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| Still had the studded tires on here. |
First off, if you have never ridden a fixed gear bike, it is a very different experience from bicycles which can coast. You most likely have no idea how much you actually do coast on a bicycle. I know I did not realize how much time I was coasting until I started riding fixed gear regularly. It is eye-opening!
If you are curious what having to pedal every centimeter of a ride is like, you can put your bike into a bit too high a gear, keep the cadence low so you do not outrun your gear, and never stop pedaling. You'll find you instinctively coast at various points. It's crazy when you focus on this just how much the bicycle you ride lets you have these micro-rests during rides.
However; you just cannot really understand fixed gear riding in totality until you try it. I encourage everyone to try it as it may make you better at cycling. It definitely will show you that you have muscles you are not engaging much, if at all, while riding a "normal" drive train which can coast.
I go into all this detail because it is necessary to impart a bit of thought about what riding fixed is like so you can begin to understand my report here.
My first few rides were during the end of all the icy patches we had around here. Studded tires were required and due to those tires, I wasn't getting a good feel for the bike. However; a thaw occurred and I replaced the studded tires with a set of 700 x 37mm Panaracer Pasela Tour Guard tires.This "woke up" the bike and finally I was able to feel what this set up really offered.
My my! That gearing! the 39T x 16T set up is challenging and I know immediately when I am not riding flat or down hill. You can instantly feel it in the legs, and with no ability to shift or coast, you just work harder. (Or stop riding) I haven't had to stop and walk.....yet! Steep ramps up to bridges and the like are challenging though unless you carry a lot of momentum.
Ah! And this is the key. Momentum. Keep it up and things become a LOT easier. This gear feels great at about 12mph and up, so you have to keep up a good clip to maintain this speed. However; it is all worth it when you hit an "up" which would grind you to a snail's pace at slower approach speeds.
Going down hill is somewhat easier with this taller gear. I cannot explain it fully, but "back-pressure" on the pedals is traditionally how you'd control your descent speed on a fixed gear bicycle. (Brakeless fixed, that is) Now I do have brakes, but I typically only use them in situations where I deem them necessary. Otherwise I am controlling my speed with my legs only.
Somehow the taller gear allows me to control down hill speeds easier. Maybe it is because I am in a part of the pedal stroke a tiny bit longer than with a lower gear which would spin faster? I don't know..... I just feel this is an easier gear ratio to control.
I'm running the 37mm Panaracer tires at 30psi and this is probably slightly lower in this colder air than 30psi. The wide Blunt SS rims keep the tires stable, and the ride is smooth, but not draggy or slower than you'd want. This mitigates the stiff T-6 frame and keeps me happier during rides because when you are riding fixed, you just cannot level the pedals and unweight the saddle like you can do on other bikes. I can unweight the saddle a little bit, but your legs are flying around, so this gets trickier to do while riding fixed.
The stiff frame is a boon when cranking slower cadences and it keeps the frame from twisting, which in turn keeps the drive train happy. Through axles on a fixed gear bike feel amazing and give you insurance the rear wheel is not torquing sideways or slacking the chain unexpectedly. This is very nice!
I had one longer ride, a night time ride, on this bike. I probably had close to two hours riding time, mostly on city streets and bike paths. The bike is smooth, the gearing feels good as long as I feel comfortable enough to let it rip, and the brakes work great when needed. One thing about riding fixed is you are always working so you get in more work over a shorter period of time than you do on a coaster bike. This and the tall gear worked me out hard! So, I don't know about gravel in this current gearing. I think I'd drop a couple teeth at the minimum in the rear cog if I decide to ride gravel. I could see 39T x 18 or 19 tooth being much better.
More when I get more time on this....
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