gear ratio?

[geeno]

whats gear ratio is everyone rockin?

im 48/16. 79 gear inches.

If i get the gear inches down to around 70 would it be easier to do skid stops?

[thyna-mao]

Beater: 42/14
Pake: 49/18

[Citify]

47-17
46-17

I like 47-17. Still good for a decent amount of top end but still controllable for tricks and shit. 47-17 is my favorite gear. Ive also ridden 48-16; 49-17; 51-17; 45-16.

[buccinotony]

i'm running 48x15 and it's cool for short rides on flat ground..but i'm gonna get something lower pretty soon 'cause it's a little to steep for me.

and yeah a 70 inch gear ratio will make it easier to skid

[benitosan]

51/16 and 50/15 for the Valencia St pushes!

[lil' j]

46/18 or 17... try to stay a little below 70 gear inches.. its nice for hills, tricks and wheelies.. lower gear inches are better on your knees anyways..

[ryanlovesyou]

I ride 48/17, I used to do 48/19 which is nice for commuting but I would spin out a lot going down hills.

[Maurice]

F.U. Bennett and your ridiculously big gears!
42x16 beater
48x16/17 track on the road
48x15-50x15 on the track

39&53x12,13,14,15,17,19,21,23,25 (road bikes have it all)

yes skidding is easier with a smaller gear, and it's way easier on your knees. also, running a smaller gear will help develop your cadence (spin) so when you do move up to a bigger gear you can spin it when you go fast enough.
plus you usually get a better cardio work out with a smaller gear.

[geeno]

smaller gear? you mean smaller gear inches?

I can either go 48/17 or 48/18 since i'm broke 5 and can't afford a new chain ring. I just want to skiddzzz hella hella n' go up hills n shit. hella.

[Maurice]

woah there, that's a lot of hella's.
yes I mean smaller inch's 48x17 is good because you would have 17 skid patches and that's a nice gear to ride around in and it should be fine climbing and descending. if you want to run 48x18 that would work too. I run that gear on my conversion and still hang with everyone. though you will end up doing more work than everyone else if you are spinning like that but that's not always a bad thing
it's up to you but if you only have one gear to work with I'd go 48x17

[reckon]

this is where I just have NO experience....

I run a 38/14 just because I had a 38T ring, and my hub came with a 14T cog, and actually I am quite comfortable with this ratio.

from what I'm reading I need more teeth in total in my drivetrain to increase efficiency, and get more than less skid patches on the tires.  

how do you figure all this out? sheldon brown ratio table? personal experience? good grades in math? (my worst subject, when I was i school)

help a bruddah out eh?

[ryanlovesyou]

More teeth in your cog will make make it easier to pedal, more teeth on your chainring will make it harder to pedal.

This is in terms of gear inches, or the distance your bike will travel with one complete revolution of the pedals. Higher gear inches means more resistance and vice versa. Right now you're running 73.3 GI, which is a pretty good number in my opinion. You're also getting 7 skid patches which isn't great but isn't awful.
FYI I run 48/17 which is 76.2 GI and 17 skid patches.



EDIT- it seems that the GI chart is for 27 inch wheels, which will make the values a little different than those for 700c wheels. However, the difference is probably negligible.

[benitosan]

fyi changing cogs drastically changes your gear ratio more than changing your chainring.
i.e. dropping from 48x16 to 48x15 does way more than going from 48x16 to 49x16, stock up on cogs
not chainrings if you want to play around with gear ratios, also cogs much cheaper than chainrings!

[reckon]

very nice!

thats EXTREMELY helpful, great spreadsheet

so it looks like I can just go to a 15T cog, and get 15 skid patches

or switch to a 41/15 and get basically the same ratio, and still 15 patches

thanks again!

[geeno]

screw tables
i use this....

http://software.bareknucklebrigade.com/rabbit.applet.html

this is a skid patch calculator that show you where the patches are and other cool stuff.

[reckon]

that applets tight,.....I saved it in my fixie folder

I went down to shaw's today and got a 15T cog, and a set of 4 track nuts (yeah $78.35 YOWKS!)

it's easier to pedal, easier to crank hard and get going from a stop, skids easier, and I feel better knowing I'm getting twice the patches.


good stuff, thanks

[The ghoul]

48/16

[dieslow]

i am usiing 52/16(not by choice) i just started riding like this week. I'm having a hard time learning how to skid.

[benitosan]

i don't think i'd be able to skid that ratio w/o a stick in my spokes!  isn't that like 100 gear inches?  whoa.

[dieslow]

yeah tell me about it. its like 88 i think?