Furthest you've ridden fixed is...

I swapped my 73" 46/17 for a 44/17 to spin faster around town. Some guys are pushing silly-large gears through the city but I personally prefer to spin.
Lower gearing makes skidding easier and it's just easier to relax with lower gearing (until downhills) :)

hippy I swapped my 73" 46/17 for a 44/17 to spin faster around town. Some guys are pushing silly-large gears through the city but I personally prefer to spin.
Lower gearing makes skidding easier and it's just easier to relax with lower gearing (until downhills) :)

I haven't really got into the science of spinning yet, can you go the same speed as you would on a harder gear...?

The Dunwich Dynamo last year, using 47x19. On a road bike, 200 miles on 19 hours. Running, 42km on... 4 hours 24minutes, it's bad i know!

the-smiling-buddha [quote]hippy I swapped my 73" 46/17 for a 44/17 to spin faster around town. Some guys are pushing silly-large gears through the city but I personally prefer to spin.
Lower gearing makes skidding easier and it's just easier to relax with lower gearing (until downhills) :)

I haven't really got into the science of spinning yet, can you go the same speed as you would on a harder gear...?[/quote]

Definitely. Silly as it sounds.. you just pedal faster.
It's good to have a wide ranging cadence (pedal rpm) so you get the jump on people in races when you are already at speed.
Spinning also encourages use of your cardiovascular system (heart and lungs) more so than your hulking leg muscles. So if your legs get sore lower the gear, if you run out of breath spinning your arse off, increase the gear.
There's always tonnes of chatter on bike forums about spinning, optimum cadence and shite but I can't be bothered with too much explantion.
I used to grind, now I spin with a hint of grind. Personal preference brought on by reading about pedaling technique, practising it and then racing with it.

I've seen some guys running quite low gears fixed around town. Who's running stupid low gears on here I wonder? Me: 44/17 = 69"

42x16=70.8

I'm on the same, 44x17
after coming off 44x16 for a bit.

mainly just to get used to spinning more, before I go up to 46x17 (73ish)

there's not that much in it, but 69 is spinny, and I wanted to improve my higher rpm whilst doing short journeys at the moment

I definitely prefer the 69 to my previous 46/17=73?

I'm on 68 but planning to go up to 71 when i can afford it.

anyone got a link to spin techniques

http://www.roadcycling.com/training/victory.shtml
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1030
http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-69430.html
haha: this came up in google: http://www.londonfgss.com/discussion/120/pedalling-technique/

just google for pedal technique, spin, spinning, cadence, that kind of thing.. tonnes out there.

rode 72 o my single speed mtb all the time for 14 years, now running a 70.1 fixed and am happy with it.

excellent - I wanted to lower my gear to perfect my skids - but I didn't want to sacrifice speed - so obviously the way to go - is to work on my cadence - cheers old bean

p.s if you google spinning

hahaha........na!

I've done a few spin classes. They can be a novel change from riding outside.
All the 'real' cyclists will laugh (roadies, I'm talking 'bout you) but that's because they are afraid to stray outside their little realm of hardcore.
There's plenty of totty viewage at spin class too. Mmm Mmm. :)

My SS MTB was 32:15 for the road (now THAT makes you spin!) and 32:17 for dirt 'n' hills.

so do all them spin-girls gaze and wonder at them bronzed and hairless legs spinning 150 rpm

that sorta gearing is great for off roading, but i hate spinnin"

buddha: I liked to think they were impressed..
But then I think about the face the greets me in the mirror and I'm sure they were thinking about dicing vegetables for dinner or something equally mundane :D

I think tomorrow I'll pull my toestraps extra tight and be 'mindful' of spinning little circles something ZEN appeals to me about 'spinning'

Fixedwheelnut 1400km London-Edinburgh-London in 2005 106hours 50mins we were doing about 300k a day

I keep thinking about this, I want to be able to go this fast

I'd like to be able to make 300k in one day.. :S

I've heard that fixedwheel nut skitches alot. Cheat.;)

haha.. yeah and just happens to sleep on trains..

As an MTB/Commuter/non-scene dilletante, I would like to express my amazement at some of the distances posted here. You guys must live on your bikes! All BS aside and in the Hackney vernacular - 'Respeck'.

I rode in conscious of little circles first in one leg then little circles in the other leg it was a bit bloody hard doing that and dodging cars too but I shall perserve there is some ZEN about consciously making little circles reminds me of something

Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important.