, but my knees couldn't handle it. now i'm 46/15, still sketchy on the knees sometimes. there aren't any hills big enough in my area that i can't comfortably mash up, with the exception of the hill that i live on, which i often walk up. i'll often do 50 miles rides, but i won't ride fixed if it's windy.

I just went from a 42/17 to a 48/16 and it is great. Hills are a bit hard now, as they should be, but downhill I feel I can resist more efficiently.

That's a massive jump...almost 10 inches...I hope your knees are okay.

Vixtor, you are correct, it is drastic, but the old one was starting to feel like riding stationary. I looked at the chart and realized that it"s 81GI which seems like a lot. But then again, Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan is not hilly except for the bridges.

so put on a brake

The all around ratio on my new build is 66.6 gi with 37c tires. 60 gi for hills and whatever terrain.

39/17 for all my rides with a 180mm crank

46/16, moderate hills here

i tend to run low gears because my physical therapist says they are much better on the knee (of which i have had may soccer injuries to, and subsequent surgery). so im definitely prone to spinning.

i have 46/18 on my 700c coaster brake bike....
and typically 45/17 on my fixed gear....

but for sh!!ts and giggles, i bought a 19 t cog from eightinch when they had that 10 dollar off deal or whatever, and threw it on my fixed gear.
45/19 !!!! hahaha felt like the road runner! i bombed this one hill and it was seriously the fastest i have ever spun lol....yah im going back to 45/17 :)

I spin +87rpm with 81 gear inches. Cruising. When I start pounding it I get up to and above 120. Wind affects these numbers obviously.

As has been said before here, find a gearing that works for you. Not some number you read. I went up from 44/15 to 49/16 and found extra speed and cadence. My legs could handle it and the hills were not affected. Find the gear that works for you.