Hi all
What kind of gear ratios would the esteemed panel reccomend for Canberra ? I am mostly interested in commuting, not so much flatland tricks.
Cheers
tamas
hey tamas,
i’m running 42x15 at the moment and find it good enough to avg. about 30km/h over 25 - 30 k’s across town twice a day.
i was running 48x16 but found it too tough to climb with, i realise now though that i prefer to spin.
I agree. I’m running 42:15 on a couple of bikes and 39:14 on another, this gives them all 73 hear inches. A perfect ration for around town and commuting. You can use Sheldon Brown’s gear ration calculator to figure out which gears get you close to these.
Cheers.
I’m running 48/17. Perfect for commuting.
Here is the site simplespeed mentioned: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/
48/17 here as well. Gives about… 74 gear inches?
Canberra is generally quite flat. Then again, the sensation of spinning feels like I’m getting no where, so I like to push higher gears.
I run 44/16, which is also about 72.5 GI. I could go a little higher, but then it is harder to emergency skid at speed.
My single speed has a much taller gear, closer to 80GI. But as I can stop pedalling to brake it doesn’t really matter that much how tall the ratio is.
Good luck with your build, is it a work in progress?
Thanks for the replies.
I have built my bike(plug) and used Sheldon’s suggestion of 52/19 for general road use. I am finding myself spinning a lot and was thinking about gearing a bit higher. It is possible that my pedaling style is a bit pig so I probably can’t hold a high cadence without spinning out.
I generally ride between Watson, Dunlop, Woden or Campbell so no real hills. Also I do run a front brake so skidding will not be an issue.
cheers
you’d be surprised at how ineffective a front brake is at washing off speed on a bigger gear. (75-80+GI) A skid can be much better at killing speed quickly in the event of the unforseen.
IMO, If you want to push a bigger gear you could look at putting a smaller tooth freewheel on the other side of the flip-flop. (if plugs have ff hubs)
Maybe I’ve gotten a bit soft lately but not being able to brake quickly on a commuter bike can be a bit of a risk, especially if you need to negotiate traffic.
Post some pics of your bike, I havent seen many charge bikes around in Canberra.
I’m surprised at the stupidity of that statement.
depending on what you mean by spinning out, stuff changes. if you mean, you can’t spin fast enough on the flat to get a good speed, that’s a fitness issue :-(. if you’re rocking and rolling in the saddle at speed, thats a bike fit issue. my bike was set up perfectly i thought based on leg extensions, but due to some other reasons, i dropped the saddle about 1 1/2 cms and found that i could spin much much faster. apparently the power you lose on the downstroke from having a lower saddle, you gain on the upstroke anyway.
i run 53/19 in melbourne, if that qualifies my statement in any way.
@ciaran sorry, plug as in a link. the bike is a speedwell.
http://fixedgeargallery.com/2009/june/2/DennisBean-Larson.htm
By spinning out, I mean the later, rocking all over the place, and end up ‘bouncing’ in the saddle, especially when I am sprinting. I’ll try playing with the seat height, thanks.
I wasn’t suggesting to not run a brake at all, but suggesting that a lower gear inch is easier to skid.
For me, when using a brake on a fixed gear bike with 80+ gear inches the momentum of the drivetrain overrules the brakes and you don’t really slow down quickly enough to avoid a sudden hazard. Its just not safe for the road/traffic, unless you are happy to just mosey along and not get up to any sort of speed.
IMO, combine lower gear inches with a front brake and you have some real rapid braking capacity. But thats just me.
I’m interested in other opinions though. So rather than calling my post stupid, please show me why I may be misinformed.
The Rabbit is a good applet too. Odd name though.
i run a 46/16… didnt know much about the whole gear inches so was running 52/15 when i first started and it hurt . read the sheldon brown pages and presto i dont cry ,yself to sleep anymore.
Thanks for your input. I decided to go with 52 x 16.
Went for a test ride from Campbell to Dunlop, and it felt really nice. My Sigma tells me that 40km/h is around 90 cadence which makes for pretty comfortable riding on the flats.
tamas
holy cow. i don’t think anyone runs higher than about 75GI here in sydney. I’m running 49/19 and it’s super sweet for the goddamn hills around here. got stuck with 44/15 for a few days and it was hell.
that is gnarly! you will be a force of nature in no time if you you are cruising at 90rpm/40kph and comfortable… if not already. Good stuff 
I used to have 39/15 and 45/16… i cant imagine needing much higher, but as everyone is saying, its a matter of preference. I like to be bounced all over my seat by my bad technique when giong down hills.
I guess the tradeoff is a bit of pain on the uphills. Thankfully canberra is pretty flat, or the bits that I ride are anyway.
I like to be bounced all over my seat by my bad technique when giong down hills.
thats the bit that I have been trying to avoid. I feel sketchy flailing away on cheesecutters!
blakey, as usual, is 100% correct.
Is your name Nick? :evil: