CountMeOut

I've got a fixed gear bike that I use to get around my neighborhood, to work and school etc. I enjoy it and it seems that since I live in an extremely flat city gears would not come in handy for me. However, some friends wanted to start going on some longer rides (only about 10 miles, but moving up from there) and I was wondering if there would be a benefit to gears there, even if its still almost entirely flat? Clearly I'm new to all of this

caloso

Flat is flat. In fact once you get out of town you'd have even less use of gears because of the lack of street lights. During the winter especially, I like going on long rides up the bike trail or down into the Delta. Once you get rolling, you just keep spinning.

CountMeOut

That's what I figured. I couldn't imagine any benefits but figured I'd ask. So, in general, gears are only helpful for hills and traffic situations? How would gears assist you with street lights?

nocluejimbo

I've done numerous 20-30 mile hilly rides, and am participating in a 50 mile gravel race this weekend... all an issue of training and preparedness.

caloso

I usually don't feel like mashing away from a dead stop in a big gear. They're also helpful for wind conditions too.

But the secret benefit of riding a fixed gear is that you are almost always in the "wrong gear." Going up or into a headwind, you're in too big a gear, so you have to mash and thus develop strength. Going down or with a tailwind, you're in too small a gear, so you have to spin and thus develop supplesse (a smooth pedal stroke). This has the effect of widening your power band, so now you're comfortable at a wider range of RPM/torque. This is old school racing wisdom, but it's a benefit for all riders.

CountMeOut

Gotcha! I definitely notice that when I'm riding against the wind I have a pretty hard time pushing forward. I've been thinking that maybe my gearing sucks, but in typically feels good when not against the wind. I guess I just have to build up that strength.

franswa

All the time! Also, well said @caloso ^^

50voltphantom

Whether gears are necessary is a question only you can answer. I ride mine on 20 mile + rides all the time and it's great.

EDIT: I run almost exactly 70 gear inches FWIW.

TenSpeedV2

I just did a 44 mile ride on Sunday with some friends, most of them on fixed gear. I did a 59 mile ride last year in a charity ride on a fixed gear. Did several 50+ mile Friday night group rides with others on fixed gear bikes. If your terrain is flat by all means go for it. I commute to work on mine as well, 17 mile round trip on an almost daily basis. Your legs get very used to it.

kingston 

Here's a story that inspired me to take my fixed gear on long rides. 85 miles is my longest FG ride so far this year, but it's still early. I'm running 66" now, but will gradually increase that to 71" or so as my strength increases over the summer.

CountMeOut

Sounds like I need to learn some more about my gearing too if I'm going to get into this proper. How can I tell what my gearing is? How do I change it? Whole new hub? Also thanks for all of the replies.

50voltphantom

Same here.

No need to replace your hub. You can calculate your gearing here Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Gear Calculator

Unkle Rico

Should be markings on the rear cog and front chain ring about the amount of teeth, if not -- just count them. Use Sheldon's calculator to figure out what your current setup is and then adjust accordingly from there.

All you need is a wrench to remove the lockring for the rear cog and a chain whip to remove the cog itself.

Remove A Fixed Sprocket - MadeGood | Free bike repair resource

kingston 

I like this calculator more than Sheldon's for fixed. It helps you pick the right gearing depending on the speed and cadence you are looking for.

jlafitte 

And that story was the warmup to this one. Very much worth a read.

BTW that dude has posted a lot in the ld/rando forum

sgtdirt

i'm running a 48/17 which is good for my area. i regularly do 20+ milers around town. there are few rides that require a climb (5% over 1.1 miles) and some other steep stuff (9% over .6 miles). i rarely have to get off anymore as i have gained the required strength to climb these hills. i may not be blistering the rubber but slow and steady gets me there.

howeeee

I am 61 ride fixed at least 5 times a week 20 miles at a time, an on many occasions go 40 miles or so.

hairnet

Whatever you're comfortable with. I finally popped my fixed gear century cherry last October.

Carcosa

I'm hoping to do that this August, but it's a lofty goal.

BlackJoker

Nice! My longest so far was a 75 mile ride on a rail trail (love those) on my old Bianchi Pista; which I did a few metric centuries on, as well. I do regular 20+ mile rides on my Rush now and my goal is to do a century on it once the weather gets warmer.

MattFoley

The only rides I typically don't do fixed are "hill" rides, where the point is to just ride hills. Long, hilly rides though, I do fixed. I've done at least 3 or 4 fixed centuries, and dozens of rides over 40 miles...nothing super hilly, mostly rolling terrain. It's definitely something you should work up to, but I don't really find it to be more tiring than riding with gears at this point. I ride 48x17 btw...

nightfly

I've done two centuries on a fixed gear and used to do long training rides on it. However I bought a geared bike a few years ago because I was finding that as I got older the strain on my body from riding fixed, sort of built up and I wasn't as comfortable as I used to be especially on a long ride with a group of people with gears. I would tend to lock up my shoulders grinding up a hill and my knees would get a little sore toward the end of the ride, that sort of thing. Not the bikes fault but getting older sucks.

Also my fixed gear is set up more for short, flat, city riding so it's not optimal for longer rides.

You can certainly do it but there are some advantages to a geared bike for a longer, hillier rides. I would say if you are going for longer rides, a more stretched out position with drop bars with dummy levers are a good way to go to allow your body to relax and maximize your hand positions.

Having a bike set up for shorter rides and one for longer rides would be a good call if you can swing it.

Sixty Fiver

I have done countless centuries on my fixed gear bicycles and thought nothing of riding them 40-60 miles either.

10 miles is a warm up or a 23 minute time trial.

ThermionicScott 

I've only used mine on rides up to about 60-70 miles (did a metric last weekend.) One of these days, the stars will align and I'll be able to get a century in on it.

IAmSam

Yes I do...