I rode with gears last week, tore it up. While the others were down shifting on the hills, I was up shifting and pushing though it. Fix definitely makes you a stronger, better rider.
I rode with gears last week, tore it up. While the others were down shifting on the hills, I was up shifting and pushing though it. Fix definitely makes you a stronger, better rider.
I concur that fixed helps you get stronger but it doesn't make a rider any smarter. What I mean is you also understood an important technical skill for attacking hills...namely shifting up not down. With all those gears there even a fixed rider may atempt to grab lower ones if they don't know otherwise.
Torch
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:05 am
TerranceJoined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 1637Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Quote:
All cyclists are biomechanical gyrators. Fixed gear bicycles
operate under a scleronomous holonomic constraint. Free gear
bicycles operate under a rheonomous holonomic constraint.
All i heard there is "blah blah blah blah blah Mike Ditka blah blah polish sausage blah."
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sekai
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:09 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 1466Location: on the lake
Contrary to the above post. Riding fixed makes you an instant scholar. Try it for a bit longer and it all make perfect sense, elementary really.
elriche
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:10 am
Joined: 29 Jul 2005Posts: 237Location: Lower QA
Interesting, I never think about the lack of dead spots in the stroke. Guess that would make sense as to why every fixed rider isn't dying on the uphill.
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sekai
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:12 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 1466Location: on the lake
i think its more that you just get stronger, thus it is easier. plus you kinda get used to suffering and it becomes normal, maybe even enjoyable. god i love hills.
Torch
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:13 am
TerranceJoined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 1637Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
sekai wrote:
plus you kinda get used to suffering and it becomes normal, maybe even enjoyable. god i love hills.
you're clearly medically insane.
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langston
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:19 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 5547Location: Columbia City
I have a sick little love affair with hills myself. It has been a bit of a struggle to learn to properlly gear a steady climb, and my legs are getting stronger by leaps and bounds it seems. There is supreme satisfaction to crest a big ugly and then just fricken ROAR down.
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Torch
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:22 am
TerranceJoined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 1637Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
that's fair. last night was only teh second time i'd ridden up to Discovery, and the first time i had to stop TWICE to catch my breath on the way up. this time, not only did i not have to stop, i kept pace with Joby all the way up. frickin' joby!
_________________ "the only difference between me and a madman is that i am not mad."
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keyholefish
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:29 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 268Location: somerville, ma
yaarrrrrrr
dennyt
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:34 am
rocket mechanicJoined: 02 Aug 2005Posts: 2708
So last night I found out 65th from the Tin Hat to Phinney Ridge is pretty steep :)
I agree riding fixed makes you stronger, but that 50% torque advantage he claims is bullshit:
Quote:
Watch Lance climb out of the saddle: he jackhammers the
bottom of the stroke just as every tyro does; this is because
human anatomy of itself cannot rotate the cranks at constant
angular velocity. The presence of a free wheel in the drive
train allows this by decoupling the forward rotation of the
rear wheel from the forward rotation of the cranks. The
effect is not so apparent when the rider is seated, but
riding a freebie, seated or standing, a roadie’s--or anyone
else’s--legs cannot catch up to the rear wheel until the
leading crank is about at two o’clock.
So, he's saying it's impossible to stand and keep tension on the chain for a full cycle. That's not true in my experience. That also means he thinks all fixie riders are getting their feet kicked around at some point, even under full power.
The only difference between fixed and a single speed freewheel is what happens when the pedals slow down. But if you're riding hard, even if you're standing and hammering, the chain doesn't go slack, the freewheel doesn't ratchet. The bike may shift forward and back, but the chain is definitely not going slack, and you're not losing power with a freewheel.
How can a fixie rider provide smooth power all the way around the cycle but not a freewheel rider? If you're applying torque on the full stroke, the chain never goes slack, therefore fixed is the same as freewheel in terms of performance.
Last edited by dennyt on Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:38 am; edited 1 time in total
langston
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:37 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 5547Location: Columbia City
You rode that home too? I had to push it about a block cause I was too drunk to ride that high in my gears.
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dennyt
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:39 am
rocket mechanicJoined: 02 Aug 2005Posts: 2708
Yeah, I had to circle a couple times at one of the cross streets to catch my breath, but I rode up it. Triple helps, but I just put a tiny 6spd freewheel on, I was standing in my granny gear :)
futurenorth
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:39 am
Bed BleederJoined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 839Location: Ballard
I rode Misia's Schwinn to work on Wednesday and it was a whole different world.
First it kind of freaked me out to fly down hills without any control over the back wheel aside from brakes.
Second I found that I don't really know how to use gears properly. I stayed on about three gears in total.
The agility and speed of my fix keeps me in love and I can't wait for the new ride to complete.
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Torch
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:41 am
TerranceJoined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 1637Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
i hear that chicks dig fixie riders.
_________________ "the only difference between me and a madman is that i am not mad."
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sekai
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:49 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 1466Location: on the lake
that's true, but more so guys love chicks on a fix( not heroin, ok that too)
denny, ever rode powercranks? freewheel riders think they have smooth round strokes and pull up. powercranks will settle that thought. i agree, i dont think your loosing 50% but the lack of a dead spot is there. plus you develope muscles that you would not if you were riding free and are able to employ them as well
futurenorth
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:00 am
Bed BleederJoined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 839Location: Ballard
Seriously. I have weird muscles on my thighs and just above my knees that I never knew I had.
Where I used to loathe hills, I find that I look forward to a good steady incline. I'm still not a huge fan of that hill into Discovery. It's always bigger than I remember.
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derrickito
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:04 am
now with 50 percent more EVILJoined: 22 Jul 2005Posts: 10566
that hill sucked ass, i had a ten pound horn battery pack on, and 4 loaded touring bags. torture
keyholefish
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:55 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 268Location: somerville, ma
that hill was smaller than I remember. somehow we skipped the hard part. I had a pirate flag.
Torch
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:04 am
TerranceJoined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 1637Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
it was the pirate flag that made it so much easier.
_________________ "the only difference between me and a madman is that i am not mad."
- Salvador Dali
derrickito
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:08 am
now with 50 percent more EVILJoined: 22 Jul 2005Posts: 10566
Torch
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:14 am
TerranceJoined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 1637Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
you're still drunk, aren't you.
_________________ "the only difference between me and a madman is that i am not mad."
- Salvador Dali
derrickito
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:16 am
now with 50 percent more EVILJoined: 22 Jul 2005Posts: 10566
im at work. although that doesnt mean im not drunk.
dennyt
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:21 am
rocket mechanicJoined: 02 Aug 2005Posts: 2708
I haven't ridden powercranks, but on my ride in I thought of a cool way to make a powercrank bike without buying the $800 set.
Find a BMX bike on craigslist with left-side-drive (Haro made some in recent years, probably more companies did too). Take the hub, build up a new wheel, and run the left-side freewheel and left crank and chain, and throw on a normal drive-side crank and freewheel. Voila!
sekai
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:22 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 1466Location: on the lake
that should totaly be silkscreend onto a shirt
derrickito
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:29 am
now with 50 percent more EVILJoined: 22 Jul 2005Posts: 10566
Find a BMX bike on craigslist with left-side-drive (Haro made some in recent years, probably more companies did too). Take the hub, build up a new wheel, and run the left-side freewheel and left crank and chain, and throw on a normal drive-side crank and freewheel. Voila!
Seriously. I have weird muscles on my thighs and just above my knees that I never knew I had.
This isn't a third leg is it?
I freakin' love klimbing hills. I get a big third leg when I think about my fixed gear and cranking up a steep hill.
Seriously though, climbing is great on a fixed gear, when I did STP I felt way stronger on that borrowed geared bike that I think I normally would've. I had to consciously remind myself to coast, pedaling the whole way I never got lazy on it. Cranking up the minimal hills there was a cinch, and the series of rollers were just killer. I felt like I was on my fix still, the strength I had, keeping it in the 52t chainring and shifting at the most three cogs in back. What's my point? Who the FUCK KNOWS? I LIKE KLIMBING HILLS AND FIXED GEAR IS AWESOME.
dennyt
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 11:14 am
rocket mechanicJoined: 02 Aug 2005Posts: 2708
joeball wrote:
Is this what you had in mind?
Almost, except I forgot about the BB spindle connecting the left and right cranks. Throw another bearing in there somewhere, and you'll have what I was talking about. Or check out the powercranks website for their video of the craziness.
Oh, and it sounds like that guy has two standard freewheels, making it a fixed gear sort of. On the left side I would run a bmx left-side (reverse) freewheel, so you could still coast normally and have the independent left/right leg thing.
joeball
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 12:03 pm
Joined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 6037Location: Ether
Yeah, his set up makes it fixed since he has 2 right-side drive freewheel, one is just flipped so they freewheel opposite of each other.
Your concept bike would have a right side specific and a left side specific free wheel so that pedaling backward would have both freewheels freewheeling. I'm curious is there is even a rear hub that could do this, the threading would have to be opposite also.
rocker boiJoined: 24 Jul 2005Posts: 1535Location: santa fe, i think
There are all sorts of BMX hubs that you can run left side drive on. BMX bikes are the only bikes where running LSD is actually logical, other bikes it's just fun to be different type of thing.
The only thing I find free wheels are good for over fixed gear is being able to jump over things when ever I want. Timing doesn't matter when you can coast. Otherwise, fixed gear is much more effeciant. At least, I'm more effeciant on a fixed gear.
Aaron
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 10:15 pm
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 4645
riding fixed definatly makes you smoother when you ride freewheel. I find myself not coasting.
Fix is the new free.
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