So finally down to looking at what chainring to use on my fat bike, will be running
4.6 specialized ground control front and rear
SRAM cassette 10 -42

So usual ride fells moors trail centres and road to connect, usually 25 miles or something 1900/200 ft climbing according to straaaavvvaaaa…..

Thinking 32 front chainring?

I’ve just gone for a 11-46 (previously 11-42) shimano on a 28t front. 😳

Really rather wonderful for twirling up longer climbs. Does spin out a bit on road descents, but then who GAF about that. Certainly not my fat self 🙂

30t with the an 11-42. I could cope with a 32 OK and it’s a fair bit climbier where I ride, so yeah, sounds fine.

28T oval chainring with 11-42 Sunrace cassette. Feels about right for me here in the Dales but does depend on the tyre – feels easy with the summer tyres but a bit harder work with the winter ones. It worked well on the Rovaniemi 150 race in Lapland as well, I wouldn’t have wanted anything bigger.

For comparison I normally run with a 32T oval on the 29er HT.

fat, tick
bike rider, tick
gearing, 24 front 12/42 10 spd rear.

2×9 on mine.

34/24 IIRC, with a 11-34T cassette

I used to run 28t front and 11-40 out back on mine when I had it.

Think you will struggle on the climbs with a 32; unless you have monster calves. I’m currently running 28 but seriously considering dropping to a 26 just to see how steep a hill I can grind up.

30 up front and an 11-46 Sunrace gets me and my Dune moving.

30t oval with 11- 42t cassette.

I’ve gone back to 2×8 gearing using my 29er wheelset, on the road ~90% of the time.

24/38 chainrings
11-30 cassette

Since removing the 34T On One Ringmaster, I’ve basically only used my 2.35″ G-ONEs, including last week’s adventure up several cat3 hills in the Mendips.

When using the 38T chainring, I rarely use a smaller sprocket than 20T (4th gear), it’s over-geared. And this would be worse if I reverted to the fat rear wheel with the 4.0″ Jumbo Jim.

Being able to use the 24T chainring again has been a godsend, both locally up Dell Road’s ~20% gradient section, but also up those Mendips cat3 that peak at ~24%! 😯

30t and 10-42 on one bike then 30t and gx eagle on t’other…

4″ Jims 1×10 28 oval 11-34. Will up it to 36 though like all my other geared bikes.

26T with 10-42. I like a low gear. The lower the better really. But much lower than that and I reckon I’d struggle to maintain enough forward momentum to stay upright.

33:20 (single speed, 4″ tyres)

Before that 32t 11-36. I’d probably err on the low side (10-42 or smaller than a 30t if I had direct mount). The fat tyres make keeping on top of a high gear a challenge, plenty of hills I can make it up in similar SS gears on a normal bike but if the big wheels stall on a step its a job the get it moving again.

Built mine up SS but the gearing I needed to climb was silly spinny on flat. 32:19 on the 29er works everywhere but needed 28:18 on the fat.

38/14 on a rohloff.

Will probably go to a 16 next time I change sprocket as it was a bit tough on the Cairngorm loop.

32:20 on the singlespeed which was what I ran on a 29er SS too.

24/36 with a 32 cassette on the geared one.

30T with 11-42 at the back

Low enough for me around the Chilterns

32t on the front for me, with the std 11-42 on the back.

But I’m in the West Berks lowlands, and did nick the 30t off of jnr’s bike for the Dorset Gravel Dash in the summer.

20-11:46 nate and floater

Rocketdog…
using 20/ 46 can you actually move or do you reverse the earths rotation?

When I had my on one fatty it came with 1×10, 32 and 11 to 42

Looked great but to take advantage of the stupendous grip I switched to 2x at the front. Was 36/22 at the front with the same rear, and made climbing impossible looking hills and gradients hilarious.

If your strong enough I could also see the benefit to riding a fatty SS and make use of the grip with no mechanical components to grind etc but, wouldn’t be my first choice.

20-36 up front with an 11-36 on the back.

One by is a waste of time for me. It’s like putting the gear box from my Dad’s 1970s Cortina in a Ferrari. You can but why would you limit yourself?

Like twonks writes, the grip level means that you can climb stuff you simply cannot or would really struggle with on a normal bike.

2x for the win!

in summer 28 and 11-40, mostly with nates
in winter 26 and 11-40 now with van helgas

as roverpig..I like low gears ..

32:19 for starters.

I put 38:17 on for BOTB, then chucked an 11-36 cassette on when I got home. wasn’t using top end much, so put the 32 back on. An extra gear or two for postierich’s lakes jennride would have been nice, but it was fine.

Might go SS again if I get a window of enthusiasm for non-essential tinkering.

Dingle speed.

32/22 for trails with hard surfaces.
22/32 for bogs and snow.

28:20

rickmeister – Member
Rocketdog…
using 20/ 46 can you actually move or do you reverse the earths rotation?

oops, should have been 30-11:46 😳