Help needed with Bianchi gearing

[stevevw]

Thanks for all the replies. I have been riding for the last few days without changing gear in 39 - 14 which I think is 73.2" my crank arms are 175mm
The Bianchi gear is 48 - 16 78.8" which is 5.6" higher probably manageable but the crank arms are 165mm so the effort to turn them will be more too.
I may try and get hold of a 17 - 74.2" or 18 - 70.1" Or just wait and give it a go.

Another new bike!

You've only just built a new one!!

What's next on the shopping list, a recumbent?

Helen I have just sold 3 bikes so I have had to replace them with this sex on wheels and am building a MTB. May one day build a recumbent, when I need to have a lay down. And why are you on the fixed gear part of this site? Thinking of converting the Trice?

 

[Auntie Helen]

And why are you on the fixed gear part of this site? Thinking of converting the Trice?

I thought I'd venture to where all the potty people hang out, see what it's like. What with FFFF and dudi doing 100 miles on fixeds yesterday, I think I need to slink away in a hurry!

Somehow I don't think a Trice would work well as a fixed.

 

[Greenbank]

Fixed insanity goes like this:-

Buy fixed for commuting only (12km each way).
Take it round Richmond Park a few times (40km for 3 laps and to/from home) and enjoy how it climbs.
Try it out on a 100km Audax (including riding to/from the stations/start it was 100 miles all in).
Rarely touch the geared bike again. Take fixed on longer and longer "training rides".
Do a flat 300km Audax on it.
Do some more 200km Audaxes on it and rag it round the park.
Do a hilly 300km Audax on it.
Do a not-so-flat 400km Audax on it.
Do some more 200km Audaxes on it and rag it round the park.
Do a 600km Audax on it.
Do a 3-day 750km ride up from London to Edinburgh on it, over Yad Moss and through the Moorfoot Hills (B709).

Enter a 1400km Audax (LEL) to be ridden on the "only got it for commuting" fixed.

Gah.

Anyway, for gearing, it's all personal and there is no right answer.

For average undulating terrain something around 71" (46x17) is fine. For flatter terrain go higher (74" = 48x17 or 76" = 46x16 or even up into the 80s or 90s), for hillier terrain go lower (67" = 46x18 or 63" = 46x19). Play around with it and see how you feel.

I used 71" for Audaxing last year although I've used 76" for one flat 300km ride. This year I've dropped to 67" as I'm doing some hillier rides but I also want to get myself spinning.

Pick a gear that allows you to get up all (or at least the vast majority) of the hills you encounter, and then learn to spin it coming down the other side. Too long (big) a gear and you'll walk up too many hills. 67" gets me up everything up to 15%. A couple of 17% hills near me are just too much. Too short a gear isn't too bad but might give you too high a cadence for general cruising along the flat.

Play and enjoy.

 

[stevevw]

It would get you a much higher leg speed going down those hills too.

 

[MacB]

would it not make more sense to go SS before going fixed, especially if, like me, you use flat pedals?

 

[spandex]

+1 for Greenbank

 

[stevevw]

Greenbank
What a great post thanks so much for all the info.

 

[stevevw]

would it not make more sense to go SS before going fixed, especially if, like me, you use flat pedals?

Yes it probably would have been if I had not been seduced by the goddess that is Bianchi Pista. And bought something like a Langster with the flip flop rear wheel. I have been clipless for some time now but the Pista has toe clips so will use them for now before changing to spd's or spd-sl's when I am more comfortable riding fixed.

 

[MajorMantra]

would it not make more sense to go SS before going fixed, especially if, like me, you use flat pedals?

I think if you use flats and don't want clipless then SS is really your only option. Fixed without foot retention isn't safe for normal riding.

Matthew

 

[4F]

would it not make more sense to go SS before going fixed, especially if, like me, you use flat pedals?

I would say that to go singlespeed to start with is the worst of both worlds as you loose out on any forward momentum that you gain with a fixed.

Imho the only real benefit of singlespeed is the maintenance free aspect of it.

 

[4F]

100 miles on a fixie? I'm getting seriously worried about you FFFF! A few short weeks ago you were a regular cyclist, now you've metamorphasised into some sort of Fixie nutter. Is there a link, addict, fix? I'm seeing a pattern here

MacB, it's a slippery slope. I have only been out on the geared bike once since converting the other to fixed

 

[Greenbank]

I don't see the point with going SS before fixed. If you want to do this just put your geared bike in a roughly similar gear and don't change it. Don't got to he faff of having a SS freewheel fitted (and then having to remove it later).

The thing that will get you about riding fixed is when you try and freewheel and you're reminded, violently, that you can't. Often at inopportune moments like coming up to a junction or going over speedbumps. Riding SS won't help you get ready for that.

 

[Oddjob62]

The thing that will get you about riding fixed is when you try and freewheel and you're reminded, violently, that you can't. Often at inopportune moments like coming up to a junction or going over speedbumps. Riding SS won't help you get ready for that.

Agreed, I have been "fixed" for 4 days now and been loving it, except for the above.

Although I did ride SS for a week as my fixed bike has 23 tyres, previous bikes have been an old MTB with huge tyres and a hybrid with 35s so wanted to make sure I wasn't too crap on the thin tyres before I tried my hand a fixed.

 

[Joe24]

Gearing depends on what you want. Some people i ride with would class me as over geared, i ride 48/18 which is 72". These peoople ride gears in the mid 60" and spin.
When i first started i rode 65" and i could get up to 30mph on the flat with that, and go down a hill doing 38mph(200rpm) and be fine. Id go everywhere spinning alot, and it wasnt so nice when the group had a tail wind and would be going along doing 27mph for miles.
I did a TT on this gear aswell, and averaged 21mph i think, my average cadence for the 10miles was 120rpm
Now with 72" i can keep up easier when the group speeds up, can still power up hills. Its a nice all round gear.
48/16 is what i TT on now, and on the last one i did i beat the other person on a road bike, and a person on a TT bike. The person that beat me was 1min ahead and he was on a TT bike.
Dont go for a big gear, because you dont like to spin so much. Go for a big gear because you know you can push that gear. On sunday i was in my TT gear and did 30miles in 1:29 and thats with some hills.
The smaller gear will give you some more suppleness and fitness.
Oh, and dont go singlespeed before fixed. Its pointless and a complete load of rubbish that you should. The feel of fixed and single isnt the same, and its easier to be in a bigger gear on fixed then single. Just make sure you have straps or your clipped in on fixed.

 

[MacB]

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?