MENU

Fun & Interesting

Are Big Fixed Gear Ratios Actually Faster?

Zach Gallardo 120,453 4 years ago
Video Not Working? Fix It Now

The bike I ride, channel sponsor, pretty cool people: https://wabicycles.com/ Mildly ironic Reasonably Dangerous cycling shirts: https://www.zachgallardo.com/merch Since street fixed gear riding was born from track cycling, a lot of fixed gear riders have an obsession with riding the biggest gear ratio possible. But there's two schools of thought when it comes to ideal gear ratios for street riding: spinners vs. mashers. Spinners argue that learning to spin a lower gear ratio at higher cadences allows the rider to traverse steeper terrains AND be faster on flats. Mashers argue "big ratio, big muscle, big speed." To find out whether a big gear ratio is actually faster for street riding, not just for pros on the track, I try riding my normal 25 mile loop with the biggest fixed gear ratio I've ever ridden. The results may surprise you. Sources: Gear Inch Calculator: https://www.bikecalc.com/gear_inches World Hour Record Gear Ratios: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hour_record Get a shoutout at the end of each video by supporting the channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zachgallardo Fixie Famous Shoutout: Ryan Witt David Klippens Ellie Lovelace Justin Javier Kelvin Ho Julian Corona Fixed Federation OC Bike Crew Stan Strong 108 Brandon Black Zane Kolnik Singlespeed Shoutout: Seungwan Kim Chris Javier Lopez M. Martin Mohr Young Architect Nick Scott Palangi Todd Brannan Epilektric Michael Greif Nicodache Connect with me: https://www.instagram.com/zachygallardo/ #fixedgear #cycling

Comment