Help needed with Bianchi gearing

[Joe24]

Okay guys, I'm going to build one, I currently have two steel frames with horizontal drops, one will be a tourer/backup commuter and the other a fixed. So I'm looking at my gearing and would like to be able to do my commute(40 miles) on it. I'll go with toe clips to start with, also can you get a fixed/fixed, flip-flop(is that the right term?) rear wheel, different size cog each side?

At present I have two sharp hills on the commute, fairly short, where I drop to the 44 inch gear. I have a couple of longer ones where I drop to 54 inches. Most of the ride is spent in the 60/67/76 inch gears, I do go higher for a couple of downhills. What I don't want to do is spend time pushing, so I'm thinking of a 60 inch one side, to get me started, and a 66 inch on the other side for when I get fitter. It'll take me a while to put together anyway, so hopefully will be fitter by then anyway. I keep aiming to have a higher bottom gear in use, as I improve, anyway.

So what think you folks?

Somewhere around 65" will do you. Its a nice gear to go up hill on, a mate of mine went around Derbyshire/ the Peaks in this gear and would go up any hill.
You will be fine on it, no need for the smaller gear on the other side. Get good at spinning this gear and you will be well away. I know someone that ran 63.5" and could beat people down hills on geared bikes

 

[4F]

MacB, welcome to the dark side :?:, agree with joe 24 on the gearing

 

[MacB]

MacB, welcome to the dark side :?:, agree with joe 24 on the gearing

now that's not playing the game properly, you don't agree with Joe on principle

And don't go welcoming me yet, the fixed is currently a frame and forks in my garage, long way to go and I may not like it!!!

 

[Joe24]

MacB, welcome to the dark side :?:, agree with joe 24 on the gearing

I reckon you should go in that gear for abit FFFF, get your spinning up, then go back to your normal gear and be fitter and see if you spin faster

 

[Joe24]

now that's not playing the game properly, you don't agree with Joe on principle

And don't go welcoming me yet, the fixed is currently a frame and forks in my garage, long way to go and I may not like it!!!

What is the spacing of the rear dropouts?

 

[MacB]

What is the spacing of the rear dropouts?

one frame is about 126mm and the other 135mm, but either can be cold set(or bent with a bit of 4x2).

 

[4F]

I reckon you should go in that gear for abit FFFF, get your spinning up, then go back to your normal gear and be fitter and see if you spin faster

I may well do that, one thing I have noticed is that the 1 time I took the geared bike out it went like a rocket. Riding fixed certainly builds up your leg muscle strength.

 

[Joe24]

one frame is about 126mm and the other 135mm, but either can be cold set(or bent with a bit of 4x2).

Use the 126 for fixed, you should be able to just get a 120mm spaced hub and space it up abit. A LBS tried a System x hub in my 130mm spaced frame i had. It just wasnt big enough, if the axle was slightly longer it would of been fine. He wasnt keen on my idea which was to just space it to 126 and put the bolts on so they just bend the frame in abit.
120mm is what most track hubs are, but your 126mm should be fine. If not, just bend it in abit.
Ofcourse, if you want to go cheap, theres always the cheap cheap way. Get a rear wheel that fits your frame that takes a screw on block. Take the gears off and put on a fixed sprocket. You could either locktite(or whatever that stuff is called) it on, or just dont bother. You wont have a lockring, so you would need to put the sprocket on tight(on another thread there was a debate about this) and put a rear brake on to be really safe(although me personaly i wouldnt bother) but it will work.

 

[Joe24]

I may well do that, one thing I have noticed is that the 1 time I took the geared bike out it went like a rocket. Riding fixed certainly builds up your leg muscle strength.

Give it a go. Im building up another fixed i think, that will have either 65" or 63.5". Ill use that to commute and maybe when ist really wet or in the winter. It should build up my fitness more and se suppleness in my legs as i spin more.
When i go on my geared bike, i tend to go faster and push a bigger gear. Fixed built up my leg muscle, and most of all strengthened my knees. Which really is a plus. I thought my knees were strong before, but when i started riding fixed it was amazing what i could do.

 

[stevevw]

Okay guys, I'm going to build one, I currently have two steel frames with horizontal drops, one will be a tourer/backup commuter and the other a fixed. So I'm looking at my gearing and would like to be able to do my commute(40 miles) on it. I'll go with toe clips to start with, also can you get a fixed/fixed, flip-flop(is that the right term?) rear wheel, different size cog each side?

At present I have two sharp hills on the commute, fairly short, where I drop to the 44 inch gear. I have a couple of longer ones where I drop to 54 inches. Most of the ride is spent in the 60/67/76 inch gears, I do go higher for a couple of downhills. What I don't want to do is spend time pushing, so I'm thinking of a 60 inch one side, to get me started, and a 66 inch on the other side for when I get fitter. It'll take me a while to put together anyway, so hopefully will be fitter by then anyway. I keep aiming to have a higher bottom gear in use, as I improve, anyway.

So what think you folks?

Not that I know about this yet but what is the point on having two gears on the bike when you can only use one at a time? You may as well have the other gear at home and change it when you feel ready. But as I say .......

 

[Joe24]

Not that I know about this yet but what is the point on having two gears on the bike when you can only use one at a time? You may as well have the other gear at home and change it when you feel ready. But as I say .......

You have two gears, for a few reasons.
You have one for the flat, and if it gets hilly you can just turn your back wheel around and have an easier gear.
Or, like me, i have my normal gear on one side and a TT gear on the other. I just turn the wheel round when i do a TT.
Much easier then taking the lockring off, taking the sprockt off, putting the new sprocket on, tightening the sprocket up, putting the lockring on.
All i do is take the wheel out and turn it around.

 

[Oddjob62]

Or even more gears if you really want
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html#fixedmtb

 

[4F]

Im building up another fixed i think,

Umm 2 fixies, now that's a thought :?:

 

[Joe24]

Umm 2 fixies, now that's a thought :?:

Its needed. I want more fixeds really, but i dont think mum would be happy

 

[Greenbank]

Changing gears out on the road can be a faff. It's easy when your dropouts or track-ends are long enough to handle the change in chain length, otherwise you have to mess around removing or adding links. Mudguards can also impose a limit. Forward facing dropouts often provide less capacity, but they don't require realignment of the brake blocks (as you have to do with a significant wheel position change in track-ends).

The first day of my ride up to Edinburgh (to Thorne) was pretty flat so I used a 76" gear (46x16). At Thorne I swapped to the 18T sprocket for a 67" gear as there are some proper hills up North. I had to add a couple of links of chain and managed to screw this up[sup]1[/sup]. I rode up a reasonable hill (up into Crayke and on to Coxwold) with the chain like this: http://www.greenbank.org/misc/le02.jpg

Doing it again I'd probably go for the 18T sprocket for hills and a 17T sprocket (71.4") for the flatter bits. That way I can do it just by flipping the wheel and not worrying about chain length. More than likely I'll just stick with the 18T sprocket and avoid the faffing around. I've never swapped a wheel round during a ride.

1. By using different makes of chain and using the pin from the existing chain with shorter pins and thinner side plates. Eventually fixed it properly 80km further on with a new section of chain with the longer pins.