What ratio do you ride?

[hippy]

What is your gear ratio and where do you ride (or describe the terrain)?

32/15 SS MTB is undergeared for Melbourne's small hills.
48/18 Street Fix - Only just built so not enough testing time.

Fixie skidders - what ratio do you find works best for long skids?

hippy

 

[chris.cycles]

I ride a 50 x 19 with a flip flop 18t
roads
hills
up to 18%

do you think this is a substitute for strength training?

 

[Velo Serg]

40 by 16 giving me 64.4 gear inches. With my cadence cruising this puts me at 16mph, sprints up to 25 mph, whilst stll climbing around 13 mph. This is my cyclecross setup.

 

[Marx SS]

On my MTB SS with freewheel I run 44/18 right now.
Tyres fitted are 26x 1.95 Raceline Hiemspheres.
Strickly for the commute, roads & pathways.
OK for easy hills around Melbourne CBD & inner west/north & OK for the headwinds we cop (docklands area & rd along bay)
Comfortable candence I can cruise flats up to approx 30km/hr, optimum @ 24-26kms/hr.

Previously ran 44/16 but I found my little legs had probs towing up some of the hills where the run up is short or tight.

 

[Bio27x]

Rocking 46x20 on a fix'd.

Used mostly for commutes, but I'll take it out for a long ride every now and then. Not QUITE satisfied with the speed that it holds, right around 20mph... but I love her anyways.

 

[Bigwheel]

44x16...fixed gear road bike, mostly flat with some rolling hills. Sometimes I use 42x16 if I know the route has bigger hills.
32x16...SS mtb, mostly flat with shorter climbs. I change to 32x18 for hilly terrain.

 

[sabertooth]

I've been riding a 38x17 single speed for a few weeks - did a century up the east side of Mt. St. Helens; also rode RSVP recently. I just got my fixed wheel yesterday and plan to ride a 38x15 or 38x16 at Ironman Canada a week from Sunday. The big one, though, is the 508. I'm giving that one a shot next year. I'm told a couple of guys in the fixed gear division are planning to ride about 66-72 gear inches at Furnace Creek this year.

 

[DMax]

48x16 SS - mostly flats w/ some rolling hills - North Texas.

78.8 gear inches.

 

[MidlifeRider]

I run a 42-tooth chainring and a flip-flop hub with an 18-tooth cog on the fixed side and a 20-tooth cog on the freewheel side.

 

[stina]

34x16/18 w/ 26x1.9 tires

 

[byron27]

34x16/18 w/ 26x1.9 tires

48-16 fixed gear KHS flite 100. Holds 30-35kph on a steady cadence and allows for climbing and descending reasonably sized hills.

am going to drop it down to 14-15 for TT in the next few months. I have been going out on it twice a week over the winter and am getting legs of steel!!!!!!

Unfortunately i dont have knees of steel....

 

[BikeyGuy]

Flats ? 53 X 17.
Hills ? Depnds on the hill.

Safe cycling !

 

[monkeyboytony]

i ride a 42 x 14, great for city riding, and climbs like a dream sprints faster than the wind

 

[wayfastwhitey]

48x16, bit of a knee buste on long steep ones, but definitely have noticed a huge improvement in my power since riding fixed

 

[PiledHigher]

46x17 - 69 inches Fixed

 

[Pat Lee]

40x18 freewheel
40x16 fixed.

This is in the Hilly East Bay in the SF Bay Area. For me, this gear is a real grinder on the hills, requiring me to stand once in awhile to overcome gravity. Grades around here are 4-8 pct. approximately.

 

[franklin pierce]

46x16, 39x15, 39x16, 50x16, 46x15, 52x15, 42x19, and a few other combinations. 46x16 seems to be magical, best trade-off of speed, climb, and availability of bits.

Skidding: well . . . if you're doing show-off skids the ratio is hardly important, as there will be nearly no weight on the back tyre. You should be able to skid 90+ gear inches if you're doing it right, no problem.

 

[rykoala]

42x16. Seems good so far, about 70 gear inches.

 

[mdplayer]

42x16. Seems good so far, about 70 gear inches.

Thats what I use for the here in the hills of Maine....

 

[lifehasnovalue]

42x16 on my rigid mtb - mostly used for hardpack trails with rolling hills
43x17 on my steel fixie "cross" - mostly used on street or really flat trails
52x18 on my vintage fix - used for whipping around my neighborhood
45x16 on my fixed scorcher - just a townie