My gearing now is 52x16. I commute with it. train with it and even do some climbing. and a few races at the track now. one of my friends mentioned having a bigger cog like an 18 on the other side and using that for when i commute or have rest days and want to spin. does this seem like a good idea? and i apolagize if this was discussed, but I couldn't find anything with my phone.

52/16 is really big for street use.

Your friend is right. You need more than one chainring and cog for training, racing, and commuting.

Any two sided hub will give you two options. If you have a fixed/free hub put you "commuting gear" on the side with the lockring and your "race gearing" on the freewheel side. Not a perfect solution, but better.

+1 I commute with 48/18. Racing is more like 48/15. Your are not doing yourself any favors running such a tall gear on the street.

I just tried out the 52 chainring one day just for fun and really liked how it felt, coming from 46x16. I don't ride it to look tough or anything like that it just feels good to me since it's less spinning. I just got back from the bike shop and my mechanic gave me an 18 and I put it on the freewheel side with some locktight. I don't skid or mess around too much so he said it would be fine. I think once I start riding on the velodrome some more I might gear down. thanks for the advice

Nothing about your set up is very good. You are very much overgeared for streetriding, no matter how much you think it feels good. It is unsafe and bad for your knees, plus it will be bad for your racing. 52/18 is about right for commuting but it won't help with racing.

Locktite on a fixed cog is not safe, put a lockring on if you are riding on the street. On the velodrome you do not need a lockring because you will never do anything but soft pedal or go up track.

As a general rule for all forums, if you ask for advice and then don't follow it you will stop getting the advice.

+1

It's all relative and dependent on the rider.

He is running a 52x16 (87.8 inches). Most velodromes would recommend a 49x15 (88.2 inches) for beginners so his setup is just fine for a newbie.

Regardless of riding on the road or track I would recommend always using a lock ring. Some tracks require lock rings and won't let you race without one.

My rear hub is a flip flop so I can't have a lockring on the freewheel side. I already have a lock ring on the 16 side. And I always run a front brake.

Not to be rude, but...So? It's still a bad idea to ride fixed on the street with no lock ring.

No one is going to hold your hand with this. Use proper equipment or deal with the consequences.

52x16 is a fine gear for the track. Nothing particularly wrong with it.

You do need to learn to spin on the track - you are not going to be good without effectively spinning.

that lockring thing is controversial. If you never brake hard or backpedal hard you "may be" ok. If that thing comes off - especially in the infield, you are screwed (you can't "always run a front brake" if you are on the track). Still, I've known people who do do the track without a lock ring.

I'm never going to use the 18 side on the track and put others in danger. My mechanic has had his shop for over 30 years and done this to many people without having a problem so I'll try this out for a bit until I get a better rear hub. Thanks for the advice everyone.

I've heard that a number of times, and I carry lockrings for almost every sort of wheel that I have (they're meaningless on the old Specialized Trispoke), but in a fair bit of travel I've never seen anyone actually require one.

Riding fixed on the street without a lockring is much worse than riding on the track without a lockring. You tend to ride smaller gears on the road and can transmit more torque to loosen it, and you do it way more often and more abruptly. You're much better off putting the lockring on the street-riding gear than on the track-riding gear-- none of the tracks in SoCal require a lockring. If you've properly installed the gear and are backpedaling hard enough on the track to pop it loose, you're probably already in *way* worse trouble than a loose cog is going to cause.