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Gear size for singlespeed v. fixed

(48 posts)
  • Started 8 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from steveo
  • This topic is not resolved

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  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    So, I'm in my new office, and it's all fab and everything, but there is precisely zero bike parking available. Going to be a case of locking outside, so I think I'm going to build up the old Peugeot frame that's been hanging around for a respray as a beater instead, and probably just singlespeed for simplicity's sake.

    When I rode fixed I had a 44 x 16 gearing, but always figured it had to be higher to cope with the downhills - was planning something smaller on a singlespeed? Make sense? Anyone run both, or have run both, and had different or the same gear ratios?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    How about trying a Sturmey 3 speed??

    Posted 8 years ago #

  3. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Doing it on the cheap ;)

    Posted 8 years ago #

  4. Morningsider
    Member

    So you have a cast iron excuse to get a folder and you are passing it up?!

    Posted 8 years ago #

  5. chdot
    Admin

    Company Brompton??

    Posted 8 years ago #

  6. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Would be lovely but "doing it on the cheap!" ;)

    It's funny, I told my other half about the lack of parking and her reaction was simply, 'just get a cheap bike you're not worried about being nicked' (she knows me so well), not sure that would extend to splashing out on a brommie (and have to say, my one experience of Brompton I, sacrilege I know, wasn't enamoured....

    Posted 8 years ago #

  7. Stickman
    Member

    "'just get a cheap bike you're not worried about being nicked"

    Even if I was to use a bike found in a skip I'd still be annoyed if it was nicked.

    My single speed is a 42-16.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  8. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "Even if I was to use a bike found in a skip I'd still be annoyed if it was nicked"

    Indeed, but I'd be even more annoyed if it was any of the decent bikes that I'd spent hours and hundreds on. Maybe it's another aspect of Dutch cycling culture - remember being told by a chap there that you basically expect your bike to be stolen at some point.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  9. chdot
    Admin

    COMPANY folder.

    For daytime use by clients...

    Posted 8 years ago #

  10. le_soigneur
    Member

    Put 16 on one side & 14 on the other. Summer & winter sorted

    Posted 8 years ago #

  11. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I understand that you should have the biggest gear you could conceivably chew for proper single speed kudos.

    Also, do not, repeat do not, forget to slam the stem or young persons will be sniggering into their hooded tops as you pass.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  12. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    I'm clearly not down wiv da kids.... 'Slam the stem'?

    Had pondered going back to fixed (as freewheeling is cheating, obviously) but it's just silly...

    Posted 8 years ago #

  13. Morningsider
    Member

    "Slam the stem" - sounds vaguely rude, but that's probably just me...

    Posted 8 years ago #

  14. wee folding bike
    Member

    I used to get around on 70" or 74".

    Posted 8 years ago #

  15. dougal
    Member

    "Reduce the space between stem and headtube to a minimum to achieve the required aesthetic, m'lud."

    Posted 8 years ago #

  16. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Ah, would this go hand in hand with coloured rims and teeny narrow bars, as well as wearing jeans that are too wide at the waist to display one's underwear?

    Am I getting old?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  17. dougal
    Member

    If you're not, you'll have to spill the beans on your secret.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  18. wee folding bike
    Member

    Yes. You are.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  19. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Well thanks for that guys, most reassuring...

    Posted 8 years ago #

  20. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @Wilmington's Cow

    The stem should be set low, yes, but to be properly slammed, it should be inverted, putting the bars beyond reach.

    May I also commend mis-matched cranks to the house? Even two right-hand ones?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  21. dougal
    Member

    @IWRATS: Are the cool kids riding side-saddle?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  22. chdot
    Admin

    There's even a web site

    http://slamthatstem.com

    Posted 8 years ago #

  23. Uberuce
    Member

    I used to run disco floofy singlespeed on 63", and since then it's tried out 63, 72, 75 and 66.

    I'd been at 66 for about a year, and it isn't too spinny downhill - just annoyingly slow - so I popped up to 72" which is better there, but is more ponderous from lights and uphill.

    I'd go low/mid 60's for an urban commuting singlespeed; the sprightliness at starting is going to make up for spinniness.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  24. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @dougal

    "Are the cool kids riding side-saddle?"

    This is dangerous talk and could lead to a youth attempting to slam the stem of their horse.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  25. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @chdot

    Good heavens above. We should perhaps all slam the stems of our clunkiest commuters and send them in?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  26. condor2378
    Member

    I'd like to know where I can find a bike in a skip to respray and use as a SS beater? Wit a slammed stem, of course, innit.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  27. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @condor2378

    There's a nice one in the 'metals' skip of the Dalkeith Road recycling center right now. The lady won't let you have it though, and I wouldn't tangle with her.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  28. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    My very first fixed was a skip bike (too small for me, then a bit of the frame developed a crack after a year if I remember rightly). A 'Tensor' with a fancy 'S' built into the gap between the seatstays (I think for 'Steel'). It was red, I stripped it and resprayed it in metallic green.

    Fixie by Anthony Robson, on Flickr

    Posted 8 years ago #

  29. wingpig
    Member

    My father-in-law has a couple of de-skipped child-bikes in his shed, originally retrieved through the illegal application of packets of biscuits or golf-chat or something, originally intended for his eldest daughter's children to putter about the garden on. I won't allow mine to touch them in case it puts him off cycling (or makes him develop a taste for attempting to ride a really heavy bike several sizes too big for him for less than ten metres with zero success, like his smallest northerly cousin).

    I was being hurried and harried to clear out, move and re-pack sheds and cupboards on the day my crashed-into Kaff frame was taken to the tip, giving me barely enough time to salvage re-usable hardware from it, never mind stick a big label on the bent chainstay or hacksaw through it enough to prevent it being re-used, so hopefully it's not been Wombled and put back to use.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  30. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @wingpig

    Cracked frames should be struck firmly with a lump hammer on the top tube. It feels both forbidden and satisfying to do this.

    You can nibble with a hacksaw all you want, but there's always someone willing to overlook the resulting 'scratch'.

    Posted 8 years ago #

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