I wouldn't be so sure, a strong headwind and one gear certainly helps as a training aid and any slopes etc in the road you just put your head down and power onwards. I agree totally however that it all depends on the getting the right gearing for the conditions you intend to ride.
Is fixed faster?
- Thread starter Amanda P
- Start date
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I wouldn't be so sure, a strong headwind and one gear certainly helps as a training aid and any slopes etc in the road you just put your head down and power onwards. I agree totally however that it all depends on the getting the right gearing for the conditions you intend to ride.
Pennine-Paul
Goth on a bike............
Fixed riding makes you much fitter,you never stop pedalling,on my local hills where i ride the roadies come whizzing past me on the downhills but by the time i'm halfway up the next hill i've caught them up,they then try everything to try and get away,dropping gears going up the gears all to no avail,2/3 of the way up and i just leave em behind.I once looked behind me after beating a roadie up a 2 mile climb to see him stopped at the side slumped over his handlebars wimp!
Steve Malkin
Veteran
- Location
- Cheshire
So.....
1.You went faster up a hill than someone else
2. You were riding fixed and he was riding gears
You conclusion: riding fixed makes you much fitter than riding geared
I hope the fate of the nation never depends on your logical reasoning ability...
Or are you claiming that you on your fixed bike would be faster than any other rider on any geared bike up any hill? - if you could demonstrate that then I might begin to take notice
zigzag
Veteran
i was interested myself what's quicker geared or ss (ime - fixed is inferior
). so i went onto some training rides and looking at the data i can see that ss is not any slower. i need to do more rides on ss for more consistent results.
(a shame that i can not compare ss data when riding in a group - i was out today just for that, but it wasn't meant to be - hit a massive pothole half way round and damaged rear rim, now the wheel needs to be rebuilt with a new rim..
)
as you can see the route is not flat, but not too hilly either - very suitable for fixed/ss. on a very hilly route (i.e. many hills over 15%) the geared bike would have an advantage, obviously. both my geared and ss bikes are light, same size and position, same tyres and similar weight wheels - the main difference is in the transmission.
also i've done the same 300km audax on different bikes and it took 1hr less on ss bike than on geared - go figure..
). so i went onto some training rides and looking at the data i can see that ss is not any slower. i need to do more rides on ss for more consistent results.(a shame that i can not compare ss data when riding in a group - i was out today just for that, but it wasn't meant to be - hit a massive pothole half way round and damaged rear rim, now the wheel needs to be rebuilt with a new rim..
)as you can see the route is not flat, but not too hilly either - very suitable for fixed/ss. on a very hilly route (i.e. many hills over 15%) the geared bike would have an advantage, obviously. both my geared and ss bikes are light, same size and position, same tyres and similar weight wheels - the main difference is in the transmission.
also i've done the same 300km audax on different bikes and it took 1hr less on ss bike than on geared - go figure..
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i was interested myself what's quicker geared or ss (ime - fixed is inferior
What he said!
adds21
Rider of bikes
- Location
- North Somerset
Fixed is faster for me on my homeward 8 mile uphill commute (800 feet of climbing), but, unsurprising, slower on my (downhill) ride in.
Because of the hills, I run quite a low gear (67"), but the difference is that I have no choice but to attack the hills, where as on my non fixed bike, I can, and do, drop to a near 40" gear.
If I was less of a wimp, I'd obviously stay in a higher gear on the hills on my road bike, but I am, so I don't! My wife can always tell which bike I took to work by how out of breath am I when I get home.
Because of the hills, I run quite a low gear (67"), but the difference is that I have no choice but to attack the hills, where as on my non fixed bike, I can, and do, drop to a near 40" gear.
If I was less of a wimp, I'd obviously stay in a higher gear on the hills on my road bike, but I am, so I don't! My wife can always tell which bike I took to work by how out of breath am I when I get home.
zigzag
Veteran
it's not about being a wimp (and i'm sure you're not!). let's take a known hill like ditchling beacon. i was trying to get up it with geared bike on as high a gear as possible without shifting down, managed on 42x21 (53"), but it was hard work, a struggle. on 69" ss bike - no problem, wasn't even out of breath. i reckon i could get up that hill on ss with 75" gear. it's all about efficiency of the drivetrain.
geared riders often think that you must be really strong if you ride ss and can keep up with them, when in reality it's often easier to ride ss (or fixed..) - unless it's very hilly.
adds21
Rider of bikes
- Location
- North Somerset
I can see this about fixed, mainly because of the push the peddles give you over the 12/6 position, but I don't see that ss can be easier than geared, other than physiologically. I'm not saying you're wrong, (and I've never ridden ss - always fixed). However, I can certainly see that with either fixed, or ss, you're much more lightly to keep your momentum up, which obviously helps (as it does on geared too, but there's less incentive - which is kind of the point).
al-fresco
Growing older but not up...
- Location
- Shropshire
Don't forget weight - a SS (or fixed) bike will usually weigh a fair bit less than a similarly priced geared bike and that makes a big difference when climbing.
Hi - presume these times are on fixed. Have you tried a SS 72" freewheel? Keeping a gear on the lower side means you can stop/start easier and on the uphill drags you can keep a reasonable cadence. On the faster descents, when you top out at high revs, just tuck in to a low drag position and let gravity take over. When freewheeling, you get recovery time and when the next hill arrives, you are ready to power up again.
Cheers Keith
rb58
Enigma
- Location
- Bexley, Kent
I know little about the physics, but I think my leg strength has improved since riding fixed and my average cadence has definitely increased, which is quite noticeable when I use a geared bike. I have also surprised myself about the grade of hill I can get up on fixed, far higher than I expected. But I think that's psychological where it's a case of MTFU or walk.
