THE SCIENCE OF FIXED GEAR RIDING

If you want to read an article written a few years ago by one of my customers, Jim Lee, on the physics of fixed gear riding, check out this link: http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/articles/lee/lee.pdf. Warning: it’s not a casual read! But very cool. As it turns out, there is science behind the mechanics of riding fixed gear…

DOES RIDING FIXED IMPROVE YOUR GEARED RIDING?

There are differing opinions out there on whether riding fixed has any positive training effect for geared bike riding. For a rider at the elite level, with excellent coaching, there may be less benefit, but for the average enthusiast cyclist I think there are clear benefits. This position is based on my own experience over the years, and from others I trained with.

For one, with no coasting there’s no question that the cardio gets more of a work out- it’s as close to running as you’ll get on 2 wheels. This, of course, assumes that the RPMs are at a high enough level to push your heart rate.

Secondly, it forces you to increase your RPM range. On the geared bike will you be able to maintain the same high cadence as on your fixed? Probably not- the fixed design helps you complete the pedaling circle by carrying your feet through the back side of the circle. But, your legs are conditioned to operating across a wider range of RPMs, which is really helpful when responding to an attack, for example. You can get up to speed quickly without necessarily immediately shifting to a higher gear. Think Ferrari instead of Detroit V-8.

Third, for climbing, your legs get used to a mid range gear from the climbing you did on your fixed, which will make you a stronger climber on your geared bike. And the climbing technique is improved since you had to learn to negotiate those hills with that one gear.

Overall, the fixed is particularly well suited to off season use, since it effectively prevents you from pushing the big gears, so your legs are fresh going into the spring season. There is another benefit as well- fixed is a blast and a refreshing mental change from riding gears!

 

 

HOW TO REMOVE AND INSTALL REAR COGS

In our other new video, we give a quick how-to lesson on removing and installing rear cogs. If you have any further questions on how to do this, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or reach out to us – we’ll be happy to help.

Enjoy!

HOW DO YOU FLIP FLOP THE REAR WHEEL FROM FIXED TO FREE?

A YouTube viewer recently requested that we do a video on how to flip flop a rear wheel from a fixed gear to a free wheel. So, rather than trying to tell you how to do this, let us demonstrate in one of our newest how-to videos. Enjoy!

And, as always, if you have any suggestions about videos you’d like to see from us in the future, leave us a comment or shoot us a message and we’ll do our best to deliver.

ANKLING TECHNIQUE FOR PEDALING

Way back when I first started cycling, you’d see the occasional article on ankling, a technique where you consciously alter the angle of your foot to your leg as you pedal through the circle. The idea is to use more of the leg muscles, to spread the work load, making you more efficient and/or powerful. It’s been described as a similar motion to scraping mud off of the bottom of your shoe. Note that this technique is possible with even street shoes, but is far more effective with cleated shoes, either with clips and straps, or clipless. Typically, the average cyclist is doing this automatically to some degree. What I am describing is the conscious exaggeration of this motion in certain situations.

Some argue that it’s not a valid technique but as with a lot of things, each person has to check it out for themself to determine if it’s helpful. As for Sheldon’s experience, it should be noted that doing anything new like this requires caution, so as not to over stress the body. So, try it sparingly, not for extended periods of time, and let your body adjust gradually.

Personally, it’s something I use on an irregular basis, generally while climbing, although I have also used it for down hill spinning in fixed gear mode. The advantage at that point is that it makes the diameter of the circle made by the knees smaller (by pointing the toe downwards at the bottom of the stroke), allowing a few more RPM with less bouncing on the saddle.

Definitely, if you want to try it, be cautious with it, and don’t over exaggerate the motion. And I’d be interested in hearing any feedback, on whether this technique was helpful for you at all.

Check out this video on my own demonstration of ankling:

SHOES AND CYCLING EFFICIENCY

While I don’t  recommend tackling clip in pedals and first time fixed gear riding at the same time, once you’re comfortable with your bike and want to add some instant horsepower get yourself some rigid soled cycling shoes and a good pair of pedals. The stiff shoes transfer power to the rear wheel far more efficiently than street shoes and being able to apply power through the entire pedaling circle (if your connected to the pedals you can pull up on the back side of the stroke) allows you to use more muscle groups, so you’re more powerful and efficient. For maximum flexibility, the SPD system is the best. You can get the efficiency of clip ins and rigid soles and still be able to walk around normally since the cleat is recessed. It will take a few tries to get the routine of entry down, so practice a bit before banging elbows with the cars.

 

ARE WIDER TIRES THE ANSWER FOR A SMOOTHER RIDE?

The easy answer to the question above is, yes, it’s a way to get a smoother ride, but there are several factors that affect ride comfort besides tire size.

1. The main determinant is the frame, and 3 factors impact shock absorption: materials, design and quality of the frame build.

• Materials: Generally speaking, steel is the material to use to dampen road vibration, and as you move up to the lighter, thinner walled steels, the ride quality improves. In addition to the vibration damping, lighter weight steels will also impart a liveliness to the ride that isn’t found using any other material, including carbon fiber.
•  Frame design: For ultimate comfort, it would eb hard to beat the classic road touring frame design. The laid back angles, increased for rake and longer chain stays all contribute to a smooth ride. At the other end of the spectrum is the typical track racing design- very upright, short wheelbase for maximum performance. In the middle of this range is the traditional road racing frame, which imparts quick handling and good performance, but with good vibration damping as well. Unless the roads you ride on are really poor, a good road race design will usually give enough comfort, while allowing a quick and agile feel.
•  Build quality: This is one that’s not always easy to determine. If a frame is visibly poorly made, with sloppy tube joints, pin holes, etc., you can guess the build was done with an eye to production speed more than quality. Look closely at the workmanship- it gives a clue as to the care taken during fabrication.

2. Wheels play an important part as well.

• Rim shape: Basically, as the rim gets deeper (more aero), it gets more rigid, and gains weight. It’s also sturdier, and can withstand more abuse, but for most people it’s overkill.
• Medium depth rims (28- 23mm) allow lighter weight, and provide a more resilient ride.
•  Hubs: If you’re an aggressive sprinter, large flange hubs make a difference in performance. But, they do make the ride more harsh.

3. Tire pressure: Recommended tire pressure depends on the weight carried on the bike (rider and other), road surfaces and conditions, and preference. For comfort, you want to run as low of a pressure as possible while avoiding pinch flats and rim dings.

STEEL TUBING IN BICYCLE FRAMES

A Rose Is A Rose Is A Rose, right?

Not when it comes to steel tubing for bicycle frames. Does it make a difference, whether it’s Cro-Mo, double butted, heat treated, etc.? You bet.
If you intend to actually ride a road bicycle (fixed or geared) for some distance, for the pleasure of riding, it’s really no different than with other products. Cars are probably the best analogy. Is there a difference between how a Honda Civic rides and handles, and how a BMW 3 series rides and handles? They both get you to where you’re going. Again, yes there is a difference. The Honda is a great car, but the Beemer is a lot more fun. That’s the point with the better quality tubing- the bike is just more fun to ride. It can get confusing, with so many types of steel tubing. Through various alloying strategies, heat treatments, etc., steel tubing sets produced by Reynolds, Columbus, True Temper, Kaisei (formerly Ishiwata) and others have gotten progressively stronger and lighter.
In general, you can look at it this way- as the tubing tensile strength increases, the wall thickness of the tubing can be decreased without a sacrifice in strength, producing decidedly lighter tube sets. For the cyclist there are 2 main benefits. The first is obvious, the frame will be lighter. The second is not so obvious until you actually ride the bike using the better quality tubing. The ride feel, the liveliness of the bike, and the ride comfort will all be noticeably improved. IMHO, this is the far greater benefit to the average cyclist, even more so than the weight loss.
So, what is the hierarchy in the world of steel tubing for bike frames? Here’s a generalized overview/ranking (low to high), using the popular Reynolds line to represent the higher quality steels:
- Hi Ten: very inexpensive, and very heavy, the lowest quality level of steel used for adult bicycle frames
- Cro-Mo: higher quality alloyed steel, lighter weight than Hi Ten
- Butted Cro-Mo: lighter still, probably the most widely used tubing for mid priced ($650- 750) steel fixed gear bikes. It comes in many, many names, and is usually what’s used in “proprietary” tube sets from many bike manufacturers, to give it a less generic sounding name.
- Reynolds 520 (note- all of the Reynolds tubing listed is butted): a step above the standard butted Cro-Mo, Reynolds entry level butted tube set
- Reynolds 631: the next level up, air hardened, with higher strength and thinner wall thicknesses available
- Reynolds 725: next level up, air hardened and heat treated, with thinner wall thicknesses available
- Reynolds 853: very high end steel, thinner still, and lighter
- Reynolds 953: a variant of stainless steel, this one rivals Ti and carbon fiber on weight, but with the ride of steel

I guess the point of this is, when you’re looking at the various bikes out there (and this seems to be especially true of the fixed gear segment where a lot of steel is used), pay attention to the differences in the steel used for the frame. If it doesn’t say Reynolds, Columbus, True Temper, etc., then you can be very certain it is a medium grade of tubing at best. This does not imply that it is of low quality, but simply that the bike just will not be as light or ride as pleasureably as one made with a higher quality tubing. Also, note that even though the higher quality tubing is lighter, in most cases it’s actually stronger than the heavier steels. The only down side (besides cost, of course) is that the thinner walls will dent more easily. So, if your bike will be abused to some degree, it would be better to use the thicker walled tubing.

FIXED GEAR FRAME DESIGN

OK, let’s get into a topic where there are strong opinions- frame design. Obviously, fixed gears for the road, in recent years, have evolved from the track bike. Going back further, fixed was the normal design for pretty much all bikes. The first year the Tour de France was won using multiple gearing was in 1937. Anyway, the reason a track bike is designed the way it is is because of where it’s designed to be ridden, on a track. With a track (or velodrome, to be more correct), you have a controlled environment, often indoors, with smooth surfaces and banked turns, and events are generally not long distance. This allows a frame design that eschews any concerns about comfort, with maximum attention to performance and efficiency. Sorta like an F1 car, but without brakes. Fast, quick and fun to ride, but maybe not the best option when longer distances and less than ideal riding surfaces are the norm. There’s a reason the road frame design evolved as it did. Just as you probably wouldn’t want to spend an 8 hour day driving a NASCAR machine through traffic, you may find the charm of a frame with track dimensions losing its appeal not too far into a longer road ride.

OK, one comment- this discussion is really aimed at anyone who would like to ride their bikes for pleasure over longer distances, not for the guys riding to the coffee shops or doing tricks. Nothing wrong with that, just not what this is about.

Anyway, it’s hard to beat the classic road racing frame design for pleasure riding without heavy loads. Done correctly, you end up with a frame design that is lively, agile and has excellent manners in the corners, while maintaining reasonable comfort on any decent road. This type of frame is efficient at converting your power output to forward motion, while not forcing thoughts about internal organ damage into your mind.

One other thought on frame design- trail. This is the measurement of the horizontal distance between where your front wheel contacts the ground,and a point in front of that where the extended centerline of the head tube would intersect with the ground. This very important number tells you how your bike will handle. It’s interesting to me that in the bike biz, something like fork rake (which is one of the 3 factors that affect trail) can be “fashionable”. When I designed the Wabi bike frames, I had a very specific goal for the design (road), and the handling (neutral, predictable). For the steel framed bike, no problem, they can bend steel fork blades to whatever you want. For the carbon fork used for the Lightning, I had to have the factory create the 2 different fork rake molds to achieve the fork rakes that I wanted to use (different ones for different frame sizes, due to differing head tube angles required to achieve the correct top tube lengths and wheel bases for the various frame sizes).

What’s really interesting is that many of the very famous brands of bikes and frames out there DO NOT pay much attention to this. To be fair, a bike can be built using weird fork rake/head tube angle combos and be entirely rideable, but they are not optimally designed. Sometimes this is a product of expediency, of what options are available to the bike maker for forks (generally produced by a different factory than the frame itself). Other times, who knows why they do it? It’s not a compliment when someone says your bike handles like a slippery fish…

BRAKES OR NO BRAKES?

Now here’s a loaded subject. As with frame design, the issue of no brakes on fixed gears comes as a “bonus” with the transition of the track bike to the streets. Generally speaking, I don’t personally care if people want to have brakes on their bikes or not, UNTIL they get into a situation where not having them causes harm to others. And let’s be honest about this discussion- being able to apply back pressure or using the skid stop will slow a bike down, but compared to 2 functional mechanical brakes, it’s not even close. First, the front brake does the majority of the braking of a moving vehicle- it’s just physics. Second, as soon as you start skidding, you are operating at 28% of the braking efficiency that you had just prior to the wheel locking up (physics again- there’s a reason they developed antilock braking systems for cars). So, if you have only a rear “brake” (by back pedalling), I would estimate that you have at best 10-15% of the braking efficiency of a bike with 2 hand brakes. You can either slow it down by applying back pressure (similar to downshifting in a car with a manual transmission), or by locking up the rear wheel. I’ll admit, I’m a wuss- I like brakes. I want to live to ride tomorrow. And, quite honestly, I don’t want to have to constantly be thinking about how I’m gonna have to save my butt every second I’m riding through traffic. It’s interesting enough WITH brakes… I see the appeal of going brakeless- the bike looks super clean, and it’s a challenge to master the skills needed to get by w/o brakes. In no way do I want to see laws enacted about it, but my guess is that we will if there continues to be injuries to others caused by cyclists having no brakes. At that point it’s not a macho exercise, it’s impacting someone else in a negative way. Please ride responsibly.