Single speed tips

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.

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.

ugo.santalucia wrote:

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