Fixed gear road race

ju5t1n

http://www.velouk.net/2012/04/05/news-f ... illingdon/

who do you think would have the advantage? roadies trying fixed? or track riders trying a crit?

colinsmith123

I'd imagine most endurance trackies would already compete road races anyway, so I doubt either rider used to fixed or freewheel would have a particular advantage. Might be something a courier rider might excel in. I'd have thought the riders mostly likely to win are the ones who can get their bikes around the corners the quickest without grounding their pedals. 150mm cranks anyone? 8)

Sounds a bit scary to me, and not something I'd want to do.

Pseudonym

'fixed gear' is a meaningless term - do they mean 'single speed' (with a freewheel), or 'fixed wheel' (no freewheel)..?

estampida

its more a spinning contest with fixie's rather than a sportive of some sort

and even when the ran single speed on the TDF, they still had 2 gears and swopped the wheel round when they needed lower gearing.

so run that race in holland :roll:

Ber Nard

Pseudonym wrote:

'fixed gear' is a meaningless term - do they mean 'single speed' (with a freewheel), or 'fixed wheel' (no freewheel)..?

Agree entirely. I think I've mentioned this before and been shot down for it. Fixed gear = single speed, i.e. your choice of gear is fixed. It's possible to have a fixed wheel geared bike or a fixed geared free wheel. I don't know when fixed gear and fixed wheel became synonymous.

Rob

Herbsman

Ber Nard wrote:

Pseudonym wrote:

'fixed gear' is a meaningless term - do they mean 'single speed' (with a freewheel), or 'fixed wheel' (no freewheel)..?

Agree entirely. I think I've mentioned this before and been shot down for it. Fixed gear = single speed, i.e. your choice of gear is fixed. It's possible to have a fixed wheel geared bike or a fixed geared free wheel. I don't know when fixed gear and fixed wheel became synonymous.

Rob

It's an Americanisation. And very annoying.

ju5t1n

Putting semantics aside for a minute and assuming it’s a fixed wheel race. What gear would you choose for Hillingdon?

Pseudonym

ju5t1n wrote:

Putting semantics aside for a minute and assuming it’s a fixed wheel race. What gear would you choose for Hillingdon?

There's nothing 'semantic' about getting the description of the bikes correct - it is a fairly critical point, after all. I can't believe they would even allow fixed wheel bikes on a road circuit like Hillingdon - recipe for disaster if ever I saw one. Single speed, yes - fixed, no.

majormantra

Pseudonym wrote:

ju5t1n wrote:

Putting semantics aside for a minute and assuming it’s a fixed wheel race. What gear would you choose for Hillingdon?

There's nothing 'semantic' about getting the description of the bikes correct - it is a fairly critical point, after all. I can't believe they would even allow fixed wheel bikes on a road circuit like Hillingdon - recipe for disaster if ever I saw one. Single speed, yes - fixed, no.

Look up the Red Hook Crit then.

"Fixed gear" might be technically wrong but since probably 95% of the people in the world riding fixed know what it means I think it's here to stay as a term.

Pseudonym

Red Hook is a US event, isn't it..? 95% certainly sounds like a lot...

majormantra

Pseudonym wrote:

Red Hook is a US event, isn't it..?

Yes, I was just using it as an example of a tight crit course that's ridden on track bikes. Not sure I think it's a great idea but it shows it is at least possible.

You can corner a lot harder on a fixed gear ( ) than many people realise - it's just a bit alarming.

blackhands

If its on single speed freewheels then no different from gears . If its on fixed wheel the it won't be under BC rules as fixed wheels are not allowed - except on the track.

oldwelshman

colinsmith123 wrote:

I'd imagine most endurance trackies would already compete road races anyway, so I doubt either rider used to fixed or freewheel would have a particular advantage. Might be something a courier rider might excel in. I'd have thought the riders mostly likely to win are the ones who can get their bikes around the corners the quickest without grounding their pedals. 150mm cranks anyone? 8)

Sounds a bit scary to me, and not something I'd want to do.

Why 150 cranks? This makes no sense. The velodrome is 47 degrees and you dont hit the right side of bank with 165 cranks? I have ridden 170 cranks at newport on pursuit bike and dont get issue? Dont forget that most track bikes have higher bottom bracket also.
I would say that the advantage would definately be with track endurance races as road racers are not used to such high cadences especially for the finish. I have seen this so many times on the rack with good category roadies on the track for firt time surprised how easily they get dropped.
Depending on weather I would use 86, 88 or 92" gear.
Is it bike with no brakes? I would never enter this with riders not used to riding fixed wheel or whatever the poedants wish to call it. It is so easy for riders to forget to pedal !!

colinsmith123

oldwelshman wrote:
Why 150 cranks? This makes no sense.

I don't think I'd like to ride around any Crit circuit on a fixed gear with any length cranks. Maybe my weak attempt at humour got lost in translation. It never occurred to me, you can actually get 150mm cranks.

oldwelshman

neither did I

Johnpsanderson

oldwelshman wrote:

The velodrome is 47 degrees and you dont hit the right side of bank with 165 cranks? I have ridden 170 cranks at newport on pursuit bike and dont get issue? Dont forget that most track bikes have higher bottom bracket also.

Err - that's because you are already leaning over in the banking though?

Riders grounding their inside pedal on a tight bend is hardly unheard of - hence people tend not to pedal through very tight corners....

racingcondor

blackhands wrote:

If its on single speed freewheels then no different from gears . If its on fixed wheel the it won't be under BC rules as fixed wheels are not allowed - except on the track.

This. BC quite resonably ban fixed because of the likelihood of causing a massive pile up when everyone grounds out on a tight corner.

It's a good gimmick to broaden interest in racing but I wouldn't want to be in the race or, for that matter to marshall it (unless it's actually single speed only). At least the circuit isn't particularly taxing (I've seen crashes caused by pedal strike there though).

oldwelshman

Johnpsanderson wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

The velodrome is 47 degrees and you dont hit the right side of bank with 165 cranks? I have ridden 170 cranks at newport on pursuit bike and dont get issue? Dont forget that most track bikes have higher bottom bracket also.

Err - that's because you are already leaning over in the banking though?

Riders grounding their inside pedal on a tight bend is hardly unheard of - hence people tend not to pedal through very tight corners....

When your doing 14 to 18mph on a steep bank your not leaning over, your actually leaning more towards the inside of bank thats why BB height is generally higher for track bike so with 165 cranks and higher BB should actually have less chance to bottom out than with 170 cranks on noral road bike.
At hillingdon, where this is supposed to take place, you have to be going very fast to bottom out, seen it a few times but not that often.