Gear size

[Wayne1963]

Hi this is my first post .
After 30 years off the bike scene I've been told I must get fit,so decided to take up cycling again.
I've bought an old bike that's half converted to a single speed .
The question I need help with is,it's got a rear spoket size 11tooth and a chain ring of 48 tooth,
Obviously this is to tall of a gear and I am wondering what is the best gear ratio for me.
Any throughs.
Regards Wayne

 

[JimboJames1972]

Hi,
I'm also relatively new to the wold of only one gear, but I've been having a rare old time with gear ratios as well.
I switched to single speed because I found that for about 95% of the time, doing my usual cycling around here, I was only using one gear on my road bike - 44:16. Sometimes I would drop to a 14t rear sprocket if I was thrashing downhill, or go up to a 18t for a "climb". Hills around here are pretty lame, it is mostly flat or gentle inclines, so the one gear suite me well. Another reason was that the 14t rear cog was just a fraction too tall for me to push along on the flats/gentle incline, so I stuck with the 16t
I used this ratio of 44:16 as my starting point for my single speed. This given me an overall ratio of 2.75.
For my first build I was able to find a 48t chainring so I matched this with a 17t sprocket to give me an overall ratio of 2.82, fractionally higher than my road bike 44:16, but I was happy to go up a bit rather than down. Since I also used a 172mm crank length I found this fractionally taller ratio pretty much bang on for me.
I'm part way through another build with a 52t chainring that was going spare. If I match this to a18t sprocket I get 2.88 overall ratio, about right for me.

I guess that the solution to your problem could be to ride a borrowed geared bike for a bit and find a ratio that suits your needs. From this you can then match your single speed sprocket and chainring to get your favoured ratio.

Hope this helps,

I

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Everybodies different, gear ratio's tend to vary according to personal preference, your 48x11 is very high, over a hundred gear inches, if you can get an eighteen tooth sprocket fitted that will get you down to a more reasonable level, you could use that as a starting point and work out from there what suits you.

http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches

 

[braaivleis2003]

I'm riding my first single speed as well and loving it !! Can already notice my fitness levels improving compared to my geared bike as was always changing gear to make things easier. Anyway mine has a 46 18 , 69 inches. I really enjoying this gear as I get plenty of speed on flats and not to bad on inclines. If the incline is pretty steep well I'm out of the saddle and pushing it. Went for my first long ride of 31 miles last week with some steepish climbs but managed the whole way. Felt great afterwards thinking I've just done 31 miles on a singlespeed. So I'd recommend 46 18. Can always change chainring by a couple of teeth either way depending on what the roads are like where you live. Enjoy riding yoir single speed.

 

[andyfraser]

For what it's worth, I have 44x16 on my fixie. It's mainly used for riding around town. I spin out at 23mph and can get up any hills in and around town.

 

[Andrew1971]

Hi All
My gear is also 44 16 and i can get up most hill's where i live and give's good speed for me.
Andrew

 

[ClichéGuevara]

I'm new to fixie too, and pondered over the gearing. Fortunately, the decision was taken away from me with what became available, so I went with what I could easily get, which is a 48:16 and it works fairly well, but it's almost billiard table flat around here.
I'm absolutely loving it. It's still a novelty, so I look for any excuse just to pop out and run an errand on it. I need to up my cadence a lot to get the better speeds out of it, but that's all part of the fun. I reckon a wider ratio would put too much strain on my knees on hills.

 

[Basil.B]

I ride 48 x 18 on my single speed.
No hill in my area has got the better of me yet!

 

[braaivleis2003]

46 18 is more than enough for me at the moment especially on climbs. Could drop down by 2 teeth but that would slow my speed down on flats.

 

[steviesch]

gear inches is the thing - and don't forget clipping in/out on fixed can be tricky - but on any given ride the issue is - if you can cope with the ignominy of getting off and pushing up the hill whilst smiling 'cos you think of the money that you are saving on gears...then you are indeed enlightened!

 

[JimboJames1972]

Ok, on gear inches my initial 44:16 ratio and 700x32c tyres gave me 77inches

My first single speed ratio of 48:17 and 700x28c tyres gave me 75.4inches (even though my overall ratio put me higher, this seems to have been cancelled out by a smaller tyre circumference)

Now I am on 52:18 with the same 700x28c tyres and I'm at 77inches again

Swapping tyres seems to have more of an effect than I anticipated?

James

 

[Citius]

If you are just getting back into cycling after 30 years, I would suggest that a single speed is probably the last thing you should be considering.

 

[ChrisEyles]

If you're only just getting back into cycling, then that's a very tall gear indeed!

To start off with I'd run a small-ish gear (maybe 48/20 or even 48/22) that you can spin at a decent cadence while you're getting "bike fit" again. Re-gaining your fitness by grinding a too-high gear will be a slog, and hard on the knees to boot. After several months you can swap it out for a 17t/18t sprocket when you're ready for it!

If there are big hills around that you're planning on climbing, I'd second the recommendation for a geared bike to get you started!

 

[Wayne1963]

Hi
Big thanks for all your replies.
I will buy a geared bikefor long rides,but single speed will be fun.
As for the gearing I am going to try a 44x18 combination to start with.
Regards
Wayne

 

[Ian H]

You can do long rides on fixed. I run 43x17 or sometimes 43x18 on hilly rides.