Fixed / Singlespeed Tour de France

stickman · February 2009

A group of people rode the 1903 route the 'proper' way

http://www.flickr.com/groups/eingang/ discussion section.

stickman · February 2009

I read that from 1903-1906 only fixed was allowed, freewheels were allowed from 1906 and derailleurs were allowed from 1937. I don't know about hub gears, i've seen them mentioned but no details. And what are the modern day rules on gearing?

Monty Dog · February 2009

There are plenty of rules on the frame and the wheels but nothing in terms of gears. Derailleurs were about before hub gears - which are often heavy and slightly less efficient. Even though many rode 'fixed' gear they did have 2 sizes of sprocket on the rear wheel and the roads weren't smooth tarmac either - many of the mountain roads were simply dirt tracks.

stickman · February 2009

Yes, and sometimes two sprockets on each side of the hub.

I wish they would use hub gears nowadays, they are better build quality and have light aluminium shells. They could use derailleurs for time trials where they need/want every microsecond of efficiency.

blorg · February 2009

@stickman- if hub gears worked better and they were not banned by UCI they would be used, I can assure you. The main benefit of hub gears AFAIK is the weatherproofing, which is not generally a big issue in a race where equipment can be cleaned and prepared especially for the event.

stickman · February 2009

Maybe there's a good reason for derailleurs, maybe it's just what people are used to?

I read that hubs are 6% less efficient mechanically - but they have smoother gear changes and are more aerodynamic, and who could feel a 6% difference anyway?

With personal experience of riding both I prefer hub gears.

Fixed / Singlespeed Tour de France

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