Now before everyone shouts 32:16, 32:16 I wanted to find out how other ratios work out for people.

I live in Suffolk where riding is pretty flat and so I thought I would be spinning out on a 32:16…….

Is it worth getting a 36t front ring for a higher ratio or lowering the rear cog – or does it just not matter 😕

Last time I rode a SS I ran it on the road solely with a 46 x 16 set up but that was with slick tyres and a lot of swearing!

So what do you run?

Cheers, Mark

* To all the SS haters ( 🙄 ) this is only temporary until I can build up an alfine….

Yeah, get a 36, you'd be a bit limited with a 32 if you found it too easy and cogs are cheaper than rings. So try for 36:16 first I'd say. That'll still be pretty easy offroad on the flat.

Oh sorry, you're asking for examples as well.

ummmm
chameleon: 34:16
humuhumu: 40:16
pimpino: 44:18
van tuyl: 52:16 I think

You should probably ignore the last two. 😉

The SS convertor I bought had a 16 and an 18t cog, so I ran a 34t ring that gave me a gear slightly easier than 2:1 and one slightly harder so I could swap if I was doing an endurance event or just blatting about my local woods..

Where I live is very flat but rocky and rooty so after running 36:16 for a while I switched to 34:16 and found it much better. Strangley I didn't feel like I spun out any more than before but it felt much better in technical terrain.

32.:16 offroad and 50:18 for my commuter. I live near Aberystwyth, Mid Wales..

32:18 for the SE in winter, 32:16 rest of the year. Used to ride 32:14 for the beastway races

Excellent. Thank you for all of your examples.

I know it is not exactly SS but have any of you run two cogs on the freehub? I was thinking either:

34 T with 16 or 18
36 T with 16 or 18

The frame I will be using will have sliding dropouts (Paragon style) so adjusting between the two ratios should be easy enough. Plus not thinking about changing whilst on the trail only before dependant upon terrain………

You guys must be rock 😉
I tried 32:16 for a while for mainly Cannock & Wyre, but the short and steep variety of the hills killed me. I'm not as fit as I used to be and the successive hard efforts were too much. I found I just couldn't get on top of the gear unless I could carry some momentum into the climb. The tight switchback nature of some corners often make this difficult.
I use 32:17 now and although it's a bit twiddly on the flat and downs, I'd much rather be able to climb without hyperventilating!

I really should ride more often…

mtb – 32:16 (what I had available!) fine for peaks riding, WAY to easy for around town work.

ss road – 48:18 – winter trainer/part time commuter/general simple blast ride

ss hack – 44:14 (?) the rear on this is spaced with some plastic pipe from b & q and has two cogs – one 14t I think and the other 11t I think. The chain is tensioned by a rear mech locked in position under the cog with a very short section of gear cable. Depending how you set yours up, you may be able to do adjust the mech position with the H limit screw – you could then adjust between the two cogs.

MTB 34:17, with 30:17 on Lake District trips. I've used 32:17 before but that's too spinny for normal riding.

And my Pompino's nice with 39:16 for off-roading, 53:16 (grrr) for very occasional on-roading.

32:17 summer or 32:18 winter on the hardtail. My knees hate me grinding so I'm mostly happy on these.
I had a 26" commuter on 1.5" slicks a while back. It was a trafficy run so 44:16 worked out best for acceleration vs. top speed.
39:16 on a 700c which takes me 12 miles to uni and back seems ok. spins out on all the downs but churns along nicely on the flats.

OT slightly but seems like a reasonable place to ask.

I have a pre – 2003/4 Chameleon that i want to run 34:16 (its 34/18 atm), however i cant get the chain to fit nicely as its either too loose or i cant get the chain to fit at all, it has sliding dropouts but its got a minimal amount of slide in it.

What are my options?

half links

Excellent. Thank you for all of your examples.

I know it is not exactly SS but have any of you run two cogs on the freehub? I was thinking either:

34 T with 16 or 18
36 T with 16 or 18

The frame I will be using will have sliding dropouts (Paragon style) so adjusting between the two ratios should be easy enough. Plus not thinking about changing whilst on the trail only before dependant upon terrain………

Doing it that way will give you a less than perfect chainline, but probably won't cause any trouble.

I run my P7 as a Twinglespeed: 44:18 (64") for the commute, and riding out to the trails and 38:22 (47") for proper off road (South Wales Valleys). No tension adjustment required, just shift the chain across from one pair of cogs to the other.

36:16 here and it's ace. You can get up hills too, providing you're good at pulling funny faces and making kung-fu noises.

road bike 48:18 gives approx GI of 71" on 622-28 tyres

38:16 on the cx bike. Just local riding, good for a mix of off and on road.

Probably slightly too high for serious off road and slightly too low for serious on road.

32:17 here, although i did swap for a lower gear for dusk til dawn. It's mostly flat round me, but the sticky mud does me in on anything harder and i am quite happy to pootle along spinning on any easy bits.

64:32, that way I can always just stick an 11T on the back if I feel like going for the land speed record.

The thing to remember for SS is that you are always in the wrong gear! Therefore don't worry too much, worrying is for geared riders 😛

36:16 on my all purpose bike here in Herts, it's fine for most things good for building up the cadence on the flat.

as another example my 1×9 (32t 11-34 + 29er) give a spread of gear inches 27.5-84.5" on the flat i find in like 32t-13t which is 71.5" etc which is the same as my road bike SS

32:17 whilst I was less fit in the winter. 32:16 now.

32:16 is fine for the Mendips, but it bloody hurts on the Quantocks climbs.

42:18

36:18 will be fine for your flat' riding and you can stomp hills easily.
Maybe 36:16 if you have a bit of road to ride on to the trail.

34t on the front. Ran two cogs on the back of my Inbred with sliding drop outs. 15t for the flat thames valley off road and 18t for the chilterns. No chainline issues.

Andy – Member
34t on the front. Ran two cogs on the back of my Inbred with sliding drop outs. 15t for the flat thames valley off road and 18t for the chilterns. No chainline issues.

How close are the cogs run?

Do you have a pic?

34×20 on the 26" SS
34×21 on the 29" SS
And 36×17 on the play/jump bike

Prefer the look of the bigger rings and you get more chain wrap and less wear i guess?

I don't single speed much though and really only use them in one set of local woods which are very up and down in a short sharp stylee….

When you say how close do you mean apart from each other? 5 mm spacer in between or thereabouts, not much more. Sorry no pics now.

Andy – Member
When you say how close do you mean apart from each other? 5 mm spacer in between or thereabouts, not much more. Sorry no pics now.

Spot on.

Thank you 8)