Hey man, you should do a video on how to put multiple cogs on the back hub, what's the hardware required and everything related. The setup at 8:30. Would be awesome!
I love your channel man. I'm looking to buy my first fixed gear and your channel is my go-to for answering questions. P.S. I think calling it "three thirty-seconds" works as well.
Dude just gotta say it, love the quality of this video i really think your trip to asia gives you more happyness cause you don’t look that sad anymore and i do really think you should keep up and be proud!
10/10 points on this video, wish videos like this were easy to find when I first started riding! Lack of content helped me find Sheldon browns site which has been an absolute game changer!
Hey Zach! I‘m currently building my first fixed gear bike and it’s just amazing that I’ve found every single answer to a lot of questions that I had and have on mind on your channel! Thanks a lot for your passionate work! Really inspiring too.
I wasn’t confused at all... now I am😜. Run 1/8 chains on everything! Especially if your fixed. Run whatever in rings and cogs. Ratios- Forget them! Chain rings- Bigger tooth count is faster and harder to turn. Smaller tooth count is slower and easier to turn. Cogs- Bigger is easier to turn and slower. Smaller is harder to turn and faster. Done. Oh wait... crank arm length. 165mm will make it harder to climb but will let you lean further into a corner while peddling. 175mm will make it easier to climb but will increase peddle strikes. There are lots of crank arm sizes- 160,165,167.5,170,172.5, and 175. There’s more but I’ll stop there. Generally fixed bikes have a relatively short arm for cornering but if your just single speed you would pick one that is equivalent to your height. Then you can fudge it up or down 2.5-5mm for style(a spinner or a masher) or terrain. I’m Single speed, bike came with 167.5’s, I run 170mm normally and 172.5’s if headed into hills.
3/32 chains on fixie/track bikes came from the old 27" 10 speed ( 5 speed rear cluster) bikes. The rear drop outs on track bike and roab bikes were the same. This allowed track cycling gear to easily and automatically go onto the road bike and back again. The thread on the 5 speed road cluster was the same as the thread on the rear track cog AND the centre bracket locking ring. Therefore a road wheel would easily be set up for a track bike AND a rear wheel for a track bike onto a road bike. Most track cyclists had to train on the road. So this allowed them to use their track setups for specialist track training. This universal system was far better than today. Because the expense of track and road racing is killing the sport. On the track - sprint type racers used 1/8 because it was stronger and endurance races used 3/32 because its lighter. There is nothing better for building leg speed than training with very low fixed gears on the back off a road bike. 50 years ago one of the most popular racing formats was using a fixed 72" gear. Most racing cycling clubs nominated the first month of the track season as a 72" gear only. This is how you get massive cadences without rollers, a power meter or a small motor bike. I used a mechanical music metronome (for piano/drums/guitar) to judge cadence. No timing type devices or outside coaching was allowed. I practiced by listening to the clacks of the metronome and "playing" the drums. The top sprint cadence was 160. The go to track cadence was 140. If it was "easy" - go up a gear. If hard - go down a gear. So the aim was to ride the track with 140 cadence. Track riders were expected to keep up a 140 cadence for 7 minutes. Today Olympic standard sprinters use 130 / 135 cadence on a massive 60 front chain ring with a 120" gear. In the past they used 160 cadence with a gear say around 94. For endurance type track cyclists the go to cadence was 105. On the road the go to cadence for racers less than 25 mile was 105. For races longer than 25 mile it was 100. Thirty years before Armstrong. It was common for racers to use a single speed track bike (94" gear) for road time trials. But latter this was banned. For timing I used one of my dads old watches mounted to the front bolt on the haddle bar stem. A wind up alarm clock or battery operated kitchen clock next to the track worked great. Justs shows what people dont need. Sometimes the old days were just better. But no manufacturer or bike shop will tell you this.
@@zhe_shean for you. TRAINING FOR TRACK RACING Racing season was summer (N/June-Oct S/ Nov-April) Road bike training for track racing- A fixed gear of 68" - 72"(48 x 18 is 72" with 700x23C) should be used. If possible use 165 cranks. Std road cranks were 170 and track cranks 165. Remember on the road we often used 27" wheels with 1" high pressure tyres. Which were a bit bigger than the 700C - the gear size was slightly bigger. Racing on track was with tubular tyres (we called them singles) which were always the 700C size. But trained and warm up on high pressures because it was cheaper. Later a 49T front chainring became std for track bikes. Today 53T is often used. Most times if you buy a new track bike you can order what you want. Sprinters - front chainring 48/47/46 x 1/8" rear cogs 14/15/16/17/19 (don’t use 12). Add in order 13/18/21/20. To change track gears first go up/down the front chainring then up/down rear cog etc. For some reason my dad had a 24x1/8" rear cog? So today I have one. Endurance - front chainring 52/51/50 x 3/32" Rear cogs had to be 3/32". So I just used 3/32" for both types of racing. I used 52T x 3/32" chainring for all track racing. New track bikes came with 52T front. Our road bikes had a 52/42 x 3/32" std double front chainring as std. Today I would recommend 49/50/51/52 front chainrings and buy as many rear cogs as you can afford 13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21. Start 51/50/49 front and 14/15/17/19 rear. Buy a 52 if you already have the 49. Today if you buy a new track bike it usually has a 49T front and a 16T rear. Add cogs in this order- 18/13/21.
Nobody develops into a top rider any length of time that trains in a high gear. 63" (42x18) & 72" (48x18) are good training gears. Closer to track season 84" (48x15). By regulation juniors (under 17yo) had a race gear max of 88" (52x16/ 49x15) - watch out for tyre profile sizes. Its difficult to ride a banked velodrome with a gear less than 78". In winter races local clubs had a max gear of 85" (47x15). Our road bikes had 52/42 x 3/32" double front chainring as std. My road bike and track bike had same size 52Tx3/32" chainring. Therefore they had the same chain size but different lengths. The track cog, road freewheel and the centre bracket lock ring were the same size. The British std dominated and god bless the Japanese for copying them. So I could swap components from one bike to the other. The cog (sprocket) diameter and thread size was the same as the diameter and thread size of the crankset cups and road bike freewheel. Remove freewheel. Use a spacer or 1 maybe 2 centre bkt lock rings. Put on the track cog. Then use a centre bkt lockring against the cog as a lockring. Tighten them against each other. Remember to line the cog up with front chain ring/s. After riding the bike around for a while there is no need for a lockring. The cog will stay on. The easier way was to put the track wheel straight onto the road bike. Then shorten the road chain. If you got the adjustments right it wasn’t necessary to shorten the chain. Also a double sided rear hub meant the rear road wheel could go straight onto the track bike. Alternatively a double sided rear track hub could have different cogs either side. Simply turn the wheel for different gear sizes during training or racing - today this is banned. When I was young I was poor - broke poor. Back then anyone could afford the sport. This system made it a lot cheaper to get into the sport. Cyclists who had money had all the gear. But battlers like me had to get by as best we could. Today its cheaper to play golf than ride on the track.
Road TT - front set up was 52/51, 51/50 or 50/49 chainings for a flat open course. Std racing rear freewheel was 13-17T. It paid to have a range of them. Also I had 13/14/15/17/19 and 14/15/17/19/21. Senior men used a front range of 52-54 teeth. Usually a single 53 was used. Very strong rider could use a range of 54 - 55. Hillclimb TTs - go by the hills and how far things are apart etc. Std front setup was 52/42. I had 15/17/19/21/24, 14/17/20/24/28 and 14/17/22/27/32 freewheels. It was possible to build exactly what you needed for that course. But I just swapped freewheels over as needed. Masters (over 45yo) and women used a single 50T front chainring and 13-19 freewheel. Juniors had to follow local restrictions max gear of 88" on their road bike. Ten Week Endurance Program: Week1: 3days x 25miles. Week2: 3d x 25-30 mile. Week3: 3d x 20mile + 1d x 30mile. Week4: 3d x 20mile + 1d x 40mile. Week5: 1d x 20mile + 1d x 30mile + 1d x 40mile. Week6: 1d x 4x2minutes + 2d x 30mile + 1d x 10x1minute/1min recovery + 1d x 40mile. Week7: 1d x 20mile + 1d x 5x2min + 1d x 40mile + 1d x 12x1 min/1min recovery + 1d x 50mile. Week8: 2d x 35mile + 1d x 2x3min/3x2min + 1 x 55mile + 1d x 10x1min/1recovery&3x2min/2recovery. Week9: 2d x 20mile + 1d x 3x3min/1x5min + 1d x 40mile + 1d x 2sets10x1min/1min recovery + 1d x 60mile. Week10: 2d x 25mile + 1d x 40mile. Pre Season Track Program: Road bike/fixed gear 46x18 on flattish roads @ 25kph Week1: Tue 30km; Wed 40km; Thur 30km; Sat 30km; Sun 35km Week2: Tue 40km; Wed 50km; Thur 35km; Sat 35km; Sun 40km Road bike/fixed gear 47x18 undulating roads @ 28kph. Week3: Tue 40km; Wed 60km; Thur 40km; Sat 40km; Sun 50km Week4: Tue 40km; Wed 70km; Thur 40km; Sat 50km; Sun 50km Road bike/fixed gear (am) 48x19 flat/undulating roads @ 30kmh. 5: Tue 40km; Wed 60km; Thur 40km; Sat am:40km+pm:track; Sun am:50km+pm track 6: Tue 40km; Wed 70km; Thur 40km; Sat am:50km+pm:track; Sun am:50km+pm track Road bike/fixed gear 48x18 flat/undulating roads @ 30kph. Track bike now 48x15. 7: Tue 50km; Wed 70km; Thur 50km; Sat am:50km/pm:track 8: Tue 60km; Wed 70km; Thur 50km; Sat am:50km/pm:track Afternoon at the track 47x15. Lap track slowly. Then 8km at 3/4 effort. Last lap hard finishing with sprint. If rider has slow start: Ride around track shoulder to shoulder. At prearranged marks sprint all out for 60m. If rider lacks jump in sprints: practice flat out sprints over 100-200m from rolling start. Recover completely then repeat. If rider can jump but dies before finishing: practise long sprints over 220-250m from standing, rolling and flying starts. I started with an all-round training approach focusing on the 1 km TT. 1000m TT: 52x15, 49x15, 50x14 This is roughly a minute long. So in track running this roughly matches the 400m/800m race. The cycle sprint roughly matches the 100m running race. The 4000m pursuit matches the 1500m/mile running race. So a comparison can be made between the programs for running and cycle programs based on time or distance of reps and sets. There are lots of excellent running programs but "no" track cycling programs. For a cycling workout, double the time or distance from the workout of the running program. Basic sprint workouts: 1. Running- 2x30m, 4x60m, 4x30m, 2x30m Cycling- becomes 2x60m, 4x120m, 4x60, 2x60m. 2. Run-100+100+100m, 100+200+100+100m, 100+100+200+200m, 100+200+100+100m, 100+100+100m. Cycle-200+200+200m, 200+400 +200+200m, 200+200+400+400m, 200+400+200+200m, 200+200+200m. Slow 200m cycle between sets. 3. Run-30m max 6-8 reps, 50m max 5-6 reps, 60m max 4-6 reps, 80m near max 3-4reps. Cycle-60m max 6-8reps, 100m max 5-6reps, 120m 4-6reps, 160m near max 3-4reps. Slow cycle between reps start with 2min then 1min then to 30secs. Get full rest between sets. SPRINTER Different track sizes 250m, 333.3m, 400m or 500m with different bankings. My local track was 480m. Today tracks are nearly always 250m. We used 46/47/48 (49 for v strong rider) front chainring and 14T rear cog. 36 spoke wheels. Sprinter needs to develop speed and strength. Warm up 46x14. Sprints on Tuesday 48x14. Sprints on Thursday 46x14. Start racing season with 88" (49x15) and work up to 92" for the championships. 92" (51x15) is basic gear for match sprinting. 94" (52x15) gear size was used on very fast tracks. 94" was also the gear size used for single speed road time trials Track Match Sprint: Racing early season 52x16 88" Racing late season 50x15 90". Std gear was 51x15(92 inches). Most people used tubulars (23mm) on bitumen but I didn’t. 27inch wheels (not 700C) with 1 inch (25mm) high pressure tyres have a bit higher gear size. Note 22mm/19mm tyres have less gear size. 200m time trial: Top Sprinters use say 112" - 120" (53x13 110" 52x13 108", 51x13 106", 52x14 100" 51x14 98", 50x14 96", 52x15 94"). 12.0s on bitumen is a world class time. Today on boards they do under 10sec. On my local bitumen track I used: 200m TT 52x13 108", 52x14 100" or 52x15 94" 14sec is 31.95mph 13.5s is 33-13mph 13-0s is 34.4mph 12.5s is 35.8mph 12.0s is 37.3mph 11.5s is 38.9mph 11s is 40.67mph 10.5s is 42.6mph 10.0s is 44.73mph 9.5s is 47.09mph Work out what time you want? Then for a cadence of 140 what gear is needed? Count how many pedal strokes in 10 secs and multiply by 6 or in 10 secs and multiply by 6. I used a watch (with a second hand) mounted on the head stem bolt. Watching the sweep of the second hand is easier than looking at a digital watch. Watch the sweep for 10 secs. 18 pedal turns is 108 cadence, 17 is 102 cadence and 16 is 96 cadence etc. Rursuiter: Used 48/49/50/51 front chainring and 15T rear cog. Most commonly used gear was 50x15. They used 28 spoke wheels. Souplesse is very important. Its how fluid the pedal stroke is. Smooth, smooth, smooth. Not push, push, push. 4000m individual or team pursuit: 50x15 90", 49x15 88", 51x15 92" very fast track or 48x14 93" world class rarely used.
You answered all my worries with this one video which google was incapable of doing. Thank you. Restoring a 70s road bike to be a single gear and i did not even know there were different chain widths, since i did not need to know with mountain biking lol. LBS grabbed an 18t freewheel for me and when i was mating it with my wheel i realized the chain whip did not fit. I freaked out thinking i MIGHT need a new crank or have to source 3/32 freewheel...
A haircut!!! I learned gears ratios from my good friend at Heavy Pedal, he pointed me in the right gear ratio to really enjoy cycling without killing my legs. Thanks for the info.
Another smooth, generic explanation of an important facet of the fixed gear obsession !!! You Are Very Good !!! Enjoy Life...Be Well !!! You are an encyclopedia !!!
Thank you for this. I am building a single speed bike and couldn't figure out why the chain I bought was not fitting on the rear cog. Got it now. Need a new chain
Thanks! You just gave me an answer I was looking for. I have a 1/8 cog and 3/32 chainring and I was wondering what chain I need or should I change either the cog or the chainring. So you just save me a lot of time and money!
Great video, already familiar with these concepts but would be great for someone who wasn't. Something else i'd like to mention, and you have said this elsewhere as well, is that most of the top of the line fixed gear chains will be 1/8", and they have a tendency to be stronger and more durable than both lower end components and often even their 3/32" counterparts.
Thank you for busting my fears of using 1/8 chain on 3/32 cog. I've ordered a new cog nad was worried if I should or not change everithing else. Thanks man
Current setup is a Surly Steamroller that is too small for me, 52cm, I'll be going with a 54-55cm frameset with much of the same parts. 46/16 is the current gearing with Sugino Messenger cranks. I'd like to switch the gearing to 48/17 or 52/19, something that is reasonably fast on flats but also capable of climbing hills or sprinting from a stop light. I've been riding any and all kinds of bikes since 16 as my regular commute, I'm a decently fast rider, but the stock (used bike built from a racer) gearing is too much for me. I think somewhere around 75 gear inches is the sweet spot for climbing and achieving speed on flats, I'm leaning more towards 52/19, with 32-35 tires.
If only you were around 6 years ago ,I had to learn all this shit myself through reading velodrome info and then start helping anybodynthat needed info . thank god now your around so indont have to
I tend to lean toward changing my chainring over my cog because I usually have the rough gearing settled and am just making finer adjustments to my ride for a given reason (the reason is given to me by the situation), ie it's my crit bike and I'm adapting to the speed of the course like if it has long straightaways and the turns are gradual I might bump my ratio by a few teeth but if it's got a few hairpin turns and a short straightaway than I will defiantly drop some teeth... but even not racing I may gear up for harder training intervals, or to hustle deliveries extra fast in good weather... but not too heavily as it's hilly here and traffic conserns, but if it's raining or it's an off day casual ride or a rest day I will drop some teeth. Now this part migh get a bit advanced for some green-leggs; but some different gearing combos have the same gear ratio... I ride dual fixed hubs on my delivery and training bikes and they have 15t & 17t cogs so I can make a big rough adjustment there in the field without pulling crank arms roadside... but I choose to only have rings that don't cause duplicate ratios, except that I ride a 14t cog on tts (time trials) but if I owned my own tt bike, I'd still keep that cog setup, but redundancy wouldn't matter much because I keep the same gearing on tts basically always, I hate time trials anyways (I'm not a sprinter I don't bother too much to maintain fast twitch muscle fiber in my training schedule so yeah)... but the point is I don't worry about weather my gears have redundancy in the 14t cog to any of my rings since my tt gearing is set for a whole season. And my cogs are all quite small to worry too much about redundancy but I stay aware of it when choosing new cogs an' rings... and it's not a hard rule it's just that I'd rather swap an already owned cog than buy a new ring that does the exact same thing. Anyways food for thought... just thought I'd through that out there.
Gear ratio over 2.5 ratio is difficult/foolish to skid without skipping, and a ratio over 3.0 requires incredible strength and very few stops. Assuming 23-32mm tires. Tires do change your ratio a bit. A gear ratio under 1: 2.0 is easier to do tricks like backwards cycling, seat standing, wheelies and whatnot on, and in group road cycling drafting you need a ratio over 1:4, and the strength to keep that going which is a lactate threshold of 3.5+ watts per kilo. (28-40mph) mind you need brakes as skidding is impossible at that speed, if you did your tire would slip out under you Assuming you clean your chain With the chain removed every 100 miles or so, skid patches are irrelevant. They change each time you put the chain on.
Nice video. One question: For BMX bicycles some with 44/16= 2.75 and some stunt bike with 28/9= 3.1 which one more easy to cycle? (i:e -- Big chainring with big cog easy to cycle or small chainring with SMALLER cog easy to cycle?). Thanks.
Gear-inches are the units widely accepted for gear ratio comparisons. Multply by the effective diameter of the drive wheel and tire properly inflated and under load. See Sheldon Brown's gear calculator...
Oh, so it's the width of the roller in the chain. I feel like that could have been worded so much better, especially if one doesn't know chain terminology. But I am glad I now know that I seem to have a 1/8" chain.
Hey Zach! Love the videos! What are your thoughts on converting a singlespeed folding bike (those without chain tensioners like brompton's) to a fixed gear folding bike? If you like the idea, can you try to build one (since i haven't really seen anyone do that) even if it is just a cheapo folding bike.
Hey man I'm going from a seven speed to single (converting the bike because the shfiter cable frayed out. Can't immediately get a replacement, so 'HUH here's a guide to redneck the rear cog problem. NEAT.' I know single speed gets little love from the fixie crowd but anything you can suggest beyond 'just suck it up' when it comes to hills?
Watching these bikes the first time. So what is a skid Patch, i think it’s how often you can stop the Tiere in one pedal stroke. I really don’t know. 🤗
@zach try a fat tyre for a change... You also don't talk about cycle tyre width which helps cycling as you encounter less punctures, less tyre damage, smooth ride over rough gravel road paths...
Every time I've tried to use a 1/8" chain on a 3/32" rear freewheel, it didn't run smoothly. Since the chain is a little wider than the 3/32" cog, I think the chain wobbles ever so slightly when it engages the teeth, which creates noise.
QUESTION FROM A NEWBIE: For a bmx bike (single speed) that's good for climbing but that's not too tiring to pedal in flat city roads, which should be bigger, the chain ring or the cog ? Any suggestions ? Hope for your kind reply. Thanks much.
You should also have mentioned that going downhill, a lower gear ratio will be spinnier, whereas a higher ratio will be less spinny and the pros and cons of both.
I don´t understand the issue about skid patches? Even with a 3/1 ratio and not ambidextrous skidding = 1 skid patch it´s easyly avoidable by just taking off the chain and roll the wheel 3-4 teeths?
Great video! One concern: you said that the number of teeth on the chainring must be odd in order to double the number of skid patches with ambidexterity. Don't you mean if the NUMERATOR of the SIMPLIFIED FRACTION is odd? I used to ride a 48/16, which simplifies to 3/1. This should give two skid patches with ambidextrous skidding because the numerator (3) is odd. Right?
Wondering what effect pedalling attached vs free has on cadence and gear ratios. Seems to me that when feet are attached to pedals one is more of a spinner = higher cadence = lower gear ratios, while unattached feet result in "mashing" the pedals = lower cadence = higher gear ratios, no?
Im currently running a 50/16 gear ratio and thinking of going up just a wee bit, but I don’t want to make it extra hard on my knees and on my skidding abilities as well.. do you suggest going down a couple of teeth on my chain ring and a few on my cog as well? I’m afraid that if I go down one or two teeth on my cog only skidding will be harder. Ultimately which size matters the most to how smooth and easy skidding feels? Cog size or chain ring size? Thank you!
Nice cut bro
🤣🤣
Homie looking fresh af
I love how many of the comments are specifically here about your haircut. It really is so sharp though.
Haircut looking cleeeeean
Nice fade
Wow 😮! Absolutely loving your new hair cut!
bro that haircut looks so good on you 🔥
That haircuts get at least 67 fixie points
Bring back fixie points but instead of saying negative stuff say positive things anyways nice hair cut
Or ways to improve the bike
Love the new haircut!
Hey man, you should do a video on how to put multiple cogs on the back hub, what's the hardware required and everything related. The setup at 8:30. Would be awesome!
I love your channel man. I'm looking to buy my first fixed gear and your channel is my go-to for answering questions. P.S. I think calling it "three thirty-seconds" works as well.
This video exactly the answers to 3 questions I had this weekend. Many thanks for the answers!
OMFGGGGG THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO !!!!! I bought a 1/2 3/32 chain and it wouldn’t fit properly for my Fixie bike
Dude just gotta say it, love the quality of this video i really think your trip to asia gives you more happyness cause you don’t look that sad anymore and i do really think you should keep up and be proud!
Came for the bikes, stayed for the hair.
haha
I thought I understood gear ratios but wow I didn't know any of the stuff about skid patches!! great video!
10/10 points on this video, wish videos like this were easy to find when I first started riding! Lack of content helped me find Sheldon browns site which has been an absolute game changer!
Hey Zach!
I‘m currently building my first fixed gear bike and it’s just amazing that I’ve found every single answer to a lot of questions that I had and have on mind on your channel!
Thanks a lot for your passionate work! Really inspiring too.
I wasn’t confused at all... now I am😜. Run 1/8 chains on everything! Especially if your fixed. Run whatever in rings and cogs. Ratios- Forget them! Chain rings- Bigger tooth count is faster and harder to turn. Smaller tooth count is slower and easier to turn. Cogs- Bigger is easier to turn and slower. Smaller is harder to turn and faster. Done. Oh wait... crank arm length. 165mm will make it harder to climb but will let you lean further into a corner while peddling. 175mm will make it easier to climb but will increase peddle strikes. There are lots of crank arm sizes- 160,165,167.5,170,172.5, and 175. There’s more but I’ll stop there. Generally fixed bikes have a relatively short arm for cornering but if your just single speed you would pick one that is equivalent to your height. Then you can fudge it up or down 2.5-5mm for style(a spinner or a masher) or terrain. I’m Single speed, bike came with 167.5’s, I run 170mm normally and 172.5’s if headed into hills.
Nice quality in this video. Looking sharp dude! Keep it up!
3/32 chains on fixie/track bikes came from the old 27" 10 speed ( 5 speed rear cluster) bikes. The rear drop outs on track bike and roab bikes were the same. This allowed track cycling gear to easily and automatically go onto the road bike and back again. The thread on the 5 speed road cluster was the same as the thread on the rear track cog AND the centre bracket locking ring. Therefore a road wheel would easily be set up for a track bike AND a rear wheel for a track bike onto a road bike. Most track cyclists had to train on the road. So this allowed them to use their track setups for specialist track training. This universal system was far better than today. Because the expense of track and road racing is killing the sport.
On the track - sprint type racers used 1/8 because it was stronger and endurance races used 3/32 because its lighter.
There is nothing better for building leg speed than training with very low fixed gears on the back off a road bike. 50 years ago one of the most popular racing formats was using a fixed 72" gear.
Most racing cycling clubs nominated the first month of the track season as a 72" gear only. This is how you get massive cadences without rollers, a power meter or a small motor bike.
I used a mechanical music metronome (for piano/drums/guitar) to judge cadence. No timing type devices or outside coaching was allowed. I practiced by listening to the clacks of the metronome and "playing" the drums. The top sprint cadence was 160. The go to track cadence was 140. If it was "easy" - go up a gear. If hard - go down a gear. So the aim was to ride the track with 140 cadence.
Track riders were expected to keep up a 140 cadence for 7 minutes. Today Olympic standard sprinters use 130 / 135 cadence on a massive 60 front chain ring with a 120" gear. In the past they used 160 cadence with a gear say around 94. For endurance type track cyclists the go to cadence was 105. On the road the go to cadence for racers less than 25 mile was 105. For races longer than 25 mile it was 100. Thirty years before Armstrong. It was common for racers to use a single speed track bike (94" gear) for road time trials. But latter this was banned. For timing I used one of my dads old watches mounted to the front bolt on the haddle bar stem. A wind up alarm clock or battery operated kitchen clock next to the track worked great.
Justs shows what people dont need. Sometimes the old days were just better. But no manufacturer or bike shop will tell you this.
Interesting information, thanks for sharing!
@@zhe_shean
for you.
TRAINING FOR TRACK RACING
Racing season was summer (N/June-Oct S/ Nov-April)
Road bike training for track racing- A fixed gear of 68" - 72"(48 x 18 is 72" with 700x23C) should be used. If possible use 165 cranks. Std road cranks were 170 and track cranks 165. Remember on the road we often used 27" wheels with 1" high pressure tyres. Which were a bit bigger than the 700C - the gear size was slightly bigger.
Racing on track was with tubular tyres (we called them singles) which were always the 700C size. But trained and warm up on high pressures because it was cheaper. Later a 49T front chainring became std for track bikes. Today 53T is often used.
Most times if you buy a new track bike you can order what you want.
Sprinters - front chainring 48/47/46 x 1/8"
rear cogs 14/15/16/17/19 (don’t use 12). Add in order 13/18/21/20.
To change track gears first go up/down the front chainring then up/down rear cog etc.
For some reason my dad had a 24x1/8" rear cog? So today I have one.
Endurance - front chainring 52/51/50 x 3/32"
Rear cogs had to be 3/32". So I just used 3/32" for both types of racing.
I used 52T x 3/32" chainring for all track racing. New track bikes came with 52T front. Our road bikes had a 52/42 x 3/32" std double front chainring as std.
Today I would recommend 49/50/51/52 front chainrings and buy as many rear cogs as you can afford 13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21.
Start 51/50/49 front and 14/15/17/19 rear. Buy a 52 if you already have the 49.
Today if you buy a new track bike it usually has a 49T front and a 16T rear.
Add cogs in this order- 18/13/21.
Nobody develops into a top rider any length of time that trains in a high gear.
63" (42x18) & 72" (48x18) are good training gears. Closer to track season 84" (48x15).
By regulation juniors (under 17yo) had a race gear max of 88" (52x16/ 49x15) - watch out for tyre profile sizes. Its difficult to ride a banked velodrome with a gear less than 78". In winter races local clubs had a max gear of 85" (47x15).
Our road bikes had 52/42 x 3/32" double front chainring as std.
My road bike and track bike had same size 52Tx3/32" chainring. Therefore they had the same chain size but different lengths. The track cog, road freewheel and the centre bracket lock ring were the same size. The British std dominated and god bless the Japanese for copying them. So I could swap components from one bike to the other. The cog (sprocket) diameter and thread size was the same as the diameter and thread size of the crankset cups and road bike freewheel. Remove freewheel. Use a spacer or 1 maybe 2 centre bkt lock rings. Put on the track cog. Then use a centre bkt lockring against the cog as a lockring. Tighten them against each other. Remember to line the cog up with front chain ring/s. After riding the bike around for a while there is no need for a lockring. The cog will stay on.
The easier way was to put the track wheel straight onto the road bike. Then shorten the road chain. If you got the adjustments right it wasn’t necessary to shorten the chain. Also a double sided rear hub meant the rear road wheel could go straight onto the track bike. Alternatively a double sided rear track hub could have different cogs either side. Simply turn the wheel for different gear sizes during training or racing - today this is banned.
When I was young I was poor - broke poor. Back then anyone could afford the sport. This system made it a lot cheaper to get into the sport. Cyclists who had money had all the gear. But battlers like me had to get by as best we could.
Today its cheaper to play golf than ride on the track.
Road TT - front set up was 52/51, 51/50 or 50/49 chainings for a flat open course.
Std racing rear freewheel was 13-17T. It paid to have a range of them. Also I had 13/14/15/17/19 and 14/15/17/19/21.
Senior men used a front range of 52-54 teeth. Usually a single 53 was used.
Very strong rider could use a range of 54 - 55.
Hillclimb TTs - go by the hills and how far things are apart etc. Std front setup was 52/42. I had 15/17/19/21/24, 14/17/20/24/28 and 14/17/22/27/32 freewheels. It was possible to build exactly what you needed for that course. But I just swapped freewheels over as needed.
Masters (over 45yo) and women used a single 50T front chainring and 13-19 freewheel. Juniors had to follow local restrictions max gear of 88" on their road bike.
Ten Week Endurance Program:
Week1: 3days x 25miles.
Week2: 3d x 25-30 mile.
Week3: 3d x 20mile + 1d x 30mile.
Week4: 3d x 20mile + 1d x 40mile.
Week5: 1d x 20mile + 1d x 30mile + 1d x 40mile.
Week6: 1d x 4x2minutes + 2d x 30mile + 1d x 10x1minute/1min recovery
+ 1d x 40mile.
Week7: 1d x 20mile + 1d x 5x2min + 1d x 40mile + 1d x 12x1 min/1min recovery
+ 1d x 50mile.
Week8: 2d x 35mile + 1d x 2x3min/3x2min + 1 x 55mile
+ 1d x 10x1min/1recovery&3x2min/2recovery.
Week9: 2d x 20mile + 1d x 3x3min/1x5min + 1d x 40mile
+ 1d x 2sets10x1min/1min recovery + 1d x 60mile.
Week10: 2d x 25mile + 1d x 40mile.
Pre Season Track Program:
Road bike/fixed gear 46x18 on flattish roads @ 25kph
Week1: Tue 30km; Wed 40km; Thur 30km; Sat 30km; Sun 35km
Week2: Tue 40km; Wed 50km; Thur 35km; Sat 35km; Sun 40km
Road bike/fixed gear 47x18 undulating roads @ 28kph.
Week3: Tue 40km; Wed 60km; Thur 40km; Sat 40km; Sun 50km
Week4: Tue 40km; Wed 70km; Thur 40km; Sat 50km; Sun 50km
Road bike/fixed gear (am) 48x19 flat/undulating roads @ 30kmh.
5: Tue 40km; Wed 60km; Thur 40km; Sat am:40km+pm:track; Sun am:50km+pm track
6: Tue 40km; Wed 70km; Thur 40km; Sat am:50km+pm:track; Sun am:50km+pm track
Road bike/fixed gear 48x18 flat/undulating roads @ 30kph. Track bike now 48x15.
7: Tue 50km; Wed 70km; Thur 50km; Sat am:50km/pm:track
8: Tue 60km; Wed 70km; Thur 50km; Sat am:50km/pm:track
Afternoon at the track 47x15. Lap track slowly. Then 8km at 3/4 effort. Last lap hard finishing with sprint.
If rider has slow start: Ride around track shoulder to shoulder. At prearranged marks sprint all out for 60m.
If rider lacks jump in sprints: practice flat out sprints over 100-200m from rolling start. Recover completely then repeat.
If rider can jump but dies before finishing: practise long sprints over 220-250m from standing, rolling and flying starts.
I started with an all-round training approach focusing on the 1 km TT.
1000m TT: 52x15, 49x15, 50x14
This is roughly a minute long. So in track running this roughly matches the 400m/800m race. The cycle sprint roughly matches the 100m running race. The 4000m pursuit matches the 1500m/mile running race. So a comparison can be made between the programs for running and cycle programs based on time or distance of reps and sets. There are lots of excellent running programs but "no" track cycling programs. For a cycling workout, double the time or distance from the workout of the running program.
Basic sprint workouts:
1. Running- 2x30m, 4x60m, 4x30m, 2x30m
Cycling- becomes 2x60m, 4x120m, 4x60, 2x60m.
2. Run-100+100+100m, 100+200+100+100m, 100+100+200+200m, 100+200+100+100m, 100+100+100m.
Cycle-200+200+200m, 200+400 +200+200m, 200+200+400+400m, 200+400+200+200m, 200+200+200m. Slow 200m cycle between sets.
3. Run-30m max 6-8 reps, 50m max 5-6 reps, 60m max 4-6 reps, 80m near max 3-4reps.
Cycle-60m max 6-8reps, 100m max 5-6reps, 120m 4-6reps, 160m near max 3-4reps.
Slow cycle between reps start with 2min then 1min then to 30secs. Get full rest between sets.
SPRINTER
Different track sizes 250m, 333.3m, 400m or 500m with different bankings.
My local track was 480m. Today tracks are nearly always 250m.
We used 46/47/48 (49 for v strong rider) front chainring and 14T rear cog.
36 spoke wheels.
Sprinter needs to develop speed and strength.
Warm up 46x14. Sprints on Tuesday 48x14. Sprints on Thursday 46x14.
Start racing season with 88" (49x15) and work up to 92" for the championships.
92" (51x15) is basic gear for match sprinting. 94" (52x15) gear size was used on very fast tracks.
94" was also the gear size used for single speed road time trials
Track Match Sprint:
Racing early season 52x16 88" Racing late season 50x15 90".
Std gear was 51x15(92 inches).
Most people used tubulars (23mm) on bitumen but I didn’t. 27inch wheels (not 700C) with 1 inch (25mm) high pressure tyres have a bit higher gear size.
Note 22mm/19mm tyres have less gear size.
200m time trial:
Top Sprinters use say 112" - 120"
(53x13 110" 52x13 108", 51x13 106", 52x14 100" 51x14 98", 50x14 96", 52x15 94").
12.0s on bitumen is a world class time. Today on boards they do under 10sec.
On my local bitumen track I used:
200m TT 52x13 108", 52x14 100" or 52x15 94"
14sec is 31.95mph 13.5s is 33-13mph 13-0s is 34.4mph
12.5s is 35.8mph 12.0s is 37.3mph 11.5s is 38.9mph
11s is 40.67mph 10.5s is 42.6mph 10.0s is 44.73mph 9.5s is 47.09mph
Work out what time you want? Then for a cadence of 140 what gear is needed?
Count how many pedal strokes in 10 secs and multiply by 6 or in 10 secs and multiply by 6. I used a watch (with a second hand) mounted on the head stem bolt. Watching the sweep of the second hand is easier than looking at a digital watch. Watch the sweep for 10 secs. 18 pedal turns is 108 cadence, 17 is 102 cadence and 16 is 96 cadence etc.
Rursuiter: Used 48/49/50/51 front chainring and 15T rear cog.
Most commonly used gear was 50x15. They used 28 spoke wheels.
Souplesse is very important. Its how fluid the pedal stroke is.
Smooth, smooth, smooth. Not push, push, push.
4000m individual or team pursuit: 50x15 90", 49x15 88", 51x15 92" very fast track or 48x14 93" world class rarely used.
@@raymondmenz522 Appreciate the additional info! I concur that cycling can be made much more available to everyone. Wish you a great day.
Sweet idea for a series. Even better title.
You answered all my worries with this one video which google was incapable of doing. Thank you.
Restoring a 70s road bike to be a single gear and i did not even know there were different chain widths, since i did not need to know with mountain biking lol. LBS grabbed an 18t freewheel for me and when i was mating it with my wheel i realized the chain whip did not fit. I freaked out thinking i MIGHT need a new crank or have to source 3/32 freewheel...
A haircut!!! I learned gears ratios from my good friend at Heavy Pedal, he pointed me in the right gear ratio to really enjoy cycling without killing my legs. Thanks for the info.
Another smooth, generic explanation of an important facet of the fixed gear obsession !!! You Are Very Good !!! Enjoy Life...Be Well !!! You are an encyclopedia !!!
Thank you for this. I am building a single speed bike and couldn't figure out why the chain I bought was not fitting on the rear cog. Got it now. Need a new chain
Thanks! You just gave me an answer I was looking for. I have a 1/8 cog and 3/32 chainring and I was wondering what chain I need or should I change either the cog or the chainring. So you just save me a lot of time and money!
1/8. Did you not watch the video he crafted for us?
Ok zach i see you with the fresh cut!
Great video, already familiar with these concepts but would be great for someone who wasn't. Something else i'd like to mention, and you have said this elsewhere as well, is that most of the top of the line fixed gear chains will be 1/8", and they have a tendency to be stronger and more durable than both lower end components and often even their 3/32" counterparts.
Thanks you explain just what I was confuse about
Thank you for busting my fears of using 1/8 chain on 3/32 cog. I've ordered a new cog nad was worried if I should or not change everithing else. Thanks man
Cool video, Zach. I'm a single speeder but I still get useful info from your videos. Thx!!
Current setup is a Surly Steamroller that is too small for me, 52cm, I'll be going with a 54-55cm frameset with much of the same parts. 46/16 is the current gearing with Sugino Messenger cranks. I'd like to switch the gearing to 48/17 or 52/19, something that is reasonably fast on flats but also capable of climbing hills or sprinting from a stop light. I've been riding any and all kinds of bikes since 16 as my regular commute, I'm a decently fast rider, but the stock (used bike built from a racer) gearing is too much for me. I think somewhere around 75 gear inches is the sweet spot for climbing and achieving speed on flats, I'm leaning more towards 52/19, with 32-35 tires.
I’ve hated on your old haircut in the past, so i have to tell you that the new cut looks amazing! 👍🏽 😎
Always dropping knowledge. Thats the best haircut I seen you with had to be in the Philippines!
Great vid i was actually looking at chains last night on amazon, nice gear zach, im rocking a 52tx18 on my S.S.
your barber blessed you
i came here to talk about bikes but I also couldn't resist saying something about that haircut: so clean and too fire 🔥 🔥 🔥
Excellent and well explained video, thanks…
Zach, how is one supposed to pronounce the album title "Hyacinths and Thistles" by The 6ths?
I used to be dyslexic but God thank never more am I any.
If only you were around 6 years ago ,I had to learn all this shit myself through reading velodrome info and then start helping anybodynthat needed info . thank god now your around so indont have to
I ride a SS. 32 front ring, 22 cog. Perfect for crawling off road. SS...no skid patches.
Good job professor. Very well explained.
I tend to lean toward changing my chainring over my cog because I usually have the rough gearing settled and am just making finer adjustments to my ride for a given reason (the reason is given to me by the situation), ie it's my crit bike and I'm adapting to the speed of the course like if it has long straightaways and the turns are gradual I might bump my ratio by a few teeth but if it's got a few hairpin turns and a short straightaway than I will defiantly drop some teeth... but even not racing I may gear up for harder training intervals, or to hustle deliveries extra fast in good weather... but not too heavily as it's hilly here and traffic conserns, but if it's raining or it's an off day casual ride or a rest day I will drop some teeth. Now this part migh get a bit advanced for some green-leggs; but some different gearing combos have the same gear ratio... I ride dual fixed hubs on my delivery and training bikes and they have 15t & 17t cogs so I can make a big rough adjustment there in the field without pulling crank arms roadside... but I choose to only have rings that don't cause duplicate ratios, except that I ride a 14t cog on tts (time trials) but if I owned my own tt bike, I'd still keep that cog setup, but redundancy wouldn't matter much because I keep the same gearing on tts basically always, I hate time trials anyways (I'm not a sprinter I don't bother too much to maintain fast twitch muscle fiber in my training schedule so yeah)... but the point is I don't worry about weather my gears have redundancy in the 14t cog to any of my rings since my tt gearing is set for a whole season. And my cogs are all quite small to worry too much about redundancy but I stay aware of it when choosing new cogs an' rings... and it's not a hard rule it's just that I'd rather swap an already owned cog than buy a new ring that does the exact same thing. Anyways food for thought... just thought I'd through that out there.
Thank you Zach
Gear ratio over 2.5 ratio is difficult/foolish to skid without skipping, and a ratio over 3.0 requires incredible strength and very few stops. Assuming 23-32mm tires. Tires do change your ratio a bit. A gear ratio under 1: 2.0 is easier to do tricks like backwards cycling, seat standing, wheelies and whatnot on, and in group road cycling drafting you need a ratio over 1:4, and the strength to keep that going which is a lactate threshold of 3.5+ watts per kilo. (28-40mph) mind you need brakes as skidding is impossible at that speed, if you did your tire would slip out under you
Assuming you clean your chain With the chain removed every 100 miles or so, skid patches are irrelevant. They change each time you put the chain on.
Is it a good idea to completely sand the paint of my bike & could you do a video of you doing something like that?
CLEAN ass fixie foo
Nice hair cut
Nice video. One question: For BMX bicycles some with 44/16= 2.75 and some stunt bike with 28/9= 3.1 which one more easy to cycle? (i:e -- Big chainring with big cog easy to cycle or small chainring with SMALLER cog easy to cycle?). Thanks.
Gear-inches are the units widely accepted for gear ratio comparisons. Multply by the effective diameter of the drive wheel and tire properly inflated and under load. See Sheldon Brown's gear calculator...
That was a great simplified explanation. 👌
Fresh af
I use this everyday. I recommend you buying this.
Oh, so it's the width of the roller in the chain. I feel like that could have been worded so much better, especially if one doesn't know chain terminology. But I am glad I now know that I seem to have a 1/8" chain.
Hey Zach! Love the videos! What are your thoughts on converting a singlespeed folding bike (those without chain tensioners like brompton's) to a fixed gear folding bike? If you like the idea, can you try to build one (since i haven't really seen anyone do that) even if it is just a cheapo folding bike.
how did it go, im curious
Hey man I'm going from a seven speed to single (converting the bike because the shfiter cable frayed out. Can't immediately get a replacement, so 'HUH here's a guide to redneck the rear cog problem. NEAT.'
I know single speed gets little love from the fixie crowd but anything you can suggest beyond 'just suck it up' when it comes to hills?
Watching these bikes the first time. So what is a skid Patch, i think it’s how often you can stop the Tiere in one pedal stroke. I really don’t know. 🤗
Great info! Thank you!
You talk like a really cool person
New cut got Zach looking hot
Nice cut zach!
Is " fabricbike" good ?
52/17=3 or 42/14=3 gear ratio. In which case will be easier to pedal if keep the same gear ratio but change size of the gear. Thanks
You lost me when you said: “When the earth was made.... “ 😂😂😂 ⚠️⚠️⚠️
@zach try a fat tyre for a change... You also don't talk about cycle tyre width which helps cycling as you encounter less punctures, less tyre damage, smooth ride over rough gravel road paths...
Every time I've tried to use a 1/8" chain on a 3/32" rear freewheel, it didn't run smoothly. Since the chain is a little wider than the 3/32" cog, I think the chain wobbles ever so slightly when it engages the teeth, which creates noise.
Much appreciated.
Awesome haircut very dapper👌
Looking great dude
Looking good Zach
Question: can a guy stop a fixed gear without skidding? Best way to get used to stopping on a fixed gear without a front brake? Thanks.
QUESTION FROM A NEWBIE: For a bmx bike (single speed) that's good for climbing but that's not too tiring to pedal in flat city roads, which should be bigger, the chain ring or the cog ? Any suggestions ? Hope for your kind reply. Thanks much.
You should also have mentioned that going downhill, a lower gear ratio will be spinnier, whereas a higher ratio will be less spinny and the pros and cons of both.
Skeptical Narratives truth... preach
I don´t understand the issue about skid patches? Even with a 3/1 ratio and not ambidextrous skidding = 1 skid patch it´s easyly avoidable by just taking off the chain and roll the wheel 3-4 teeths?
Great video! One concern: you said that the number of teeth on the chainring must be odd in order to double the number of skid patches with ambidexterity. Don't you mean if the NUMERATOR of the SIMPLIFIED FRACTION is odd? I used to ride a 48/16, which simplifies to 3/1. This should give two skid patches with ambidextrous skidding because the numerator (3) is odd. Right?
Wondering what effect pedalling attached vs free has on cadence and gear ratios. Seems to me that when feet are attached to pedals one is more of a spinner = higher cadence = lower gear ratios, while unattached feet result in "mashing" the pedals = lower cadence = higher gear ratios, no?
That Kim il sung type of haircut Is crispy af
Till you can’t simplify no mo damn that’s a throwback
Zach looking fresh now
Im currently running a 50/16 gear ratio and thinking of going up just a wee bit, but I don’t want to make it extra hard on my knees and on my skidding abilities as well.. do you suggest going down a couple of teeth on my chain ring and a few on my cog as well? I’m afraid that if I go down one or two teeth on my cog only skidding will be harder. Ultimately which size matters the most to how smooth and easy skidding feels? Cog size or chain ring size? Thank you!
Best hairstyle so far
Fixie bikes work just perfect for a math class...
Lookin clean homie 🚫🧢
Thx man 😊
That haircut boii 😍
thats perfect explaination!!
Interesting. Especially considering I'll never have a fixie.
In my day we had the all mighy 3/16 chain looked like a dirtbike chain haha still saw people break them tho
In July 2022 I had a tire that was burned out and I slipped on some small rocks on the road which broke my femur.
great cut my g
Fresh cut 😣👌🏽
Hii my bro
can 54/20 ratio better than
46/17 ratio because bigger sprocket and cog better for efficiency ?
Which is quieter? 1/8 chain on 3/32 cog or 3/32 chain on 3/32 cog?
Zach I was honestly wondering what you think about Conquer Cranks?
Nice haircut, good video, nice one, 😁
Good info.
looking fresh
How does gear ratio effect the skid patch or how fast tyre will wear