Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)
  • Riding Fixed Off Road – Gearing question.
  • letmetalktomark
    Full Member

    Going to give fixed ago offroad.

    Best to go with the same ratio I run SS and put up with needing to spin lots or gear up?

    Waits patiently for the onslaught of why questions 😉

    Cheers,

    Mark

    thomthumb
    Free Member

    Best to go with the same ratio I run SS

    worked for me.

    tthew
    Full Member

    Why?

    I ride fixed on-road, and single off, but fixed off road seems madness. You’ll just be smashing your pedals into stuff all the time I reckon.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    jobless
    Free Member

    I have oft wondered about doing the same. I would go with same gearing as SS if not slightly smaller. BUT i would also run short cranks, this makes spinning easier.

    I rode my track bike a few times on some bridleways and woody singletrack (in summer) and it was a hell of a lot of fun. albeit completely the wrong bike. Like, completely the wrong bike.

    letmetalktomark
    Full Member

    For 90% of my riding the chances of striking a pedal as very low. For fixed offroad I would be looking at giving the easier zero technical stuff ago first.

    That said I do understand that its an odd question and concept for all bar a few weirdos 🙂

    tomlevell
    Full Member

    I ride fixed on-road, and single off, but fixed off road seems madness. You’ll just be smashing your pedals into stuff all the time I reckon.

    It is.
    You learn to ride through the stuff you’ve smashed into quite rapidly :0)

    My typical SS gear was 32:17 but always ran 32:16 fixed which seemed to work out fine. Bit more grunt climbing and a bit more speed on the flat and downhill. (or less manic spinning)

    Depending on where you ride I’d go with 2 brakes if you can. Will give your wrecked legs a chance on long downhills and in the mud if the front lets go under heavy braking your basically out of braking without a rear brake as your legs can’t do the fine adjustment.
    I found a pair of V brakes was superior to a single front disk brake in winter.

    honourablegeorge
    Full Member

    How do you lean over in a corner if you have to keep pedaling throughout?

    Is it for very non-technical riding?

    letmetalktomark
    Full Member

    Set up will be normal disc front and rear as the hub is a fixed disc splined set up thingy.

    Plan will be non technical stuff to help me concentrate on the peddling bit!

    ampthill
    Full Member

    Single speed riders at no disadvantage on sections where no one else is pedaling like those annoying down hill bit

    Riding fix should also wreck these bit of the ride as well

    genius

    PS doing this on fat bike could be the ultimate niche

    But completely main stream on a unicycle…

    Yak
    Full Member

    I did Charlies Gravel Dash this year and bumped into Flashes from here on a fixed. He seemed to have no problems for the 93 odd miles of ride. I was on a 32:18 29er SS, and his gearing seemed similar on a 29er, maybe a touch taller, but not much in it.

    honourablegeorge
    Full Member

    I can see how it would push you on and you’d probably be faster in some ways, but there’s so may situations where needing to keep foot/body position and avoid pedal strikes makes pedalling undesirable. I guess it depends what you’re riding.

    Spin
    Free Member

    I’m running 32×19 on a 29er.

    It’s not for everyone but it has opened my eyes, improved my technique and been an absolute hoot to boot.

    You quickly learn how to avoid a lot of the pedal strikes and to ignore those you can’t avoid.

    Is it for very non-technical riding?

    Like everything else that largely depends your skills. I’ve had mine round the Laggan black and the Torridon loop. That said, I’m unlikely to repeat the latter.

    Haze
    Full Member

    32:16 on my SS, 32:16 fixed when I feel like a change.

    Fun for a while but I usually end up switching back before too long…

    miketually
    Free Member

    I really like riding fixed off-road, especially on tamer local stuff.

    I discovered that running the 700x42c wheels/tyres from my commuter on my 26″ Inbred fixed was brilliant fun.

    Edit: I run 32:17 on my 26″ SS, so 32:16, plus marginally bigger wheel/tyre diameter, is a bit higher.

    Spin
    Free Member

    If you haven’t ridden fixed much before then run it with a back brake to start with. Once you’re confident you can do away with it.

    miketually
    Free Member

    This seems like a good point to link to 63xc.com again – loads of useful off-road fixed inspiration on there.

    Dave Nice rides fixed off-road: http://cellarrat.blogspot.co.uk/
    Matt Chester’s site is interesting too: http://5metresofdevelopment.blogspot.co.uk/

    tomlevell
    Full Member

    How do you lean over in a corner if you have to keep pedaling throughout?

    You lean over.

    Is it for very non-technical riding?

    I can see how it would push you on and you’d probably be faster in some ways, but there’s so may situations where needing to keep foot/body position and avoid pedal strikes makes pedalling undesirable. I guess it depends what you’re riding.

    The only stuff I avoided were a couple of specific trails which were rain ruts and you essentially wouldn’t have been able to ride down them.

    It’s certainly a different kind of ride and sometimes not entirely in your control or fun.

    miketually
    Free Member

    Judging by the state of my pedals, I pedal strike even with a freewheel 🙂

    Singlespeed_Shep
    Free Member

    i did it for a while.

    same ratio as ss,

    the best thing I found was a bolt on rear cog, velosolo do them, bolted straight onto my current rear hub, I felt it was a lot better than a threaded cog for all the dragging the back wheel down slopes.

    Also try it with cheap parts bin cranks, you’ll smash them a few times.

Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

The topic ‘Riding Fixed Off Road – Gearing question.’ is closed to new replies.