Hey Patrick, Others have more years experience with fixed gear trail riding than I do, so you may want to widen your question to include them?
Short answer: Ride whatchagot. It’ll learn ya whatchlike. I’ve gone middle (173), down from 175 SS. Too long by fixed recommendations, but my long legs do like the lever. I also like the easier spin of the 173 vs 175. Longer answer, here’s my experience so far: When I shifted to fixed I tried the 175s on there and did great, but had no reference to anything different. When I switched cranks to Silver 173s I noticed these differences: slight loss of leverage (a tooth or two?) but far easier faster spinning. I got a bit stronger and am very happy with both climbs and descents with my current gearing. My “staple” ride has 2,000 feet of climbing in ten miles (and the shocking 2000 feet descending back home, again over ten miles. Grin.). So not super steep, but not flat either. It includes 1/3 single track, 1/3 dirt road/MUP, and 1/3 asphalt. The trail part is the steepest and most rocky/rooty/technical part. If I went to 170, would I have fewer strikes. Clearly. Is it a measurable, material amount? No idea. I’d likely want to gear down slightly, but I’d spin more easily, so speed would likely remain about the same. For grins, I’ve wondered about 165 to test. Sand and snow ride fairly similarly, depending on condition/consistancy. I find overall technique is more important than anything (weight back to float the front wheel and give the rear extra traction.) That’s trickier when stomping, but easily learned. The biggest issue is building muscles to have both strength and endurance. Related, of course, is pedal choice. I am still playing with my pedals to find what I like for clearence and foot feel. Too wide, clearence issues. Too narrow, unhappy feet (less an issues with leather sole inserts). I currently am using MKS Sylvan Touring with toe clips/straps and really like them, but they are prone to more pedal strikes due to width and bottom half stack height. I’ll be testing out the MKS Urban next week. I’ve basically decided that pedal strikes (at slow speed, as required for rocky, rooty trails anyway) are a given with fixed gear trail riding (heck, they happened with a free wheel too — gotta move the pedals to climb unless your hoofin’ it with a freewheel too. Grin.). The biggest hits my pedals take are bikepacking during LCG. I only LCG if the trail is too steep or too rocky, and round here those two usually go togther. Pedals always turning, faster because of the lowest gear, more pedal strikes, and the bike weighs 75 pounds. I lift it for the strikes I see, if I can (not always possible on some terrain, it’s all I can do to keep the bike going up the trail). I’ve also decided MKS pedals are the best combination of value (quality and price), given that I destroyed bearings on my VP pedals within six months very consistantly (often 2-3 months). MKS take a beating and keep on spinning without complaint. I like that in a pedal. Grin. -- 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.
