Guy says he is tired of 42x16 and asks for a recommendation as far as gearing, the best responses are as follows
[QUOTE=devilshaircut]I ride 49:13 and I like it. For me, and perhaps this is personal, I think a 42t chainring is just tooooooo small. Even in Atlanta, as hilly as it is, I prefer a higher gearing so I can soar. Even so, I still spin out on some downhills.
…[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=devilshaircut]I actually don’t think it’s bad at all. But I am pretty sure I am just “used to it” because you guys basically react the same way my friends do when they ask me my ratio.
I used to run 46:16, 49:14, and 48:15 (my steel bike is currently 46:15) and … because I am not much of an endurance rider … I actually think the larger gear helps me climb hills better…[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=devilshaircut;9004935]Obviously a high gear is also good for long, straight flats (not to mention no stops), not that we have many of those where I come from. But that is something I am pretty sure everyone can agree with.
And yeah, I do it brakeless. It’s not hard. I’ll say that again. Riding brakeless is not hard (i.e. it requires no skill). I don’t see why everyone makes brakeless riding sound difficult or dangerous. You can do it, pretty much everyone here can do it. If someone rides with a brake, that is fine with me. Frankly, it is just people like you who flame and tell other people how they should ride their bikes.
In case you are wondering, I do have other (fixed gear) bikes with brakes, so yes I know the difference between with and without brakes.
This bike we are talking about is a Cervelo P2T track bike. I am pretty sure putting brakes on it would be tarck worthy, actually.[/QUOTE]
[quote]
I could almost take you seriously if you were just flaming about brakeless riding in general but by your rhetoric you almost seem to suggest that there is some definitive ratio where riding brakeless ceases to be feasible. Pretty sure such a line doesn’t exist, dude.[/quote]
I wonder if he’ll show up the track with it.
When I took my class there was some dude with 51x13. He’s never come back as far as I know.
i know a dude who did this (las vegas SufferFest) in 49/14. no sag vehicles. one bottle of water in his pocket. in the middle of the desert. took him a little over 9 hours. he is also a beast.
finished 5th out of 300+ people in last year’s MS150. he was riding fixed. the four dudes that finished before him were cat2’s on $5000 bikes
sup sufferfest elevation:
if you see hime in SF, tell him he is missed at home.
[quote=rabbi]i know a dude who did this (las vegas SufferFest) in 49/14. no sag vehicles. one bottle of water in his pocket. in the middle of the desert. took him a little over 9 hours. he is also a beast.
sup sufferfest elevation:
[/quote]
I’m usually not one to doubt the “I know a guy who totally did this…” stories, but I’m having trouble believing this. First of all, we can all mash up hills in high gears. But when said hill is 10 miles long, it gets a little tougher. There’s a good 17km with a mild 6% grade that I ride all the time. No one is going to climb that on 49x14 without walking. If he did 137 miles in 9hrs, then he’s averaging 15mph. To manage that, he’d have to descend at close to 30mph. Thats 100-120rpm being held for probably 20-30 minutes at a time without a break, immediately followed by another extended climb.
This isn’t even to mention that riding 9hrs in good conditions with only one bottle of water is enough to put most people in the hospital. Maintaining that level of effort in the desert with that little water is not something that anyone is going to walk away from.
Not doubting that your friend is a beast. Anyone who does a ride like this is strong. But I think some of the details may be fuzzy. And, honestly, I’d doubt the intelligence of anyone who sets out to climb 10,000’ on a race-geared fixie with one bottle of water.
