carleton

That's it! That's the Fixed Gear Fever calculator.

I had to upload it to Google Drive. I hope all of the translations came through.

Thanks!

Hahahaha!

700wheel

Yes it is. But it appears occasionally on EBay and Bookfinders.com. That is where I bought my copy.

Perhaps somebody at your local track has a copy you could look at.

I tried to post a photo of two pages but could not figure out how. If you PM me an email address I will send it to you.

Shotland

I'll soon be buying a new stem for the track. Should I go by the same general rules for road cycling? I've always heard "if you can't see your hub, you're good", does that apply to track? Keep in mind I have very little experience actually on the track and don't know track fitting.

carleton

Generally, no. That rule of thumb is assuming that you are using road bars (with road bar reach/drop) attached to a fork with a road offset.

I mean, I feel that track fitting is sort of a thing on its own. Because:

- The bars are different
- The enduro/sprint positions are different
- The event lengths are different. (there may not be a focus on comfort)
- The bike geo is different.
- The cadences are higher

Setting up your track bike like you would a road bike is a good start. But, ultimately you'll want a track fit when you start to specialize your training and racing.

derek.fulmer

Are pista/track bars necessary for any certain event or are good road drop bars fine? I'm honing in on the last bits of my build and have been set on getting Deda or Cinelli pista bars but was curious if one style has advantages over another.

Quinn8it

Road bars are fine for most

Just be warned-
the 2 track bars you mentioned are about the deepest made. There will be a massive difference in drop and reach between those and normal road drops.

carleton

Good road drops are fine unless you plan on doing a lot of standing starts like sprinters do.

"Track Bars" are only called "Track" because they are made specifically for use on the track (no place to install brake levers, etc..). This is because on the track you do standing starts that you don't do on the road. Standing starts using road bars will bruise your forearms.

derek.fulmer

What bars would you recommend? I understand the purpose of the deep drop, as mentioned by carleton, but is there any reason not to use them?

700wheel

I use Cinelli criterium bars as does another rider at my track - they give me clearance for my arms (mine are from the 1980s). These bars are in production again.
https://www.cinelli.it/site/index.php...emid=9&lang=en

gtrob

Lots/most people ride regular road bars at my track. Ive only seen a couple people with deep sprint bars or anything track specific in some way.

I use a 'classic' style road bar and actually very happy with it. Also you usually go a little bit narrower on the track (although I prefer narrow on road now too).

Quinn8it

I wasn't really advocating for or against either type of bar- just pointing out that the bars are so different in reach and drop that it can be a major change in regards to fit..

queerpunk

Track drops were made when bike frames were made so that proper fit involved "a fistful of seatpost." If you wanted to get into a low sprint position, you needed either very deep drops, or a deep-drop stem, or both. Now, bike frames are made to generally fit a rider with a lot more seatpost - most headtubes are pretty short, especially for track bikes, so that a rider can set up both a mass-start or sprint position, AND a position with aerobars (usually involves mounting a stem quite a bit lower). So, when you see high-level riders using sprint bars, they often have a positive rise stem. Because they like the bars, but their bike doesn't require them to use those bars in order to get a low position. [there are tons of examples but here's one of nothstein and a guy whose name i'm blanking on, and it's a funny picture to use for example because of their faces. but look at their stems.]

Anyway, track sprinters use track drops for forearm clearance - mostly for standing starts. And now, the trend is going over to super shallow bars like the Scatto, which offer a ton of clearance and you can use it with a more ordinary stem.

If you rarely or never do standing starts you're better off with a standard road bar.

I use a Ritchey Classic, and I wish it came in a 38. Very occasionally I get "sprint bruises" on my forearms. Another good bar is the Pro Vibe 7S Round, which also has a criterium bend.

carleton

The purpose is not for the deep drop. The purpose is to clear the forearms when you are directly over the bars.

Notice that road bars have a "flat" top bar that is straight across. Track bars start curving down close to the stem.

You cannot get into this position using standard road bars (look at the arms):

carleton

Notice how the handles have nothing directly above them:



Now look at these road bars:




That's how you get bruises when you do this using road handlebars:

gl98115

Jens Fielder and Nothstein in the sprint final at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

carleton

Yeah manufacturers figured out that "compact" geometry bikes were stiffer and lighter. Triangles got smaller and seatposts got longer.

Shotland

Any lingo I should get a hang of? For example, what in the world is a split?

queerpunk

A split is a timing of a subset of event. For example, watching Jens's Hour yesterday, I was keeping an eye on his lap splits - the timing of his individual laps (when people are pursuiting or team pursuiting, coaches with stopwatches will be yelling their splits). Usually just two digits - Jens turning "seven-sevens" means that he was doing 17.7 second laps.

700wheel

By any chance do you have his lap time for the second lap - I can't catch it on the UCI website replay video (I got all the times for up to 4k except fpr that one.
Thanks.

Shotland

Ah, ok. and five-eights would be 15.8? are there splits for more than one lap? for example, a 10 lap split?

queerpunk

sure - for a pursuit (individual or team) people will pay attention to their kilometer splits.

Shotland

And what does pursuit mean? Is there a track lingo dictionary somewhere?

700wheel

Some track races briefly described here
Velodrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For pursuit see here
Individual pursuit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

These might not be the best descriptions but you can always search the internet.

The US rulebook is here USA Cycling Rule Book - USA Cycling see Chapter 2 - Track Racing

bitingduck

Adding some comments because most so far are sprint oriented...

If you're mostly an endurance rider (which might include someone who's a road sprinter), road bars are generally fine, but you might want to go narrower than you ride on the road so you can fit through small spaces. Also, Carleton showed an extreme example of road bars that are square when you look down from the top-- those would probably get annoying if you road them on the track-- you will spend *way* more time in the drops than on the top, and jumping hard out of the saddle could give you bruises with those bars. Also, the tumors next to the stem could be a problem if you ride madison-- they may be comfortable for cruising, but getting on and off that spot in a way that you're controlling the bike well might be trickier (or might be fine, depending on the rider).

Owen21

So got knocked off my bike by a 4x4 jeep & trailer the other day. 16 stitches in elbow and eye socket. Gravel rash, concussion, tore some of my finger off and received various gashes and bruises.

You probably all understand how being active is important to us but obviously also being sensible and careful. I know I can do day to day activities but don't fancy doing any heavy lifting (I want to but won't lol). Have any of you had a similar injury and kept active?

i was thinking about gentle riding/walking/rowing, and maybe some low intensity plyometric work? Plus maybe some stretching where I can obviously not compromising any of my cuts.

I arent at at work till sunday soboredom will kill me.