[Closed] Roadie singlespeed hardmen - what ratio for distance + hills?

I ride a 69' which is a good on all but the biggest of inclines.

I do about 160km per week,on average on it. I get a rest on the descents. Fixed would destroy my knees.

You don't say how many kms you had been doing, if you've doubled your mileage your knees and the rest of your body are going to know all about it.

I only converted an old commuter to SS late last year. For cost reasons I kept the original chainring of 39T and used a 16T cog which is just under 66inches. I find that's fine for round here (Skipton area) - I can get up climbs of about 12-14% and handle the flats OK.

Longest ride I've done is just over 100Km, took a few weeks to get to do that and I chose the route so that I didn't get caught out by steep or awkward hills.

Once cadence drops I stand on the pedals, it's the only way to avoid knee damage. I have the pedals (SPDs) set quite loose so I'm not unduly stressing the knees that way.

42/16 with a 700C wheel, 32mm tyre. Works out at 71 inches. It's a bit tall for hills, I can get up 12% on that, but any steeper and I have to hope I don't get held up by anyone on a geared bike riding slow. It's a nice ratio for general not too steep knocking about though.

Damn near did Swiss Hill on it a few weeks ago with a bloody good run up, but ran out of speed before the bend. 👿

I did 271 miles on 92" if that helps

I did 271 miles on 92" if that helps

Did once is impressive, but doesn't help, I'm wondering about cumulative effect, and whether it's responsible for my sore knees!

Merak, yeah, I knew I had increased my mileage a lot, usually would only do 100-120km a week in short relatively flat rides, but started new year with 350km in 11 days, 2 of them hilly and then some 'enthusiastic' but relatively flat commutes 🙄

Everything else felt fine though, which sort of explains my over-enthusiasm I suppose, was also trying to spend more time in the drops which probably explains the pain in my hip...

Quick poll of responses so far and I'm still at the lower end of the range, might leave it as is but just start taking the geared bike out for the longer rides 8)

If you're on a singlespeed then you can go lower because you won't have to pedal down hills. Wouldn't go below 66 for fixed but try 64 or 62.

48x17 (74 inch?) fixed here in Basque Country (though not for last two years). Bigger gear helped when riding with the club, though obviously stuck to flatter routes. 1000m per 100km would be the absolute max I'd do, anything more would be tedious. Must dig it out again.

Checked again, currently on 67.5, could go 66" with a 39 tooth chainring, or 64" with a 38.

Given that this is supposed to be my commuting/base miles bike, I see no reason not to go 64".

My 'training' such as it is at the moment, is all about hours on the saddle, not distance covered, so even if the 64 limits my average because I'm spinning out all the time, it just means more hours for the same distance 8)

Funnily enough, living on the outskirts of Edinburgh I'm finding it extremely hard to plot routes that don't work out as 10m/km ascent, unless I just do laps around the river Forth. Anything in Fife, above Falkirk or towards Stirling always seems to work out as 10m/km or more. Guess it's my fault for consciously avoiding A roads...

46x18 for me fixed and ss..

I hate to sat this but 10m/km is pretty flat, a "flat" ride round here would be 15m/km.

46x17 is my fixed gear of choice - 100rpm is about cruising speed and I've still managed to gurn my way around the Surrey Hills which is a 100miler from home, and managed 180rpm on the downhills. Scares the bejesus out of folks on a group ride when you go past spinning at that speed - huge momentum with the inertia in your legs too. I do have both brakes fitted, necessary if needing to stop at 30mph plus

44x17 (~69GI) on 28mm for round here in Devon, fine for everything up to about 12-15% hills, which are still doable but a struggle if they go on for a while. Flat/hilly is all relative, a flat ride round here is ~500-700ft per 10 miles, a hilly one is 1000ft+ per 10 miles.

You can listen to/ignore as many people as you want though, what you need to do is find out what works for you! Experiment and see how you get on.

Inevitably my knees have started grumbling

Are you climbing sat down and grinding or standing?

IME sat down pushing a big gear is what upsets knees, if you're a sitter then gear down, if you are happier standing then you can gear a wee bit higher but you might suffer from fatigue earlier.

67.5 apparently here. Well, it was until I swapped the chainring for an oval 2t smaller. Hopefully that'll buy me more at the top and less at the bottom!

I did try higher but my commute climbs the North Downs before my legs have warmed up and this is as high as I can go without grinding to a halt on a bad day. Actually, since I moved house a year or so back I climb the steep side, hence the change of ring.

Something in that region seems a pretty good place to start for me.

I commute on 65.75. Not too frustrating on the flat, will get over rolling hills nicely. But I am 59 and have given up singlespeeding off-road.

Usually about 66" for me, on fixed. Including some longer, hilly rides.
I think fixed can be a bit easier uphill than the equivalent gear on singlespeed.
Can be a bit spinny on the downhills, think it helps to keep my knees warm. Plus use the brakes to control the speed if necessary.

The default 42x17 on my old Tricross Singlecross got me up moderate inclines, back in the days long before I knew of the South Downs cat3/4s.

48:17 on my SS road bike. Mostly used for commuting but I've done tens of thousands of miles (inc several 100+ mile days) on it albeit I try and pick routes to avoid the really steep stuff. I can do 10% gradients on it without any issues.

Any lower and I find it too spinny but I'm used to the bigger end of the gear spectrum from my racing days.

64" when I commuted (rack and light pannier). Not too tricky route but 20 miles each way over the south downs 'ridge' and a few short sharp lumps so around 200m ascent each way. Smallish gear and some pretty reasonable downs requires a dollop of 'souplesse' and kicking back early before it gets too out of control. Kind of thats the point of riding fixed though (apart from the lack of maintenence) - getting supple and riding a high cadence.

I'm a supersofty. My ss road bike runs 40/17 gearing. that means spinning along on the flat at a nice comfy cadence. I can climb fairly steep hills on it and hit 30mph down hill / downwind spinning like a loon

I hate to sat this but 10m/km is pretty flat

Yeah don't worry, I didn't mean to suggest it was particularly hilly, it's just a figure I got fixated on because all my rides seemed to work out that average. I've been studiously avoiding the local big hills on the S/S.

I've ridden round the M25 twice on my fixed road bike. 225km and about 2500m of ascent. Not overly hilly. I rode 78" fixed. I rode about 7000km fixed last year.

Now for the real world. That gear is chosen for club rides and averaging 20mph in a group over relatively flat terrain. Pick your gear based on your average speed and a proper cadence of 90rpm

42x16 is for 16 mph
42x15 is for 18 mph
42x14 is for 20 mph

If you are not averaging 16 mph over your route, you will need to gear down. Typically this will need to be a smaller drop than a 17T sprocket as one on the back is three on the front. So a chainring of,say, 40, may be better.

And fixed. Never SS, there is no comparison.

I'm a supersofty

No, I am the super softy. I am running 55 GI on fixed

It is used mainly off road though and it is a great gear for that (I just ride slowly on the road sections) but it certainly keeps me awake going downhill as I ride brakeless

42x16 with 25mm tyres, 69" ish I think, on my commuter fixed gear Paddy Wagon.

The ride it's used for is 900ft climbing each way, most of which is up 1 hill. For me, it's about spot on, the climb is a bugger but bar that it's perfect.

Are you climbing sat down and grinding or standing?

I base it on my cadence, as soon as I felt I was pushing rather than spinning I would stand up. Still wondered if stood up grinding could hurt knees, the strain is still going through the same joint, albeit less flexed.

Either way, either through increasing my paltry weekly distance too much, or too much climbing, something is amiss. I've ordered a 38t chainring so am now committed to a fairly low 64", but for daily commutes and base miles it will do, I'll just start using the road bike for the longer rides, once I figure out how to fit mudguards to it!

Frustrating as I was really enjoying the singlespeed riding, was genuinely beginning to think 'only bike I'll ever need' thoughts..

50x16 for up to 75 mile hilly rides, would go 50x17 for 100 milers.

As above single speeding isn't the same, climbing fixed is much nicer and easier somehow.

I find its the big/steep hills near the end of rides that will make your knees hurt, so front load the climbing where you can.

68" (44x17) Fixed for me,

Used that on upto 200k audaxs.

Easy steady pace on the flat and i can climb on it. Got up the struggle in Ambleside on it last year. Had to stop a few times to let my legs settle but rode it all.

As soon as i found for distance riding its all about the easiest gear you can get away with not the hardest my rides where a lot easier. When climbs are hard just stop take a breather and get going again.

50/16. Chuffing hell! That's a monster gear!

I'm on 42/17 (66") and it's perfect for around here (Glasgow) Tops out, legs going like the clappers at around 26mph. comfortable speed around 18mph-20mph.

12%-15% becomes a slog. Anything upto around 18% seems doable. Not had to walk. Yet...

Only had the thing a week, but longest ride has been 74 miles (4,000ft of climbing) and that was fine. Did a 58 miles and 4,500ft the day before and that was also good.

Sometimes it's the profile of the climb that makes a difference: a short section of 12% followed by a long drag of 8% is a lot easier than a long drag of 8% followed by a short ramp of 12%.

With a 39:16 ratio (66.5") I can manage those roads with a single chevron on OS maps (so far!) but those with a double chevron are too much.

It takes time to build up the oomph (for want of a better word) so it's a case of stick at it but don't overdo it.

I find its the big/steep hills near the end of rides that will make your knees hurt, so front load the climbing where you can.

Ha, funnily enough the longest ride I did recently finished with an absolute brute of a climb, possibly not especially steep at any point but maintained a stiff gradient for a long time. First time my quads have ever cramped on a climb...

Used to do fixed rides on something like an 80in gear (43x14). Was fine* for anything <10% and the descents were manageable up to about 30mph before I had to brake to prevent my legs being ripped off.

+1 on the climbs being easier on fixed. The momentum gives you a (probably mental) boost. The down point is cornering at speed 😯

*as in possible, rather than comfortable or easy

I ran 48:18 (72") fixed on a fairly flat commute (500ft over 10 miles according to STrava which is abouuuuut right). Could get up to 35mph plus (although wasn't putting much power in by that cadence!), and it only got really grindy into a headwind.

It was fine for my knees (stand up at low cadence) but broke lots of bits. I have to say I enjoy riding gears more when it gets hilly, and the broken bits put me off that bike so I'm all gears on the commute now. Even a relatively flat ride across to Edinburgh got a bit tedious as after miles of gentle ascending slightly below a comfortable cadence, I had miles of spinning like a loon. Didn't wear out rims from braking though.

50x16? I've ridden fixed gear TTs on that gear and finished first vet!

50x16? I've ridden fixed gear TTs on that gear and finished first vet!

65" on 28c tyres. done a lot of commuting plus a few longer rides up to 100 miles.

64-66" is fairly popular with the fixed audax crowd. although there are certainly some much higher geared guys out there.

tyres can make a huge difference; difference between a fast tyre and a marathon plus is worth 2 teeth on the rear for me.