PpPete
Legendary Member
- Location
- Chandler's Ford
My fixed is based around 25 year old (approx) Reynolds 531 framed Carlton I bought off Ebay for £80, powder coated, and equipped with whatever gubbins I have lying around in the garage. The other day it's front wheel was fitted with a studded tyre in case of ice, but I decided that was un-necessary so at the last moment before setting off I swopped it out for a Fulcrum 7 which had 700x25 slick on it.
Rode 38 km .. mostly flat loop, but with one or two nasty little lumps which were at the limit of what I could get up with a 74" gear on. Time was 1h 23min.... which I was rather pleased with, first time I've averaged over 16 mph on a solo ride.
Today, in similar meteorological conditons, dressed in the same clothes, I rode exactly the same loop on my "best bike" - a Van Nic Yukon, with full Campag triple drive train, hand built wheels... I bike I have spent a lot of £££ on. Time 1h 22 min and I had to bust a gut to beat the previous time.
The weight of the two bikes is very similar, and it got me thinking whether in fact, if I got my gearing dead right and improved my downhill spinning a bit I would actually be faster on fixed over this sort of short distance.
Any one else made any comparisons?
Rode 38 km .. mostly flat loop, but with one or two nasty little lumps which were at the limit of what I could get up with a 74" gear on. Time was 1h 23min.... which I was rather pleased with, first time I've averaged over 16 mph on a solo ride.
Today, in similar meteorological conditons, dressed in the same clothes, I rode exactly the same loop on my "best bike" - a Van Nic Yukon, with full Campag triple drive train, hand built wheels... I bike I have spent a lot of £££ on. Time 1h 22 min and I had to bust a gut to beat the previous time.
The weight of the two bikes is very similar, and it got me thinking whether in fact, if I got my gearing dead right and improved my downhill spinning a bit I would actually be faster on fixed over this sort of short distance.
Any one else made any comparisons?