Why do time trial bikes have gears?

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  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,461
    Trev The Rev wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Zingzang wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    It would also be hard to accelerate out of roundabouts etc. if you were on a 53 x 12 fixed gear and many club time triallists wouldn't fancy riding a smaller fixed gear.
    I've never met any cyclist who would seriously consider riding a fixed 53x12.

    Exactly and yet most testers will be using a gear of that size when riding a flat course hence the comment. A lot of time triallists would struggle to maintain the cadence required to use a sensible fixed gear ratio as the preference seems to be for mashing big gears.

    What sort of gear would Obree and Boardman have used when they rode fixed on the road?

    Would you class those two as 'most testers'?
  • Trev The Rev
    Trev The Rev Posts: 1,040
    Pross wrote:
    Trev The Rev wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Zingzang wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    It would also be hard to accelerate out of roundabouts etc. if you were on a 53 x 12 fixed gear and many club time triallists wouldn't fancy riding a smaller fixed gear.
    I've never met any cyclist who would seriously consider riding a fixed 53x12.

    Exactly and yet most testers will be using a gear of that size when riding a flat course hence the comment. A lot of time triallists would struggle to maintain the cadence required to use a sensible fixed gear ratio as the preference seems to be for mashing big gears.

    What sort of gear would Obree and Boardman have used when they rode fixed on the road?

    Would you class those two as 'most testers'?

    Obviously not. I was just interested to know.
  • cheaterkiller
    cheaterkiller Posts: 159
    lotus49 wrote:
    Why do time trial bikes for flat time trial courses have gears?

    As far as I see it, the only real purpose for gears is climbing or on a course where there is a lot of slowing down and speeding up, which seems to be unusual to say the least. I cannot see the advantage of having gears on a course that is basically flat. Can someone enlighten me?

    WHY DO SHARKS HAVE TEETH?
  • lotus49
    lotus49 Posts: 763
    cheaterkiller wrote:
    lotus49 wrote:
    Why do time trial bikes for flat time trial courses have gears?

    WHY DO SHARKS HAVE TEETH?
    To catch hold of, and bite chunks out of their food but I don't think that's why TT bikes have gears.
  • cheaterkiller
    cheaterkiller Posts: 159
    The question was meant to be as stupid as the one about TT bikes having gears. TT bikes have gears to facilitate a more efficient cadence while also taking into account variable conditions.

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