Hey Alan, My suggestion is ride the 65" (or 70") on the longer rides. You will be surprised how quickly you learn climbing either in the saddle or standing but in a slow, steady way for longer hills. I don't know what long hills are where you live, here they are 10-20 miles. Grin. Should you climb a hill you need your lowest gear, LCG it. That's what it's there for, and it's variable, as you can lope along with your bike if you like, or walk very slow. Try what you have for long rides and see how you do. Give it the summer. You then know if you need that 10" difference or not (Because it costs quite a bit to get there from where you are and I bet 95-98% of your riding you've already got covered with what you have).
With abandon, Patrick On Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at 5:15:09 AM UTC-6, alan lavine wrote: > > Much thanks for all the thoughtful replies and info. The bike in question > is currently set up fixed with 65" gearing, and this is fine for around > town and short rides out of town. I was thinking about longer rides with > longer hills....no real mountains and no off road. Given the limitations > of a standard track dropout and the brake pad issue I would need to create > gearing with the same # of teeth in both positions so no axle position > change. I would be looking for around 70" on the flats and around 60" for > climbs. I didn't run the numbers but I'm sure this is possible. > > I keep getting back to the quick release issue. Currently I have an > Origin 8 flip flop hub spaced to 126, with sealed bearings. Is it even > possible to change out axles on this? Aside from Phil Wood, any options > for a custom wheel that won't break the bank? > > Again, thanks for all the collective wisdom. > > Alan > > > On Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at 10:50:07 AM UTC-4, alan lavine wrote: >> >> Hi All, >> The simple one for sale got me to thinking about doing something similar >> with a fixie frame I made at United Bicycle Institute a few years ago. >> IIRC you can put 2 closely spaced chainrings up front. Then in the rear >> with flip flop hub, you can use a double freewheel on one side and even a >> double fixed cog on the other. Is this right? How close do the chainrings >> and cogs need to be to avoid having to change the chain length? Can you >> use a "crossover" gear, i.e. one chainring with either of the cogs in the >> rear (FW or fixed), or do they need to be in the same plane? Will it work >> with a standard track dropout or was there something unique on the simple >> one/quickbeam? >> >> Can someone give me examples of the gearing they use? What double crank >> works or do I have to make a custom one? My frame was originally built >> with a 120 rear but I respaced it to 126...will that work? Are flip flop >> wheels available with quick release, and is it OK for fixed gear riding? >> I'm wondering how often I would change the gears if I needed a wrench for >> the axle nut. >> >> Lots of questions, sorry, but I'm thinking it would make an interesting >> project. >> >> Thanks in advance, >> Alan >> NYC >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
