Rode my newly cobbled together winter hack in to work this morning, and **** me! it was everything i could do to get up some of the bigger hills.

Have i been too ambitious with the large chain ring?

too ambitious mate! that's not far off an outdoor velodrome race gear.

try a 48 front or 18 rear

That is a ridiculous gear unless you only ride downhill.

I used to use 48:16 around London – Graeme Obree likes bigger….

48/18 worked for me as a go everywhere gear. I'd have gone to 48/16 if I was sticking to flatter stuff.

i started with 52:18 but found it to tough, using what i had lying around i then went to 42:18 which was lovely to cruise along but i couldnt keep up with traffic in town. Currently on 48:18 which i can just drag up the chiltern hills, or at least the ones i need to to get to work.

i love a good thread about ratios [/geek]

I commute on 32:17, i'm in no hurry 😀

keep the chainring and go 52:19

42/17 is the road fixed gear of champions

Nah, it's crap – 48:18 FTW 😉

I rode 85 miles to Skegness earlier this year on 53:16 but that was almost all flat…

My normal 39:16 is way too spinny for the road. I'll be doing 48:18 on my new commuter 🙂

i like evens, 42:16

44:16 on my road fixed, but that's because I like to use it on flat and a few lumps.

45:18 is best

Everyone on here talks about ratios, when according to Our Lord Sheldon it's gear inches that matter.

ratios for off-road. gear inches for road and track.

i would aim for 66-74 gear inches depending on terrain or if you are a spinner or grinder.

a good gear inch calculator calculator here:
http://software.bareknucklebrigade.com/rabbit.applet.html

44/16 here.

52/16 I'd never get the bike moving away from the lights!

OK, OK. I "run" 72 inches on the road, and 84 inches on the track. Mmkay?

i cant use that at work, but i like my 72"

from Sheldon

72inches for road and 83 for the once a year track session.

OP. You must have some monster thighs for that gear. I run 44:17 on the roadrat and occasionally mull over dropping a tooth off the back. My commute is up and over a steepish hill and I like to sprint from the lights so find 44:17 works for me

That's ok, i thought i was being a wusser, when i nearly stalled it at the lights (can you stall a bike?)

Just been over the road to my LBS and he is getting me a 22 for the rear.

I don't have monster thighs, but i'd have legs like Arnie if i could ride that thing all winter!

79" for me.

You'd usually go slightly lower for a SS gear than with fixed, since you can coast downhill.

66" or 69"…. i'm more of a spinner than a grinder. 44:18 or 46:18. can't remember.

according to Our Lord Sheldon it's gear inches that matter

I thought he was a big proponent of gain ratio?

why not have gears :-), then you can choose as you go along? I really don't see the appeal of hampering yourself with only one gear.

I've done longish (100km) road rides on 58" fixed (34:16 on big 700c tyres), but that's way too low really. It makes downhills incredibly slow and simultaneously terrifying.

Going to try a bigger chainring, I think. A 38 would give me 65" and a 42 72".

Das ist numberwang!

48:17 (76") on my roadie SS. I ran it 48:16 (81") for a few years but 17 is a bit nicer on the hills.

On the track I use a 47:14 so about 90".
I thought I liked pushing bigger gears but 52:16 is TOO high!

48/18 works great for commuting round brum

It's among the various gears I have access to but it'd be too low for the ride to work and too high for the ride back 😉

I thought he was a big proponent of gain ratio?

he was but trackies talk in gear inches but oddly for 27in even though they all use 700c. it doesn't change the ratio that much though.
gear inches is so much easier to understand.
gear combos can give the same gear inches but one may sound harder than the other. 50/18 is the same as 45/16, no confusion with GI's

I commuted for a couple of years on a 48 x 16.

Mainly level riding (Taunton) but could still blast up hills all be it not very long ones 😈

Beast in question:

Biopace ring too 😉