BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

44/16 thought about going 44/14 but the sound of both my knees simultaneously exploding halfway up Herron Ave really scares me.

48/16 here.

70 gear inches, give or 2 or 3 each way.

52-16 and 48-16

220, 221. Whatever it takes.

40/13 on a '75 Schwinn Continental and 45/16 on a lighter Trek road bike. I haven't had to push either yet.

46:18. I was riding single speed but I am going fixed again.

So do any of you have a short reach? I struggle on my other bikes with really tight turns like the switchback that comes up from the jail trail detour onto the ped bridge to continue on to the jail tail toward panther hollow. I feel like I will smack my toes off of the front wheel unless I brake a lot

Braking a lot is the problem. You slam on the brakes and use your wheel to turn instead of keeping a little speed and leaning into it.

44 - 17 which is roughly 68 gear inches is fine for everything around the city including some of the nasty hills in the Southside and Polish Hill. It's a bit low going down hills, but spinning is just part of it.

You can always build a wheel with a a flip flop hub and go fixed on one side and add another tooth with a free hub.

This gives you the option of riding fixed; and when you get tired you can flip your wheel around to an easier gear and coast on down hills.

I believe I'm running 46-16...however I can't remember...old Schwinn chainring and I can't remember the tooth count.

46 or 48 with a 18 in front. yeah, i'm a wimp.

the bike is so squirrelly thanks to the bent frame and/or fork that i don't care about the ratio too much. keeping it going straight is the greater chaellenge

Noah, mine came the way it did. Works for climbing all of the hills I usually take. Nothing wrong with that..

fifty-four-forty or fight-alright!!!

Just kidding forty-six seventeen or 70 gear inches is my default.

Wow I am glad that I race for GPOA. They

are really good at knee rehab.

42x16 or 17 . for long rides

42x15 when I was a messenger.

stefb: by "short reach" I think you mean short wheelbase, right? Your toes overlap your front wheel? That's pretty normal for sport/racing frames. My single overlaps at low speed, my tandem just barely doesn't.

Conventional wisdom has it that the overlap is a safety issue, but it's never been a problem for me, personally. At least, without fenders -- I just let them rub. Maybe if my feet were a different size, or with different pedals it would be a problem.

i kick the bottom of my front fender. yes, this is what i mean. i just need to not be an idiot about going around switchbacks and think about my brake timing and foot position.

and amy - you should know that you probably wouldn't need knee rehab if you didn't ride fixed

and amy - you should know that you probably wouldn't need knee rehab if you didn't ride fixed

I've not seen one bit of evidence besides people repeating it over and over and over that fixed gears cause knee problems in any sort of greater number than a freewheel.

Poorly fitted road bikes seem to do way more damage.

fixed gears don't kill knees, knees kill themselves.

pushing too big a gear causes knee problems.

67-71 gear inches for general road use. For the Pittsburgh-Roubaix last year I used 61 gear inches, which worked out well. I think people who push track gears around this city are crazy!

"I've not seen one bit of evidence besides people repeating it over and over and over that fixed gears cause knee problems in any sort of greater number than a freewheel.

Poorly fitted road bikes seem to do way more damage."

Yep. I rode fixed in Pittsburgh for four years with a stupid gear (42x14) with no joint problems whatsoever. Then, all of a sudden I take my new geared bike out for a 90 mile ride and end up with patellar tendinitis for three weeks, just because I didn't have the saddle position, cleats, etc. adjusted properly yet. It's amazing how much damage you can do with your seatpost a few millimeters too low.

I think the idea that you'll hurt your knees solely from pushing big gears is a myth - everyone has different cadence preferences. The real danger with riding fixed is if you do a lot of backpedaling or skip-stopping instead of using good ol' fashioned brakes. Brake shoes are a lot cheaper to replace than bursa sacs.

Oh, and fixed gear Biopace is awesome.

You're mixing up three independent issues:

- Improper bike fit increases the risk of knee injury. Certainly - I don't think many people will dispute that.

- Fixed gear is worse for your knees than singlespeed. I have absolutely no idea about that one.

- Pushing a big gear at low cadence is harder on your knees than using a lower gear. As far as I can tell, that seems to be pretty well-accepted in the medical community. Just because some people prefer lower cadences doesn't mean it's not harmful - plenty of people prefer low seat positions too.