# Are you faster on fixed ?



## PpPete (12 Feb 2012)

My fixed is based around 25 year old (approx) Reynolds 531 framed Carlton I bought off Ebay for £80, powder coated, and equipped with whatever gubbins I have lying around in the garage. The other day it's front wheel was fitted with a studded tyre in case of ice, but I decided that was un-necessary so at the last moment before setting off I swopped it out for a Fulcrum 7 which had 700x25 slick on it.
Rode 38 km .. mostly flat loop, but with one or two nasty little lumps which were at the limit of what I could get up with a 74" gear on. Time was 1h 23min.... which I was rather pleased with, first time I've averaged over 16 mph on a solo ride.

Today, in similar meteorological conditons, dressed in the same clothes, I rode exactly the same loop on my "best bike" - a Van Nic Yukon, with full Campag triple drive train, hand built wheels... I bike I have spent a lot of £££ on. Time 1h 22 min and I had to bust a gut to beat the previous time. 

The weight of the two bikes is very similar, and it got me thinking whether in fact, if I got my gearing dead right and improved my downhill spinning a bit I would actually be faster on fixed over this sort of short distance.

Any one else made any comparisons?


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## mangid (12 Feb 2012)

Average on my Langster is ~17.7, average on Roubaix Pro is 20+, definite difference. Roubaix, is slightly lighter, but the responsiveness when putting the power down is definitely noticeable.

--
Dan


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## Pennine-Paul (12 Feb 2012)

cant compare to riding same route on a geared bike as I only ride fixed
( with the occasional foray in the hills as a s/s) but on gently rolling hills
I'm as fast as geared bikes on my commute but just cant keep up descending steep hills

Ascending hills is a different matter,up to about 10% definitely faster,anything steeper
and I'm overgeared,I had some young whippet drafting me on my commute uphill for
about 2 miles till I got stopped at some lights,he turned right using the pedestrian crossings
and cycled off at snails pace, a broken man


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## zigzag (12 Feb 2012)

there is no definitive answer, it all depends on the terrain, length and gradient of the hills


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## GrasB (12 Feb 2012)

Define 'faster', if I keep my my fixed gear & road bike (my other bikes have significant aero advantages which are independent of the gearing system). The fixed delivers the lowest watts for a given, gear obtainable, speed which makes it faster when in a straight(ish) line on the flat plus shallower gradients (+7 to -3.5% on a 80" gear). THe geared bike is faster through tight corners & down steeper gradients & ultimately hits a higher peek speed. Over an entire ride the average speed is about the same for similar conditions.


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## colly (12 Feb 2012)

I have yet to find out.

I am building a fixed at the moment and in preparation went out today on my road bike and made a point of staying in just one sproket/chainring combination all the way round. 50 x 19 which I think will approximate to something like 42 x 18.
It was a loop I have done before and it contains more than a few lumps and one which I really thought I would struggle with.
I didn't struggle on any of the climbs although It was slow and a bit of a push at times. My average was about 1.5mph slower than I would usually expect. Having said that I was not 'trying' as it were, just enjoying the ride.
I did find that I slipped into changing gear, I think, 3 times. Done pretty much unthinkingly, kind of on automatic, when I was beginning to spin out on the flat or on a slight downhill gradient. I wasn't even aware until the road began to rise up again.

I am looking forward to finishing my new ride but I'm wondering how I'll cope with not being able to coast.


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## Jezston (12 Feb 2012)

I can definitely get off quicker and reach higher speeds on gears, but I seem to be able to hang around the 15-20mph mark a lot easier fixed than geared.


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## dave r (12 Feb 2012)

For me no difference, top end around 20mph on both gears and fixed, average speed 15-16 mph both on gears and fixed.

This poll is flawed, theres no provision for us that see no difference.


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## Bicycle (12 Feb 2012)

I have several little, local loops, a 70-miler to my in-laws and I used to have a 22-mile thrice-weekly commute to work.

Gears were quicker on all of them. In some cases significantly.

I'm middle-aged and not in great shape and riding a 69" bodged-up fixie on an old steel road frame.

I'm ride between Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Wales. The gradients may in part explain the greater speeds on geared bikes.

For all that the geared rides are *always* quicker, fixie rides are *always* better.

See right for an accurate portayal of me descending the Malvern Hills flat out:


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## Ian H (12 Feb 2012)

Funnily enough, although two of my fastest 400kms were on fixed, I am ultimately faster on gears. But fixed is fun.


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## totallyfixed (12 Feb 2012)

Sorry, can't compare, I hardly ever ride my cob-webbed geared bike over the same terrain as my fixed but from experience I would say there is not a lot in it. My fixed is a bit lighter and up to a certain steepness at least as quick as gears but obviously not as fast on a longish downhill. Also the longer the route the more energy sapping a fixed becomes.


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## gaz (12 Feb 2012)

Inner city, they are about the same. Never ridden my fixed/ss on the hills I ride my geared bike on.


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## italiafirenze (13 Feb 2012)

It must have something to do with not being able to coast on the fixed gear meaning more time is actually spent applying power combined with a reduction in drive train losses.

Must it?

I think I'm faster on my road bike but I would also say using a fixed gear has made me faster on the road bike due to improved efficiency and less tendency to coast.


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## Nigel182 (13 Feb 2012)

Pretty much the same for me did the FNRttC Southend in March....Geared Bike Average 10.6
again in Dec but Fixed Gear average 11.7 only thing faster was max speed due to coasting downhill.


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## Smurfy (14 Feb 2012)

I don't even have a speedo on my fixed wheel bike!

For those who like tales of heroism on fixed then there's a few here:

http://www.fixedwheel.co.uk/dave fearon.htm

http://www.fixedwheel.co.uk/fixedwheel stories.htm


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## tyred (15 Feb 2012)

Most of my routes are hilly without being stupidly steep but I find little real difference between my fixed and geared bikes. My "good" fixed, a 531 framed Carlton has a 69" gear but is probably as high as I can go in this area.

For this winter, on the advice of an old club cyclist I've got to know well, I built an old gas pipe special with a 62" gear for winter training and it's insane on the downhills but somehow I find it brilliant fun and I can now spin well enough to almost match my times on the Carlton even though the bike is considerably heavier and my top speed is lower due to the gear ratio. I must be making up times on the climbing. If you really want to get fit, I think you need a low geared fixed.


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## ERic Stokes (26 Feb 2012)

tyred said:


> Most of my routes are hilly without being stupidly steep but I find little real difference between my fixed and geared bikes. My "good" fixed, a 531 framed Carlton has a 69" gear but is probably as high as I can go in this area.
> 
> For this winter, on the advice of an old club cyclist I've got to know well, I built an old gas pipe special with a 62" gear for winter training and it's insane on the downhills but somehow I find it brilliant fun and I can now spin well enough to almost match my times on the Carlton even though the bike is considerably heavier and my top speed is lower due to the gear ratio. I must be making up times on the climbing. If you really want to get fit, I think you need a low geared fixed.


 
I agree with your fitness comment but now lack the will to inflict such pain on myself to achieve the benefit. I road a fixed 68" many years ago but felt I was missing out on the thrill of downhill speeds so took to gears. Because of that ingrained experience it's only recently that I have stopped trying to kill myself getting up steep hills and discovered the joy of climbing virtually any gradient by means of an appropriate LOW GEAR. I can't believe it's taken me so long to unfix my mind!

At my age death by speed is preferable to the slog that could bring on a heart attack.


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## Red Light (26 Feb 2012)

For me the fixed is slower for a very good reason. Its about the same speed uphill, on the flat its slower because I can't spin fast enough for long periods to maintain the speeds I can with gears and on the downhills my speed is limited by how fast I can spin. So overall its slower at all but the uphills.


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## Fab Foodie (26 Feb 2012)

Not much different.


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## Dan_h (27 Feb 2012)

I have not noticed much difference, although I expected to be faster on gears it turns out that over any sort of distance there is not much in it. Strangely even hills don't seem to change this. Perhaps this means I am not working hard enough when riding with gears!


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## Dave Davenport (27 Feb 2012)

I did the club reliability yesterday (57 miles, hilly'ish) in 3.11 on the fixed (72" gear), last time I did the same one on my geared winter bike in 3.10, so against expectations virtually the same.


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## ERic Stokes (27 Feb 2012)

Red Light said:


> For me the fixed is slower for a very good reason. Its about the same speed uphill, on the flat its slower because I can't spin fast enough for long periods to maintain the speeds I can with gears and on the downhills my speed is limited by how fast I can spin. So overall its slower at all but the uphills.


 
I'm impressed, or to be completely honest demeaned that you climb at the same rate, straining my memory I can recall the immanence, the consequent challenge of a big climb on fixed did get the adrenalin flowing, essential amongst proper hills, as in Wales! Now I smile at the foolishness of my youthful masochistic endeavors and just sail up in an easy gear and hammer it on the descent for the thrill of the speed. More fun, less pain, and as I have discovered in the company of some much younger far superior cyclists, gears give me more than equality. I always have a wait at the bottom of a long descent feeling guilty that I appeared flash, knowing that I had made guys who are superior cyclists look slow. 

There is no modest bias within my comments, I'm 15st, mainly attributable to upper torso, drink too much and have smoked all my life. Gears are my salvation, without them I would be denied the thrill of the descent and feel the need to clean up my act !


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## al-fresco (28 Feb 2012)

On Sunday I blew the dust off my Cross Check and did my usual 14 mile pub run on a geared bike for the first time in about 5 months. It's a hilly route and I reckon I was about 2 minutes quicker than riding fixed - I probably picked up most of that time on the downhill sections.

I chuffed to discover that I was about 6 or 7 minutes quicker than the last time I did the route on the Cross Check and that has to be attributable to improved fitness from riding fixed.


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## Aperitif (28 Feb 2012)

I can ride 'average speed' with gears, 'average speed' with fixed. The difference is you can play around with your legs more when the drive is direct - learning control and joining in with braking etc, learning where to stop so that it is easier to set off again... Unless I put a GPS on my (geared) bike, or stick it in my pocket when riding fixed, I have no idea what speed I actually do - it rarely matters. Pushing the speed/distance, it must be gears that win, unless one's aerobic endurance is phenomenal. I ride 48 x 17 whatever inches that might be...I only have a few slopes to and from work, and have done Southend, like Nigel mentions earlier, quite easily. And I'm over 100kg, so loads of 'inner cargo' to haul around!


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## itsbruce (3 Mar 2012)

I have more fun riding fixed. That makes it feel faster. I _am_ faster up hills (right up to the point where I am not).


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## DooBlood (10 Mar 2012)

I've just gotten myself a fixed cycle (Revolution Track 12 from EdingburghBicycleCooperative) to find out which bike I am fastest on (well, not really). The results are amazing. I cycled a 20 mile undulating loop on Tuesday using my 2x10 speed road bike (Focus Cayo Ultegra '09) in a time of 1 hour and 16 mins. I repeated this loop with my new Revolution cycle in a time of 1 hour and 16 mins! The Revolution ride was more intensive!


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## Dan_h (30 Mar 2012)

Today I did my usual route only fixed for the first time. I was surprised that there really was not much in it, definitely slower downhill but quicker on the uphills except the one point where I had to walk (it is so steep that that is probably not much slower than riding, also only a couple of hundred yards). My legs ache more, also my upper body is aching in ways that it does not riding gears (much more climbing out of the saddle I guess).

The grin factor of riding fixed is way higher than gears though!


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## Chris S (1 Apr 2012)

"There ain't no substitute for gear inches"
(apart from gear feet)


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## phil120867 (16 Apr 2012)

I've started commuting again on my fixed on a 52x18 Langster build, 17 miles of fairly flatish country lanes. The way there is slightly uphill overall and I'm doing this run in the exact same time as i would on the geared bike but my average HR is around 10% more (85% rather than 75%). On the way home I'm taking 4 mins out of my usual time and again my HR is higher. I prefer fixed, the bike is lighter, I feel like I've had a workout because when it kicks up a bit I can't sit and spin. I'm not sure anout the old zen thing but I haven't ridden fixed for a few years and I have really missed it. I'll be trying a 50 miler shortly, it'll be interesting to see how I feel after that.


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## funk my fixie (29 Apr 2012)

I have found that I ride 5-8 mph faster on my fixie........ However this is on the flat. When going up hills I nearly collapse which, if I had gears would be a whole lot easier. So I guess as a fixed gear is built (really) for a track, then that is what it is good at doing. A racing bike is designed for climbing, flat and downhill riding and really, though not better, allows you to get more out of your body without killing yourself uphill.  Hope it helps 

Mark


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