mihlbach

I have been tweaking my setup on the this particular bike for a long time, and I have developed a lot of options to make this bike work for just about anything I have ever intend to do with it. I don't have mountains where I live, but there are flat areas and other areas with constant rolling hills, so my approach has been to have a number of closely spaced options, rather than two widely spaced gears. I just choose the gear ratio that is best suited to where I am riding and I stick with that gear for the duration of the ride. Currently, with my Dos freewheel, my two options, without having to flip the wheel are 40:17 and 38:19, which are roughly 64 and 54 gear inches. One gear is better on road and the other on dirt, but they are close enough that I can do mixed surface rides and manage without changing mid-ride. I use the higher gear for routes that are mostly road, and the lower gear for rides that are mostly hilly dirt or gravel.
For even more options, I am currently also running an 18t freewheel on the flip side of the hub, which works with either chainring and gives me a couple of intermediate gears. These gears are all spaced closely enough that I can change gears and maintain a very similar chainstay length. Lately I have mostly been riding 40:18 on flattish dirt and gravel roads, but I have been yearning for more hilly singletrack so I will probably switch back to 38:19 soon.

In the winters, I usually remove the 18T freewheel and install a 16t fixed cog or 16t freewheel which provide me a more roadworthy gear of 40:16 (about 69-70 gear inches) that I use for commuting.

If you haven't seen it, I posted a link above to an older thread with a photo.


Oddly, my other singlespeed bike is a fixed track bike that has only ever had a single gear ratio, 49:17, and I have never felt the need to change it. Of course I only ride it on roads so there is less of a need for lower gears.