How do gear ratios work for fixed gear bikes?

N

Nigel

New member
Okay i have a 48/18 right now on my bike. The wheel originally came with 16 but my friend said its harder to use the 16??

Now i really dont know anything about fixies yet, but i know with RC cars that if u have a lower tooth pinion gear on the motor, it means more acceleration and a bigger tooth gear means more top speed but it takes slower to get to that speed.

So wouldnt the 18 i have now mean more top speed as compared to the 16 that would make it accelerate more?? However I do want more top speed so whichever would help me to go faster would be nice.
 
The 48 tooth gear is what you want to think as your motor. The 18 will give you more acceleration but have a lower top end. The 16 will be faster on the top end but will take you longer to get there.

48/18 = 2.66 wheel turns for every pedal turn.

48/16 = 3.0 wheel turns for every pedal turn.
 
The lower the number the harder it's going to be to get going. The higher number would be easier.

So the 16 is harder to get going, but then once you're going then you can cruise. The 18 you have now is a bit easier to get going, but then on the 18 once you're going you're going to be spinning like a madman. Spinning is good unless it's causing you to bounce out of your rider's box.

People I know that have fixies or single gear with a flip-flop go with a 17.

The 16 is going to make you go faster once you reach a speed where you can spin. The 18 will help you accelerate faster but then once you reach spinning speed you're going to have spin like a freak to keep up with others that are riding more agressive gears.
 
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