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track bikes

Old 12-13-04, 10:53 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by hair07
so, why are track bikes fixed gear? is this a rule in track racing? if so, would track racing benefit from the introduction of multiple gear bikes(hypothetically)? would speeds increase and times go down? if not(a rule), it must be advantagous to use a fixed gear b/c that's what track racers use. anyone know why?

as a sidenote, are there any good resources on the internet for either history of track racing or theory and strategy? thanks.

dan
There are two reasons that bikes use a fixed gear on the track. The first one is tradition. Organized track racing has been around much longer than the types of road races we are accustomed to today. The second reason, and this one goes way back as well, is safety. It is much easier to keep a consistent speed with a fixed gear. You don't have the ability to stop and slow down as quickly as you do with a bike equipped with brakes. If you were to allow multiple gear bikes with a freewheel, then racers would sit up as soon as they've finished they're effort, and guys would be plowing into each other as the guys at the front of the pack stopped pedaling. With the racing on a track being so tight, this would create too many problems in mass start races. You'd be best off to swerve around a pileup, and if you can't, then you wouldn't be able to stop in time anyways.

My own opinion as well, seeing as this whole not stopping in time would only be good for mas start races, is that a fixed gear handles a standing start much better. My experiences with doing standing starts on road bikes are horrible. The chain line is never straight due to the multiple gears, and this causes problems with derrailment and broken chains when in a big gear. With a perfect chain line (if you have it set up that way), you never have any of these problems on a track bike.

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Old 01-17-05, 08:17 PM
  #27  
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once you have a rear derailluier with springs and pulleys, less power is going into the wheel. if you shift on the track under full power, will the chain fly off? do you let up on the power to shift when you are elbow to elbow with the guy next to you? do you let up on your grip to shift? fixed gear is mano a mano. gears...you don't need no stinking gears.
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Old 01-21-05, 02:11 PM
  #28  
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Veloshop in beautiful portland oregon. they've got the nicest track hubs on the block.
SW park just off burnside.
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Old 02-07-05, 04:56 AM
  #29  
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Bronxbull is right. freewheels, brakes and velodromes don't mix. Imagine coming around the pack three wide doing 65 kmh in the last 200m on a big, flat Aussie track and have someone sit up and start freewheeling in front of you!!! Be sure to have the brown skinsuit on.

Didn't the Canandian Joc Lovell ride the kilo at the Worlds in the early 80's with a dual drive bike? If I remember it had chainrings on both sides, and a cog on each side of the hub. He started in a smaller gear, the other cog wound on while he was speeding up, then took over when the cog had taken up all the thread on the rear hub. The small gear was a freewheel which then clutched for the remainder of the race. Jens Glulitch or Maic Malchow then probably won the kilo by 3 seconds instead of 3.000001 seconds.
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Old 02-07-05, 07:41 AM
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Originally Posted by bronxbull
in order to have multiple speeds on a bike you need a freewheel;
if you have a freewheel you need a brake to slow down;
if a group of people are riding on a track in close effecient fashon as they should and someone pulls a break lever...

they all crash.
multi speed bikes are too dangerous for velodrome. case closed.

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Old 02-09-05, 10:24 PM
  #31  
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I read a post in the other forum that said that geared bikes do not enjoy the "flywheel effect" of the rotating cranks. This is really true and you can feel it, maybe you didn't think about in that way but...
The rotating cranks/flywheel are stored energy! That is a big difference between geared and fixed.
Where is that damned brake lever...
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Old 03-07-05, 12:19 PM
  #32  
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"One gear in front.
One gear in back.
No coasting.
What don't you understand?"
fixedgearhead

WORD!

Last edited by trackmaster; 03-07-05 at 12:27 PM.
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Old 04-17-05, 06:19 PM
  #33  
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Perhaps we can start a David Letterman style top ten reasons track bikes don't have brakes, only one gear and can't coast.

I'll start. Let's see, hmmm...okay

Track bikes don't have brakes because:

1. You can't get hit by a reckless cabbie or a soccer mom in her SUV on the velodrome.
2. you'll never hear "get off the velodrome" by the rednek in the pickup truck.
3. There are no stop signs or traffic lights in the velodrome so you don't have to wait for the little old lady to cross the 'drome. You also can't get a traffic ticket for blowing stop signs/lights on the velodrome.

Track bikes can't coast because:

1. You don't have to get out of your pedals to kick the loose dog that's chasing you on the 'drome (they also don't have water bottle cage bolts on the frame because you'll never have to squirt the dog with water on the velodrome).

Ok, that's all I can think of for now. I know, they sound dumb. Anybody got any better ones?
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Old 04-22-05, 01:49 AM
  #34  
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[QUOTE=OneTinSloth](as long as you're not runing like, 52/13, of course, then you could probably just build up enough speed to carry you up the hill ).[/QUOT

It's quite odd that you picked that ratio. I'm on my way to fixed right now, currently in my ss stage. I set up my road bike with a straight chanline and went on my way. After riding with my buddy, who's been riding ss for a while, asked me what gear I was running since I wasn't spinning it to quickly. I said I don't know and sat down to count teeth. Long story short, 52-13.

/Sorry for the boring post.
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