singlespeed ratio

[mlambonja]

What is the recommended gear ratio for a singlespeed when doing the WRT ?

[Dyffers]

How good are your legs? How much do you like to walk? What route are you planning? How many hills does that take in?

I'd gain a tooth at the back on your usual gear, but that's just me. If you can put out 400W for an hour at a time then just MTFU with what you've got.

[Anthony]

With no knowledge of what trails flowed and what were walks we planned our route last year based 100% on where the map said we had right of way. As a result we had quite a lot of wet grassy steep climbs to walk/grind up.

I found 35:22 to be fine on a 26" wheel. There is very little road to spin out on and downhills the extra kit weight brings with it enough speed anyway!

I would usually ride 2:1 on a unladen bike on my local trails including the Peaks District.

[mlambonja]

Thanks Anthony for the reply. I live about a mile from Swinley Forest in Bracknell and tried a 33 x 21 (that is more or less the same as your setup) in the more hilly part. It worked quite well for me, not spinning to much but I will test run with a fully loaded bike in the near future. If to difficult I will change to my hardtail, not the best one available (Pinnacle) and will ride it until it falls apart, I hope not to soon!

[Ian]

I rode 32:21 on last years WRT, and I think 32:20 the year before (29er). I have mixed views on going to a lighter cog for riding. I think its to do with the relationship between force and power, the latter being force multiplied by velocity and the former simply being the strength required to turn the crank.

Basically, without getting over complicated, I subsequently did a four day trip on 32:19 later last year and found it suited me better than the lighter ratios did, which I found didn't really make the hills any easier - I was just slower. There's obviously lots of external factors too, such as route, fitness, weight of gear, weather, beer and so on. No more than 1 tooth lighter would probably be my recommendation, but it may be you don't need to change anything.

[Anthony]

It's a good point that everyone is different. My riding buddy actually borrowed my 35/22 set-up for this year's bb200 and really struggled with it.

I guess everyone has their natural cadence.

But then thats the beauty of 1x7

[pedalhead]

I'd agree with Ian on this one. At the risk of getting all geeky about it, I find going too low can actually makes things harder as you're tensing leg muscles to deal with moments of light/no resistance during the pedal stroke & it makes for a very inefficient pedalling technique. I find this can be the case on all but the steepest of climbs. My usual 29er gearing these days (for Chilterns riding mainly) is 32:18. For steeper hills & loaded riding off-road I'll drop that to a 19 at the back. On steeper climbs I just pedal slower, but can generally maintain a steady power throughout the whole pedal stroke as the gear isn't too low. Even on a heavy bike you can keep power output (and therefore fatigue) fairly low by keeping cadence low, even if applying quite a bit of torque.

If the hill gets really steep or technical & my HR rises too high (and if I'm trying to conserve energy), then the last resort is just to get off and push (singlespeeder's perogative ).

Of course, actual gearing will differ depending on the rider and the terrain, but I guess my theory is simply that the temptation to go really low for loaded riding might not necessarily be the best thing, for both energy conservation and overall speed.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I have to agree with the 'don't go too low' train of thought. However I have a natural low cadence and find it hard to spin quickly gears or not.

I'm often surprised by the very low ratios that seem to be employed in the US ... sometimes people are running 24 : 20 and other such low gearing

[didnothingfatal]

24:20, would it it be easier to walk.

I have a 34:19 setup I got for WRT, but can't decide on running as single speed or with the Middleburn Duo.