Suggested gear ratio for Sydney?

General Help
1

Hey Sydney-siders…

I’m building a bike for a friend in Sydney - his first fixie.

does anyone have a “default” ratio which is a good compromise - there are a number moderate hills near where he lives - near the harbour/CBD. Seems to be a bit more effort than Brisvegas.

I’m thinking 42x17 might be a good starting point?

Suggestions?

-JB

2

I’ve been tooling around on a 42x19, but it is really only suitable for ‘Sunday’ cruising. 42x17 is a safe bet.

3

Or polo! Oh and hey, the frame is already gone.

4

Gee whiz, easy on the way up but what happens on the way down, i’d be suggesting at least a 44

5

48x15…

6

with brake?

I’ll be working on my cadence till I can get this smooth

Check out the dude in red!

7

I’ll be working on my cadence till I can get this smooth

[/quote]

:-o

Damn. That is amazing!
You can hardly see his legs moving- just a blur.

8

48x15 with brakes

9

there are a lot of different combos for the same ratio. keep skid spots etc in mind too.

this is what you need:

or here:
http://undershorts.org/gc/gc-final.png

and here:
http://undershorts.org/gc/gc-final.pdf

my 2cents:

  • with brakes, and like going fast on the flat: 72-78 gear inches
  • with brakes, and not a speed demon: 70-74 inches
  • no brakes and like going fast: 64-72 gear inches
  • no brakes, and like going slow: 62-68 gear inches
  • polo: 50-60 gear inches

obviously upsize that for big man legs and scale it down for little girly legs.

as usual this has been discussed a hundred times before on here.

10

You got it all wrong alex.
A polo gear should be sub 50!