Fixed gear ratios?

Does anyone have any idea what sort of gearing was used back in the
days when the TdF and similar events were ridden on fixed gear bikes?
What was/is considered an optimal gear for riding fast in rolling
hills? Mountains? Flats?

I am building up a fixed to be used for training/fun on rolling hills.
I'm ordering some cogs, but I'm having trouble deciding what ratios to
go with. I don't want to go nuts with ordering stuff, so I'm trying to
narrow it down to 2, maybe 3 to experiment with. Whenever I try to
figure it out by testing on my road bike, I can never make up my mind.
53x21, 53x19 are the two I have been leaning toward and their fixed
counterparts 48x19, 48x17. So I'm thinking 17, 18, 19.

Suggestions?

Joseph

On 24 Jul 2006 13:02:14 -0700, wrote:

Does anyone have any idea what sort of gearing was used back in the
days when the TdF and similar events were ridden on fixed gear bikes?
What was/is considered an optimal gear for riding fast in rolling
hills? Mountains? Flats?

I am building up a fixed to be used for training/fun on rolling hills.
I'm ordering some cogs, but I'm having trouble deciding what ratios to
go with. I don't want to go nuts with ordering stuff, so I'm trying to
narrow it down to 2, maybe 3 to experiment with. Whenever I try to
figure it out by testing on my road bike, I can never make up my mind.
53x21, 53x19 are the two I have been leaning toward and their fixed
counterparts 48x19, 48x17. So I'm thinking 17, 18, 19.

Suggestions?

Joseph

Dear Jospeh,

You'll probably have to figure it out yourself for how you pedal and
where you ride.

When the Tour was ridden with no-derailleur rules, the riders used
flip-flop rear wheels that provided two gears.

They also rode (and pushed) on rather different roads than you're
likely to see.

Browse through here for an idea of what long-distance racing was like
in the 1920's:

http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdf%...story1920.html

Look for haggard fellows pushing bikes up dirt roads in the mountains,
stopping to flip wheels at the tops of passes, slowing for cattle,
carrying long sticks to discourage dogs, mashing in desperate sideways
zig-zags to reduce the grade of the muddy Izoard, pushing bikes up the
Tourmalet, and finishing 19-hour stages.

In any case, the gearing used by pros is often higher than what most
posters on RBT use. Here, anything over 53x12 is viewed with a raised
eyebrow, but TdF riders routinely use 53x11 and some bump the front up
to 54 and 55 teeth.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

wrote in message
ups.com...
Does anyone have any idea what sort of gearing was used back in the
days when the TdF and similar events were ridden on fixed gear bikes?
What was/is considered an optimal gear for riding fast in rolling
hills? Mountains? Flats?


In the UK there has long been a tradition of holding restricted gear
timetrial events where you are not allowed to ride with a gear higher than
72 inch. I happen to find this is a good fast cruising gear and my fixie has
a 52/19 which with my current tyres gives me a 71.4 inch gear and a flat
cruising speed of 19.1 mph with 90rpm cadence. I am reasonably comfortable
on this on grades up to 10%. Most go anywhere fixie riders tend to ride
gears in the low to mid sixties. Many ride with a cog on each side of the
hub which with long horizontal drop outs can give you a reason range by
flipping the wheel.

Graham.

On 24 Jul 2006 13:02:14 -0700, wrote:

I am building up a fixed to be used for training/fun on rolling hills.
I'm ordering some cogs, but I'm having trouble deciding what ratios to
go with. I don't want to go nuts with ordering stuff, so I'm trying to
narrow it down to 2, maybe 3 to experiment with. Whenever I try to
figure it out by testing on my road bike, I can never make up my mind.
53x21, 53x19 are the two I have been leaning toward and their fixed
counterparts 48x19, 48x17. So I'm thinking 17, 18, 19.

Suggestions?

Most fixed riders settle for something close to 48/19 or 68" for
general tooling around. That gives you just over 20mph at 100rpm,
which works out about the right gear if you average about 16 to 17 mph
on your rides. If that's your speed, get a 19 for 'fun' and an 18 for
'training'

Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included
May contain traces of nuts
Your milage may vary

Graham Steer wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Does anyone have any idea what sort of gearing was used back in the
days when the TdF and similar events were ridden on fixed gear bikes?
What was/is considered an optimal gear for riding fast in rolling
hills? Mountains? Flats?


In the UK there has long been a tradition of holding restricted gear
timetrial events where you are not allowed to ride with a gear higher than
72 inch. I happen to find this is a good fast cruising gear and my fixie has
a 52/19 which with my current tyres gives me a 71.4 inch gear and a flat
cruising speed of 19.1 mph with 90rpm cadence. I am reasonably comfortable
on this on grades up to 10%. Most go anywhere fixie riders tend to ride
gears in the low to mid sixties. Many ride with a cog on each side of the
hub which with long horizontal drop outs can give you a reason range by
flipping the wheel.

Graham.

I'm heavy, but all my hills (at least those I'll be riding with a
fixed!) are short. My commute to work on the road bike averages just
under 20mph, and I generally use 53x21-53x15 for that ride. I think a
48x18 maybe is a short enough gear, with a 17 on the other side. I ride
with a pretty low cadence usually, so I might spin out the 18 but due
to my size and the hills I think I'll need it. But it seems a 48x19
would be too light. I won't bother ordering a 19.

Joseph

wrote:
Does anyone have any idea what sort of gearing was used back in the
days when the TdF and similar events were ridden on fixed gear bikes?
What was/is considered an optimal gear for riding fast in rolling
hills? Mountains? Flats?

I am building up a fixed to be used for training/fun on rolling hills.
I'm ordering some cogs, but I'm having trouble deciding what ratios to
go with. I don't want to go nuts with ordering stuff, so I'm trying to
narrow it down to 2, maybe 3 to experiment with. Whenever I try to
figure it out by testing on my road bike, I can never make up my mind.
53x21, 53x19 are the two I have been leaning toward and their fixed
counterparts 48x19, 48x17. So I'm thinking 17, 18, 19.

Suggestions?

FWIW, the Specialized Langster and Bianchi Pista come stock with 48/16t
gearing. I ride just a little shorter than that under that at 53/18 so as
to work nicely with my semi-horizontal dropouts.

--
Phil Lee, Squid

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article . com,
wrote:
Does anyone have any idea what sort of gearing was used back in the
days when the TdF and similar events were ridden on fixed gear bikes?
What was/is considered an optimal gear for riding fast in rolling
hills? Mountains? Flats?


Suggestions?


_ I found this page pretty interesting.

http://www.the508.com/2004web/fixedfeature.html

Personally, I ride 50x18 and have managed a century
with some climbing ( Foxy Fall Century in Davis, CA about
1K meters of climbing ). I had to walk a bit on one of the
steeper hills and take a rest on the longest hill, but as
long as the gradient stays reasonable that gear works for me.

Fixed gear ratios are always a compromise, I don't think
anything like an "optimal" ratio exists.

_ Booker C. Bense



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On Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:13:26 -0700, joseph.santaniello wrote:

I'm heavy, but all my hills (at least those I'll be riding with a
fixed!) are short. My commute to work on the road bike averages just
under 20mph, and I generally use 53x21-53x15 for that ride. I think a
48x18 maybe is a short enough gear, with a 17 on the other side. I ride
with a pretty low cadence usually, so I might spin out the 18 but due
to my size and the hills I think I'll need it. But it seems a 48x19
would be too light. I won't bother ordering a 19.

It all depends on your pedaling style. Right now I have a 48 on the
front, and an 18 and 19 on the rear, and I usually use the 19 unless I am
with a fast crowd. I can get 30+ mph downhill with no real trouble.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | You will say Christ saith this and the apostles say this; but
_`\(,_ | what canst thou say? -- George Fox.
(_)/ (_) |

wrote:
Does anyone have any idea what sort of gearing was used back in the
days when the TdF and similar events were ridden on fixed gear bikes?
What was/is considered an optimal gear for riding fast in rolling
hills? Mountains? Flats?

I am building up a fixed to be used for training/fun on rolling hills.
I'm ordering some cogs, but I'm having trouble deciding what ratios to
go with. I don't want to go nuts with ordering stuff, so I'm trying to
narrow it down to 2, maybe 3 to experiment with. Whenever I try to
figure it out by testing on my road bike, I can never make up my mind.
53x21, 53x19 are the two I have been leaning toward and their fixed
counterparts 48x19, 48x17. So I'm thinking 17, 18, 19.

Suggestions?

Joseph

I rode a fixie all winter long with 39x16 and I was very happy with
that ratio. Probably the same ratio with a bigger chainring and cog
would be better.
To me 39x16 was ideal in the flats (spinning, but not like mad), also
not too bad for rolling hills (maybe a touch low for descents - had to
use the brakes sometimes) and I also managed a big and steep hill (but
I was definitely suffering a lot!).
I managed to get close to 200 rpm downhill, which gives an acceptable
speed (but required a lot of work to get there).

Once I got used I found that my averages weren't much slower than
usually. At the end of the winter I was in a really good shape (better
than now...)

wrote:
Does anyone have any idea what sort of gearing was used back in the
days when the TdF and similar events were ridden on fixed gear bikes?
What was/is considered an optimal gear for riding fast in rolling
hills? Mountains? Flats?

I am building up a fixed to be used for training/fun on rolling hills.
I'm ordering some cogs, but I'm having trouble deciding what ratios to
go with. I don't want to go nuts with ordering stuff, so I'm trying to
narrow it down to 2, maybe 3 to experiment with. Whenever I try to
figure it out by testing on my road bike, I can never make up my mind.
53x21, 53x19 are the two I have been leaning toward and their fixed
counterparts 48x19, 48x17. So I'm thinking 17, 18, 19.

Suggestions?

Joseph

Ride where you are going to ride the fixie with a normal geared
bike....find the ratio you like, remember what it is...look at a gear
chart and convert to the chainring and rear cog you wish to buy...for
instance-if you like the 39-15...and you want to use a 42t ring...look
up the equivalent of 39-15 inna 42-x...buy that. BTW-even early on, I
think the bikes were single speeds, not fixed gear...so they could
coats down hill, during the early years of the TdF..