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Glasgow Gear Ratios
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What does everyone roll on for Glasgow? I'm currently running 48x18 with 70.1 of Sheldon's finest gear inches. I find it to be a pretty good ratio for everything but Garnet Street which I bravely attempted and gave up on yesterday. That said I can bolt up Craigpark Street in the East End so most hills aren't a problem for a small distance.
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Im on 49x16 just now, which according to sheldons site is 80.5 gear inches. Iv used a number of other calculators and done the maths myself though and the average seems to be closer to 82 gear inches. I thought crank length was part of it though and i am using 180mm cranks. I can get up most of the hills in Glasgow, all be it rather slowly, dont have a compuer on my new build so no idea what kind of speeds i average.
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I want to avoid a computer. I just know I'll compete with myself and it will be no longer about the ride.
I'm considering doing this route either this weekend or next. Though the 500ft climb in 5 miles is a bit off putting.
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Glasgow-to-Edinburgh-on-small-roads -
I presume thatll be a similar route to the Pedal for Scoland route (talking of which check my other thread) and if so then i remember that climb, twas pretty brutal but put ur head down n push n its over pretty quick.
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42x16, but gonna change it very soon - pretty tough on Glasgow hills...
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I used the Nokia Sports Tracker this morning on my commute. Basically it just records GPS data then displays in in various graphs, it also shows your route. The one for speed vs altitude is certainly interesting.
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48-15
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41-16, which is about 69 gear inches, if memory serves.
It doesn't matter how low you go, you'll always wish it was smaller when the wind blows. -
i'm using 42/16 which is about 71 gear inches.
i can get up every hill and get to a top speed of about 35 mph so it's fast enough for me. my knees are proper fucked so i can't grind a big gear on my longer rides. spin for the win!
my new bike (more of that on another thread) will be running a 49/18 to give a similar gear but i might try a 17 and see how i get on. -
42-16
Slightly dodgy right knee too, wouldn't want anything bigger. The steeper hills in town still defeat me about halfway, but I'm getting more disciplined with my pedalling technique every day and it gets easier each time. -
38/13
No Idea of length but hard enough in a head wind -
38/16 singlespeed, so pretty low, but my excuse is that I'm relatively new to the 1 speed game...
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48x18 (would be harder but for my love of the ludicrously ill-advised tyre ruining skids).
Euan, don't you have clearance issues with your colossal cranks? -
???
I'm on 165mm cranks. Did I get my calculations wrong? -
Sorry Euan, there go the proof-reading credentials, it's 'mechanical vandal' who has the 180mm cranks. As Cilla Black's romeos would have said: same question to number two.
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Well I'll answer for him. He is singlespeed so pedaling through corners isn't an issue really.
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Thats right, its pedal up, knee out and leaned right over for me.
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Moving from singlespeed freewheel to fixed-gear am I right in thinking that it would it be wise to increase my gearing a little purely because of the free->fixed change? I'm imagining that there's a slight increase in momentum through the pedals, if that's the right way to put it, and that the inability to ease off on downhills will leave me wanting a higher gear than on the singlespeed.
I'm thinking either 40x16 or 42x16 for the fixed - I run 38x16 on singlespeed but find it a wee hint on the low side if anything. -
I just got my fuji track at the weekend, and that's running a ratio of 48/15 at the mo, which I believe is the standard one it comes with. Obviously it's not really suited for Glasgow at the moment. I'm new to the whole world of fixed gear, so I was wondering what sort of ratio would be best for learning to skid safely, and for getting round the city. I'm currently running a front brake at the mo, I want to be a bit more comfortable and confident riding fixed before I get into the whole idea of using my legs to assist the front brake. I've been hearing good things about 48/18 but Im worried it might still be a bit too high.
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48x17 or 48x19 for skidding. Prime numbers!
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44x20 singlespeed but i am thinking of changing to 44x18, cranks are 175mm...
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For 700 X 32 / 32-622 tire with 170 mm cranks, 46-15 = gain ratio of 6.2
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i have just built up my singlespeed conversion with 44/17 giving a gear inches of about 69. gonna see how that goes and poss drop to a 16 at the back giving about 72 inches. had it out and about over the weekend and had no probs with getting about. its the first single speed i have ridden so dont really have to much to go on but that ratio suited me fine
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New (old) bike and 52/14 seems ok so far but might be overambitious.
We'll see :-) -
52x14. That's insane. There's stories about a guy who turned up to the London - Brighton ride with a 50x14 ratio and no brakes. No one's ever seen him since then.
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Boy must have a really slow cadence and some strong legs.
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I've found that this is more relaxed for me than my other bike which is 38/13, not as quick off the mark but really fast once you get moving.
I've not tried it on any monumental hills yet but managed the clyde tunnel when I first built it up.
To date the only problem has been Skid stops, pretty hard to lock up, you really have to mean it. -
52x19 - Best Ever.
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chain ring is 46 and fixed sproket is a 16 tooth
46x16 -
48 x 15
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[quote]
48 x 15Cuppa T:
Repost. -
well... its been a while...
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Has it got any easier?
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48x19 = 67.6 gear inches
It suits me well, though I could perhaps do with a little more gear for top end speed now that I'm getting used to it and maybe even getting a little stronger. -
Help me !
Ok. I ride a 52x19 which is 73.2 gear inches it's always been pretty good until I moved to Glasgow, Scotland a year ago and I find myself struggling on some hill climbs. Now I'm thinking of switching out my chainring to a 48-50t but I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make. Would a 48t (67.6g.i.) make it feel like I'm pedaling in the air ? or a 50t which is 70.4 g.i. be better ?....pretty much I'd like something that's a bit easier than what I have now and can't decide..how much is too little or etc...
I hope some of you have experience in this because my knees are aching ! -
Probably best switching to this thread Glasgow Gear Ratios, since it's the same topic. As you see in the last post there, I ride a 48x19 set up and get on fine, holding my own at fixed beer so far...
Maybe rusty with his superior admin powers could merge this thread into that one? -
I cope pretty well on 48x16 which is about 79 if I remember. Though I spend too much time getting to my top speed rather than at it. Something like 48x18 which is 69 inches I find is my optimum.
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[quote]
Maybe rusty with his superior admin powers could merge this thread into that one?krakow:
No chance. Haven't a clue. I'll look into it tonight though. -
[quote]
[quote]rusty:
Maybe rusty with his superior admin powers could merge this thread into that one?krakow:
No chance. Haven't a clue. I'll look into it tonight though.
can you also look into threads opening at the first unread post? or having 'last page' option on them. that would be useful i think. -
yeah. sorry dudes. i guess i could've posted there but it's not like there's tons of new threads everyday anyways. but i'll keep that in mind next time. i'm going with 48x19 (68").
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Ah, we'll be like gearing brothers!
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Yes! We can have a manly sprint and compare and critique our Man-Power.
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I've got a bunch of cogs if your interested in trying out some different ratios. Some are 3/32", some are 1/8". I've got:
15T
16T
17T
18T (on the bike)
20T -
No thanks, my cog is on the hub 'till Death and Epoxy do them apart and then I'm getting a new hub.
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52 X 18 (78") great on flats bad for my knees. Check out Nitto Moustache Bars to get up hills.
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49x17 (78") here.
Choasen for number of skid patches rather than any sort of technical wizzardry doo woppy thingy stuff -
43 x 17 (68") same number of skid patches, and a very similar gear to 48 x 19 mentioned by others above, good for wind, hills and spinning.
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46/17 (73"). Pretty rapid if I've got fresh legs but otherwise a bit tough on Uni Avenue towards Byres Road. We'll see how I fare this evening!
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I'm going to buy myself an EAI Superstar cog and am looking at getting a 17T (£35 from Cavendish Cycles if anyone's interested). That'll take me from 72" to 76". It seems there's quite a spread of gears that people are riding on and I'm looking forward to moving up to the taller set (72" seems to be near the middle of the gear spread of the forum).
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I've put the gear inches in brackets beside the most recent posts (I got bored after a while of doing it). Please post your gear inch after your ratio if you post it up. This is worked out using something like this using 27" nominal as your wheel size. Changing the tyre size to what you use will make it more accurate but that's not how ratios are expressed by those in the know. It's a traditional track thing to express your gear as a gear inch relative to a 27" wheel.
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I think it would be better to use actual tyre size to calculate gear inches. It is misrepresentative to calculate it otherwise. What if peogeot_fixed calculated his this way with 24" wheels?
