Single speed tips

stevewj

worth building up a number of chainrings (48/50/52/54) and rear sprockets (15/16/17/18/20) to play around with the gearing as fitness varies. I would ride a 1/8th chain not 3/32 as it stretches less and is more robust. I tend to ride a gear that makes me grind up steep hills but can run a high cadence on the flat - currently 52/20 - will change to 54/20 then 53/18 etc as the season progresses. I don't like fixed as I don't feel comfortable stopping with the pedal in any position other than 3 o'clock, also if on a club run, I'm on a steep climb where I want to go faster but am limited by the riders in front and feel close to stalling - horrible feeling. I love the feel of a single gear - just feels more connected somehow.

bristolpete

stevewj wrote:

worth building up a number of chainrings (48/50/52/54) and rear sprockets (15/16/17/18/20) to play around with the gearing as fitness varies. I would ride a 1/8th chain not 3/32 as it stretches less and is more robust. I tend to ride a gear that makes me grind up steep hills but can run a high cadence on the flat - currently 52/20 - will change to 54/20 then 53/18 etc as the season progresses. I don't like fixed as I don't feel comfortable stopping with the pedal in any position other than 3 o'clock, also if on a club run, I'm on a steep climb where I want to go faster but am limited by the riders in front and feel close to stalling - horrible feeling. I love the feel of a single gear - just feels more connected somehow.

Interesting reading. I too have a question though. I run 48 x 16 and it pretty much covers my 3 x commute ride distances so the thought of adding teeth to the front appeals. However, if I went 50 / 16 or even 52 /18 would I

a. increase my power and strength over the coming months ( I logged 355 ss miles in Feb and on the flat no issues).

b. is 52 /18 like 48 / 16 ? Also have you found a sweet spot / optimum gearing option.

Ultimately do bigger chain rings make sense to increase fitness or do they simply bring forward fatigue ? I used to run 53 / 39 - 12/25 but since moving to Devon 3 odd years back I went to 50/34 - 12/28 as hilly as heck. Sounds silly but I did like 53/39 on the flat so 53/39 - 11/32 appeals and the bigger single speed chainrings may help with my 'training' / bike riding.

Thanks,

Pete.

stevewj

bristolpete wrote:

stevewj wrote:

worth building up a number of chainrings (48/50/52/54) and rear sprockets (15/16/17/18/20) to play around with the gearing as fitness varies. I would ride a 1/8th chain not 3/32 as it stretches less and is more robust. I tend to ride a gear that makes me grind up steep hills but can run a high cadence on the flat - currently 52/20 - will change to 54/20 then 53/18 etc as the season progresses. I don't like fixed as I don't feel comfortable stopping with the pedal in any position other than 3 o'clock, also if on a club run, I'm on a steep climb where I want to go faster but am limited by the riders in front and feel close to stalling - horrible feeling. I love the feel of a single gear - just feels more connected somehow.

Interesting reading. I too have a question though. I run 48 x 16 and it pretty much covers my 3 x commute ride distances so the thought of adding teeth to the front appeals. However, if I went 50 / 16 or even 52 /18 would I

a. increase my power and strength over the coming months ( I logged 355 ss miles in Feb and on the flat no issues).

b. is 52 /18 like 48 / 16 ? Also have you found a sweet spot / optimum gearing option.

Ultimately do bigger chain rings make sense to increase fitness or do they simply bring forward fatigue ? I used to run 53 / 39 - 12/25 but since moving to Devon 3 odd years back I went to 50/34 - 12/28 as hilly as heck. Sounds silly but I did like 53/39 on the flat so 53/39 - 11/32 appeals and the bigger single speed chainrings may help with my 'training' / bike riding.

Thanks,

Pete.

48/16 is 2.9" bigger than 52/18 so will feel quite a bit tougher esp. on hills. Any increase in gear will increase power (I find) up to a point where turning the gear becomes counter-productive if too high. I feel that a bigger chainring for the same gear inches is harder (torque ???) but it looks impressive when pootling along in a group where most have 20/22 gears and find the hills hard, bailing out to the small chainring thereby losing training benefit. I find that if 'unfit', riding a 67" gear is OK and, as I increase fitness, add 3" (3 teeth more on the front or one less on the back) at a time by feel. This ends up with a bigger gear come the start of the TT season riding at the same cadence that I was riding a smaller gear at the start of the training cycle. The sweetspot/optimum cadence only applies on the flat as, whatever gear I ride, I aim to grind up hills. For example, one of my interval sessions is 5 x 1.6 mile hill (not too steep) in 116" gear (53/12) where my cadence drops to ~ 30 at times but I think, develops power in a similar way to squats with weights but in a bike specific way. Incidentally, the perceived wisdom says don't ride big gears with dodgy knees. I have had arthritis in both for many years and had a lateral release in one 23 yrs ago. When I start the big gear hill sessions about March, they are more painful for about three weeks then get pretty much pain-free. The only thing I can put it down to is increased strength in the soft tissues re-aligning the tracking. I also use Speedplay pedals, without which I would not still be cycling.

ugo.santalucia

stevewj wrote:

bristolpete wrote:

stevewj wrote:

worth building up a number of chainrings (48/50/52/54) and rear sprockets (15/16/17/18/20) to play around with the gearing as fitness varies. I would ride a 1/8th chain not 3/32 as it stretches less and is more robust. I tend to ride a gear that makes me grind up steep hills but can run a high cadence on the flat - currently 52/20 - will change to 54/20 then 53/18 etc as the season progresses. I don't like fixed as I don't feel comfortable stopping with the pedal in any position other than 3 o'clock, also if on a club run, I'm on a steep climb where I want to go faster but am limited by the riders in front and feel close to stalling - horrible feeling. I love the feel of a single gear - just feels more connected somehow.

Interesting reading. I too have a question though. I run 48 x 16 and it pretty much covers my 3 x commute ride distances so the thought of adding teeth to the front appeals. However, if I went 50 / 16 or even 52 /18 would I

a. increase my power and strength over the coming months ( I logged 355 ss miles in Feb and on the flat no issues).

b. is 52 /18 like 48 / 16 ? Also have you found a sweet spot / optimum gearing option.

Ultimately do bigger chain rings make sense to increase fitness or do they simply bring forward fatigue ? I used to run 53 / 39 - 12/25 but since moving to Devon 3 odd years back I went to 50/34 - 12/28 as hilly as heck. Sounds silly but I did like 53/39 on the flat so 53/39 - 11/32 appeals and the bigger single speed chainrings may help with my 'training' / bike riding.

Thanks,

Pete.

48/16 is 2.9" bigger than 52/18 so will feel quite a bit tougher esp. on hills. Any increase in gear will increase power (I find) up to a point where turning the gear becomes counter-productive if too high. I feel that a bigger chainring for the same gear inches is harder (torque ???) but it looks impressive when pootling along in a group where most have 20/22 gears and find the hills hard, bailing out to the small chainring thereby losing training benefit. I find that if 'unfit', riding a 67" gear is OK and, as I increase fitness, add 3" (3 teeth more on the front or one less on the back) at a time by feel. This ends up with a bigger gear come the start of the TT season riding at the same cadence that I was riding a smaller gear at the start of the training cycle. The sweetspot/optimum cadence only applies on the flat as, whatever gear I ride, I aim to grind up hills. For example, one of my interval sessions is 5 x 1.6 mile hill (not too steep) in 116" gear (53/12) where my cadence drops to ~ 30 at times but I think, develops power in a similar way to squats with weights but in a bike specific way. Incidentally, the perceived wisdom says don't ride big gears with dodgy knees. I have had arthritis in both for many years and had a lateral release in one 23 yrs ago. When I start the big gear hill sessions about March, they are more painful for about three weeks then get pretty much pain-free. The only thing I can put it down to is increased strength in the soft tissues re-aligning the tracking. I also use Speedplay pedals, without which I would not still be cycling.

Power = torque time revs. You can build up a big torque, but if you can't spin fast, you won't get more power. It's two different strategies... I have never been a 90+ cadence person and as a result I am not very good at spinning fast. I might have more torque than somebody else, but I might well be slower.

I find your gears excessive and probably harmful in the long run

pottssteve

Bl00dy hell, this thread got complicated while I was away!

stevewj

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I find your gears excessive and probably harmful in the long run

All I know is that it works for me, as for in the long run, at 63 I'm already in the long run. As for excessive, Nik Bowdler who took the BAR riding 25 in 1-39-02, 50 in 3-37-52 and 12hr 289.84 rode a 160" gear with a 77 tooth chainring. Be interesting to know how his knees are in later life.

ugo.santalucia

stevewj wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I find your gears excessive and probably harmful in the long run

All I know is that it works for me, as for in the long run, at 63 I'm already in the long run. As for excessive, Nik Bowdler who took the BAR riding 25 in 1-39-02, 50 in 3-37-52 and 12hr 289.84 rode a 160" gear with a 77 tooth chainring. Be interesting to know how his knees are in later life.

Probably not very good

stevewj

Another thought - re 1/8th chain, you can get half links which make getting chain tension right much easier. On my Langster, the full depth of the horizontal dropout isn't available as the wheel pushes against the brake bridge so a half-link can be the only way to get tension right.