Who needs gears?

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SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
I think there's a trade-off between having optimal gear ratios and the proportion of the time you ride actually under power. By this I mean if you have (and use) a lot of derailleur gears, you are inevitably sacrificing some forward motion during gearchanges. If you have a SS, you are not losing time under power during gearchanges, even though your single gear ratio isn't optimal for some of your ride. I've noticed recently with timing some of my journeys, that a 3-speed hub-gear roadster can be more swift on some routes than my 21 speed MTB. Tyre drag plays a part, but I reckon what allows a 3-speed to make decent time - despite not having that much ratio choice and being quite a heavy bike, is the fact that very little under-power time is lost during gear changing.
 

CXRAndy

Guru
Location
Lincs
you are inevitably sacrificing some forward motion during gearchanges

Momentum is the word, you never change gear at the point of stall. You should of changed gear before speed begins to drop and just increase rpm or if accelerating change gear at the higher cadence so that the torque hit is minimal. That is why geared bikes are faster, it keeps the rider in their optimum cadence and power zone. Sure you can setup a SS for a particular terrain and will be as fast as a geared bike, but soon as the terrain alters from the SS optimal conditions a geared bike is faster.

SS have their place, that is to help riders learn to spin.
 
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SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
Momentum is the word, you never change gear at the point of stall. You should of changed gear before speed begins to drop and just increase rpm or if accelerating change gear at the higher cadence so that the torque hit is minimal..

I agree gearchanges should be made in good time, but it doesn't alter the fact that derailleurs give you a slower gearchange than an internal hub gear, especially if you have to do a double-change involving both front and rear chainrings. Also, if you ride in urban traffic, sometimes you are forced to stop unexpectedly and find yourself in too high a gear to set off again briskly. With a hub gear, you can click it into Low whilst stationary and make a quicker getaway. All these couple of lost seconds here and there add up to a reduced average speed. I've done the same round trip 20 mile journey now on a 21 speed knobbly-tyred rigid MTB, an 18 speed hybrid, and a 3-speed light roadster and compared the overall speeds. The MTB averages 10.5 MPH, the Hybrid manages 11.7 MPH, the Roadster just touches 12 MPH. You'd expect it to be slower with the limited ratio choice available, but the figures show the opposite and it's also by far the most user-friendly bike in traffic.
 

MikeG

Guru
Location
Suffolk
Anyone know when the last Grand Tour or Classic was won by a fixie or a SS?

The claim in the OP is just wishful thinking and confirmation bias. If there was any truth in it, the pros would be riding them.
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
SS have their place, that is to help riders learn to spin.[/QUOTE]

I... I've done the same round trip 20 mile journey now on a 21 speed knobbly-tyred rigid MTB, an 18 speed hybrid, and a 3-speed light roadster and compared the overall speeds. The MTB averages 10.5 MPH, the Hybrid manages 11.7 MPH, the Roadster just touches 12 MPH. You'd expect it to be slower with the limited ratio choice available, but the figures show the opposite and it's also by far the most user-friendly bike in traffic.

I wouldn't expect it to be slower. Heavier tyres are the biggest factor by far in my experience from time-trialling and and distance riding.
 
OP
OP
Sharky

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
Anyone know when the last Grand Tour or Classic was won by a fixie or a SS?

The claim in the OP is just wishful thinking and confirmation bias. If there was any truth in it, the pros would be riding them.
Would never expect a fixed or SS to be used for road racing when acceleration is required or gradients vary so much, but for solo riding and certain riding conditions, fixed/SS is by no means at a disadvantage.

In the days of Boardman & Obree, I think competition records for 10, 25 & 50 were all done on fixed.

In my case, when I was commuting, I did my fastest ride to work on a fixed and many of my training loops have been faster on SS.
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
Even fixed has a gear, it just happens to be a single one. If you want to get rid of gears get a Penny Farthing.
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
I wouldn't expect it to be slower. Heavier tyres are the biggest factor by far in my experience from time-trialling and and distance riding.

In the case of the MTB, yes the tyres will slow it down - you can hear them hum when you get a move on, so there's energy loss there. The hybrid however is essentially a flat-bar touring bike with a triple chainring. It's on similar sized road pattern tyres (700 x 35c vs 26" x 1 3/8" on the 3-speed) The hybrid is also lighter, being Reynolds 531 with alloy wheels and alloy other bits - whereas the 3 speed is gas pipe with everything made of steel. Any paper spec comparison says the hybrid should be quicker than the 3-speed - but so long as the route isn't full of hills, the 3 speed is actually the quicker bike, albeit only by a small margin.
 
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skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
I will happily do 200k Audax on my fixie and I have just converted my MTB commuter to SS just to cut down of the maintenance and wear issues. On the Audax rides if I have to walk up a lump then so be it but 99% of the time I am keeping up with everyone and not feeling any worse for not being able to stop peddling
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
I will happily do 200k Audax on my fixie and I have just converted my MTB commuter to SS just to cut down of the maintenance and wear issues.

Do you find being limited to only one gear ratio to be more fatiguing than having a wide choice of gears and riding to a near-constant cadence? On my 3 speed I must spend over 90% of the time in the middle ratio which is, IIRC, around 66 gear inches. The Low gear is useful for gradients & headwinds, and the High gear for gentle descents and tailwinds, but I'm not convinced that for lightly-laden riding you actually need a large number of ratios. I have up to 21 gears on various bikes and I still find I only tend to use no more than 3 or 4 of them for the vast majority of my mileage.
 

skudupnorth

Cycling Skoda lover
Far
Do you find being limited to only one gear ratio to be more fatiguing than having a wide choice of gears and riding to a near-constant cadence? On my 3 speed I must spend over 90% of the time in the middle ratio which is, IIRC, around 66 gear inches. The Low gear is useful for gradients & headwinds, and the High gear for gentle descents and tailwinds, but I'm not convinced that for lightly-laden riding you actually need a large number of ratios. I have up to 21 gears on various bikes and I still find I only tend to use no more than 3 or 4 of them for the vast majority of my mileage.
Far from it, I actually find it easier even with gradients up and down. I have been riding fixed for over seven years now either commuting or as an Audax. Of course there are some rides such as Colin’s rides into the Yorkshire hills where fixed would be near on impossible so the Tourer comes out. That’s not saying the big hills are not out of bounds for fixed, I might challenge myself one day and take it up there. But for the majority of my rides, fixed really suits me and I like that simplicity of no gears and a handlebar full of cables and levers
 
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