Single speed riding

brownbosh

Anyone do it ? Bought a 2009 langster yessterday and have modified it for purpose.
ust returned from my first ever single speed ride with another club member ona 20sp compact drive pricipia allong side me, have to say it was bloody brilliant. I deliberately chose a particularly hilly slimey coninually up and down type route of 30 miles. Its amazing how you can get the bike up the hills when you just dont think you would be able to (especially bearing in mind my size). More than held my own and realised how lazy i am on a geared bike.Top fun and more bang for the buck than you can shake a stick at!. I can feel im using more core muscle groups and slightly more glut than before and my lungs had a good work out. All in all a great training tool, this winter my body will suffer and flourish because of it! Plan to work at least 2 short s/s runs in per week, recon ill have a zebras arse. One question , why did i wait this long?


Oh neglectred to mention the cafe stop with double fried egg sandwhich at the end was heavenly too....

Simon Notley

You riding fixed or single speed?? I've built a fixed recently and love riding it, although still not as confident in traffic as I am on my normal bike. I have a flip.flop hub, so could theoretically ride single speed instead, but I don;t really want to - fixed is just too fun!

Simon

robbarker

You need to ride it fixed. It's much more fun, climbing is easier and you learn to spin on the descents.

2wheelzgood

tis good. one one of my 3 bikes now has gears;
Hybrid's mech broke so converted it.
MTb- sold it
so I bought a Bianchi Pista
so only one with more gears than wheels is my motorbike

Fixed is waaay more fun though and it's odd on a freewheel after riding fixed, legs keep going round and round.

Me intersting to see if I start commuting a longer than 5 mile distance with my cycles and how it'll feel in winter- may be not so easy and cool then!

brownbosh

freewheel for me owing to the undulating nature of my training routes - i love descending and dont want to have to pedal. Plus gearing is a bit small at the mo with a 42 front!

robbarker

Frame size turned all right then? Did you go for the 61 or the 58?

Trust me that you need to ride it fixed. I live in Monmouthshire and it's damn hilly.

You get used to spinning and it's good for your technique when riding gears.

If things get too fast, you just use the brakes. At the very least give it a go for a couple of weeks to get into it before dismissing it.

It could be your gearing is too low - I run 46/18 which is fine for most rolling terrain and the odd short sharp climb, and big enough to descend most slopes on.

redvee

I'll be giving fixed a blast a few weeks into getting my On-One frame. going to do it on the cheap buy bolting a sprocket where the disc attaches and seeing how I get on. If the frame wasn't disc only I'd get a flip flop but the sprocket is under £20 so cheap enough to try it out.

salsarider79

I understand the desire to run it freewheel. Fixed is fun, I've tried it and while it's fine on a track bike, its a whole different ball game in a town. You have to be so aware of whats going on around you. Do try, but don't be afraid of saying no.
p.s. my Langster runs 42:16 and is undergeared. (Except like today, where my climbing legs weren't there, and I even found myself wanting stoopid gears at one point :!: :?: :shock: )

Gav2000

salsarider79 wrote:

p.s. my Langster runs 42:16 and is undergeared. (Except like today, where my climbing legs weren't there, and I even found myself wanting stoopid gears at one point :!: :?: :shock: )

I've finally settled on 42:17 for my Langster in Northamptonshire. My cruising speed is about 19/20mph and maximum speed is 26/27mph but around an 18 mile route I have it is quicker than 42:16, 42:18 and my geared bike.

It's amazing what a difference a single tooth can make though as 42:18 was terrible, I bounced like mad going down hills, got tried of spinning on the flats and was then too tired to feel any benefit going uphill.

I notice the tough guys at C+ suggested a 3:1 ratio for gearing a fixie this month, I would stuggle to get up any hills if I rode 42:14 as they suggest, or maybe I'm just weak!!!

Gavin.

brownbosh

Ill give fixed crack but not until the last 2 sportives are done - dont want to crash before thats done!

salsarider79

Well, I have a new route this month which is about 50 miles. Fine but with a 1:8 after the first ten miles, I'm starting to think about 42:17....

demmerson

Gav2000 wrote:

I notice the tough guys at C+ suggested a 3:1 ratio for gearing a fixie this month, I would stuggle to get up any hills if I rode 42:14 as they suggest, or maybe I'm just weak!!!

3:1 is certainly too high for me if there are any hills.

nun

brownbosh wrote:

Anyone do it ? .

All the time. I have what I call a 4 speed, single speed bike I have a 40/32 double chain ring
combined with a 16/18 double freewheel and a 22 freewheel on the other side of the hub.
95% of my riding is done on 40/16 and I use 32/22 when I'm touring and climbing hills.

The bike gets lots of use around town and for light touring with a saddlebag

2wheelzgood

That's cool, so you don't have to alter the length of the chain with those ratios?
It's all about working out compatible rings I bet.

Touring fixed is hardcore, nice one.

NorwegianBlue

Gav2000 wrote:

I've finally settled on 42:17 for my Langster in Northamptonshire. My cruising speed is about 19/20mph and maximum speed is 26/27mph but around an 18 mile route I have it is quicker than 42:16, 42:18 and my geared bike.

You cruise at 100+ rpm? That would shag me out in no time. And your top speed would be 135rpm, I certainly couldn't keep that up for long.

My top speed on my dirt bike runs a 52" gear and I find my cruising speed is about 12-13mph, which would be 80-odd rpm. Flat out on the level I reckon I can't get past 20mph for very long (130-ish rpm) and that's not down particularly to drag, I just can't keep up that cadence for long.

nun

2wheelzgood wrote:

That's cool, so you don't have to alter the length of the chain with those ratios?
It's all about working out compatible rings I bet.

Touring fixed is hardcore, nice one.

I don't do fixed, it's all freewheel. My gear ratios are dictated by the length of my dropouts.
I'm ok if the sum of the chain ring and rear cog teeth are between 58 and 52. The dropout is angled upwards so that the brake pads say aligned with the rim wherever the wheel sits
in them. Its a lot of fun to tour over reasonable terrain. I wouldn't take it over serious mountain passes

Gav2000

NorwegianBlue wrote:

Gav2000 wrote:

I've finally settled on 42:17 for my Langster in Northamptonshire. My cruising speed is about 19/20mph and maximum speed is 26/27mph but around an 18 mile route I have it is quicker than 42:16, 42:18 and my geared bike.

You cruise at 100+ rpm? That would shag me out in no time. And your top speed would be 135rpm, I certainly couldn't keep that up for long.

My top speed on my dirt bike runs a 52" gear and I find my cruising speed is about 12-13mph, which would be 80-odd rpm. Flat out on the level I reckon I can't get past 20mph for very long (130-ish rpm) and that's not down particularly to drag, I just can't keep up that cadence for long.

I can't keep my top speed up for long and can only do it when I commit to it and keep pedaling hard, if I try to cruise or turn my legs with no pressure I bounce badly and feel quite unsafe.

I do like to keep my legs turning quickly though, on a geared bike I prefer a quick leg speed to a powerful slog, maybe it's because I'm not powerful.

I have no idea what my leg speed is though when fixed, how do you work it out?

Gav.

brownbosh

a cadence meter is most accurate. Either that or relax into your pace and count your revs over 20 secs then multiply by 3. (not very scientific but itll give you an idea). Gav if your bouncing are you sure your saddle height etc is set correctly and that your gear isnt too small?

NorwegianBlue

Gav2000 wrote:

I have no idea what my leg speed is though when fixed, how do you work it out?

Gav.

Measure or calculate the rolling circumference of your rear wheel, measurement is probably better.

Lets say you have 700x23c tyres at approx 26.3" diameter so that would be 26.3 * PI = 82.6"

Work out how many revs that makes per mile 63360 / 82.6 = 767.1 (there are 63360 inches in a mile).

So you can now work out the rpm of your rear wheel at a given speed. So at 20mph you would be getting 767.1 * 20 / 60 = 255.7 rpm

To get your pedalling cadence you divided your rear wheel rpm by your gear ratio, so 255.7 * 17 / 42 = 103.5 rpm.

A fairly high cadence is more efficient for most riders. Think of it like doing reps when weight training. You can lift a heavy weight slowly only a few times before your muscles are quivering and burning, however you may be able to lift half the weight at twice the rate for much longer. However there is an upper limit to the speed your muscles can work, even with no weight. Your most efficient rate will be somewhere below that.

Stamping a big gear may look macho, but it's not efficient.

NorwegianBlue

brownbosh wrote:

a cadence meter is most accurate. Either that or relax into your pace and count your revs over 20 secs then multiply by 3. (not very scientific but itll give you an idea). Gav if your bouncing are you sure your saddle height etc is set correctly and that your gear isnt too small?

When you only have one gear there is a direct corelation between speed and RPM, as such the expense of a cadence meter is unecessary. I have one on my geared bike, but not any of my single speeders.

Bouncing in the saddle is well known at high RPM. Ask Chris Boardman about his 25 TT record. Indeed ask any medium gear TT rider.

bigflangesmallsprocket

http://fixedgeargallery.com/articles/steve-cadence/

Cadence calculameter thing. Wheelsize given is 27 inch, but near enough with a couple rpm.

snowman1080

With regard to leg bounce at high cadence. Why is this? If I gear higher then hills become to much hard work. Is it to do with saddle height. Lower/Higher etc?

Gav2000

snowman1080 wrote:

With regard to leg bounce at high cadence. Why is this? If I gear higher then hills become to much hard work. Is it to do with saddle height. Lower/Higher etc?

I think that at high RPM unless you are actively pushing downwards you actually get pushed upwards by the pedals and bounce. There comes apoint at which I can no longer push fast enough and I either bounce and wobble or pull the brakes a bit. For me the risk of bouncing outweighs the problems i have getting up hills in the wrong gear.

Gav.