Thread: One for the bicyclists out there.

Quote by Henri Desgrange founder of the tour,


“I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn’t it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft… As for me, give me a fixed gear!”

A few years ago out of curiosity I put a cheap digital speedometer on a low priced, single speed heavy Huffy adult bike with balloon tires to see what kind of top speed I could do. For a few seconds on level gound I reached 24 miles per hour. At that speed on such a single gear bike a lot of energy is wasted, and it feels like you are pedaling too fast for your effort to catch hold of the gear. If you pedal up to 12 to 14 miles per hour or so on that sort of bike it feels like your energy is being used efficiently.

Fewer things can go wrong with a single gear and it is less prone to getting jammed with weeds and things if you are on a trail. The chain stays in a more or less straight line with a single gear. The multi-geared bikes are said to lose some efficiency with the chain angles. A single gear bike is very efficient when it is used within its designed speed range.

Here is a great site for computing single or fixed gear ratios. Right now I'm running a 73 inch gear. I am in the flatlands and that is a comfortable gear. I never spin out and it isn't a great strain on the knees to get going. When not riding geared I've only rode fixed gear single speed on the road. Sometimes in ten miles I won't use my brake at all, relying on back pressure on the pedals. The late Sheldon Brown's site here is a great read on all things bicycle related.

I ride geared on the trail. For the technical trails I ride I find geared a distinct advantage. I have gotten debris caught in my chain/dérailleur but learned to stop and clear it immediately. A vine sucked through and embedded in the freewheel is no fun. When I was younger I had the strength to ride trails with a singlespeed but not now.

The romance of single gear can indeed get old in a hurry on the hills or against a stiff wind, so it is nice to have multiple gears available when needed.

The gear ratio sites are fun to explore. The Sheldon Brown bike site is excellent and I have been dropping in there from time to time for several years.

Originally Posted by e76549

A few years ago out of curiosity I put a cheap digital speedometer on a low priced, single speed heavy Huffy adult bike with balloon tires to see what kind of top speed I could do. For a few seconds on level gound I reached 24 miles per hour. At that speed on such a single gear bike a lot of energy is wasted, and it feels like you are pedaling too fast for your effort to catch hold of the gear. If you pedal up to 12 to 14 miles per hour or so on that sort of bike it feels like your energy is being used efficiently.

Fewer things can go wrong with a single gear and it is less prone to getting jammed with weeds and things if you are on a trail. The chain stays in a more or less straight line with a single gear. The multi-geared bikes are said to lose some efficiency with the chain angles. A single gear bike is very efficient when it is used within its designed speed range.

I agree at pace, the gearing can be energy efficient as well as exceeding the gearing speed can be a waste of energy.

The main ideas behind riding a fixed gear road bike are stride refinement and anaerobic sprints ... besides velodrome racing. True, alot of energy is lost at high pedal rpm's but even more is wasted by overcorrecting due to poor form. At higher pedal rpms, poor form becomes exaggerated and (especially in the beginning) almost unrideable. At pace, these minor form flaws are manageable and usually not an issue. Triple or better yet quadruple your pace rpm and you will find the bicycle usually doesnt track in a straight line, but rather in a zig-zag or snake type pattern. Many flaws can be in concert and cause this pattern. Usually the main culprit is that one leg is stronger that the other, so the bicycle will tend to veer off course when under that leg's power ... forcing the operator to steer the front wheel to correct. More times than not, this steering is usually combined with a somewhat vertical pulling force from the opposite arm. In any event, this overcorrection wastes alot of energy that can be solely devoted to spinning the cranks. Even keeping the knees in line can be a tough for some at high rpm's. There is a pedal spinning zen of sorts to be achieved.

As far as off road use, the single speed set up is IMO for a 'grinder'... some one with enough leg strength to ride below pace rpm and power through the terrain as needed. Hammer heads usually have trouble riding a single speed off road. I know plenty of guys that will claim they feel riding a bike off road like this is possible, but half way through the ride they are ready to call it a day.

In other words ... it isnt for everyone.

To me, a single speed bike is quite elegant in it's simplicity. But road or off road, single speed/fixed gear bikes can be punishers. If a single speed feels like it ran out of gear, you simply arent pedalling fast enough

Ah bikes.

I love bikes. I love repair more than I love riding, but I still love riding. Back east I used to find junkers everywhere, they're harder to find since moving to Oregon.

My bike used to be an old early 80s Schwinn 10-speed. I took off the derailleurs and put in an internal shifting 7-speed hub. (Internally shifting is the way to go, no redundant gear combos like with derailleurs, but more options than with a single speed). Recently, after many years of hard riding, the thread started to crack. I stripped it down and moved it over to an old late 1970s Raleigh fifteen speed.

Most of my bikes (all but one, in fact) have been salvage jobs. Shiny new bikes are nice, but give me a clunker to resurrect any day. I also don't ever think I'll go fixed. The only possibility is if Sturmey Archer ever releases their fixed 3-speed hub (it was scheduled to come out in January, it's been pushed back to an unknown month this year). I'd rebuild an old Schwinn muscle bike frame with a Sturmey fixed 3-speed and a Schlumpf bottom bracket and have a six-speed fixed gear cruiser if only for the absurdity.

Old orphan bikes are fun. Over the years I have acquired several good bikes that were set at the curb as trash. Some have not even needed any repair.

One of my favorites is an ordinary old British 3 speed I spotted about 4 years ago. I think it goes back to the late 60s or the early 70s. I have hit a lot of unseen bumps and potholes with it that would have finished many other much pricier bikes and it always comes through unscathed. In old newsreels I have seen impossibly overloaded bikes like this used all over the world on terrible roads and they somehow refuse to break down.

It's surprising how often I find functional bikes this way and I would have kept many more of them if I had the storage space.

The old English 3-speeds are my favoritest bikes in the world. Boston was crawling with them. If it's a Raleigh, you can actually find out the age pretty easily (Determining the Age of a Raleigh)

My first bicycle had a 3 speed Sturmey Archer hub with a coaster brake and no handlebar shifter. The shifter cable was tied to the seat post clamp and always in second gear. So I guess you could say I had a single speed to start with. It was spray painted black and if it ever had a head tube badge it was long gone. At 13 years old it cost me $5.00 and that was a days pay for some people back then. I road many a mile on that bike and delivered enough newspapers to pay for it many times over.

Originally Posted by They Call Me Blockhead

The old English 3-speeds are my favoritest bikes in the world. Boston was crawling with them. If it's a Raleigh, you can actually find out the age pretty easily (Determining the Age of a Raleigh)

It's a Hercules 3 speed, which I think might be related to Raleigh. I have read about some of those methods to investigate the more exact age of such bikes and it's on my long list of things I ought to get around to doing one of these days.