What gearing - ?

[simongt]

unless its quite flat - then saw location Norwich

'Ah, very flat Norfolk..'. so the quote goes. Mr. Coward obviously had never been to Norfolk - ! Could be described more as 'gently rolling', but if you want flat, go ride in the Fens - ! There used to be a club circuit which took in a location called Skeets Hill, a few miles south of the city. Short and steep, do that a few times and you'd definitely be sweating - !

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I could be wrong, but for me traction implies a driving force for propulsion while grip is required for turning and braking. Both require friction between the tyre and the road and this is limited by the contact area, the weight applied and the friction coefficient. The nett total of the tractive force and any force required for braking and/or cornering must not exceed the friction between the tyre and the road or else the tyre will slip.
Cornering hard while freewheeling will allow all of the available friction to be used for cornering. If you are riding fixed gear and applying a positive or trailing force to the drivetrain then you may just add enough force to the equation to exceed the available friction resulting in a loss of grip that would not have happened on a freewheeling drivetrain.

How much force do you think is needed to provolk a loss of grip? I've not been able to provolk a loss of grip on my fixed under normal riding conditions, obviously when rding in snow, ice and wet leaves its not dificult to provolk a loss of grip on both fixed and freewheel bikes.

 

[12boy]

I agree with DaveR regarding the lateral wheel slip on ice, snow and wet leaves with any bike, as I have learned to my sorrow a few times.

 

[andrew_s]

How so? As a practical person of medium intelligence, how is it different to spin out a tyre fixed v freewheel?

If you are pedaling, and spin the rear tyre, there's no difference.

If you are braking, on fixed the wheel is pushing your feet round, even if you aren't actively leg braking.
If the tyre loses grip, your feet stop getting pushed round, and you sense this immediately, and can kill the incipient skid by moving your feet faster until the pedal pressure comes back.

On freewheel, when the rear tyre loses grip, the only indication of loss of traction is either skidding noises from the tyre, or the back end of the bike stepping out sideways. You'd normally be freewheeling, but even if you pedal against the brake you'd have no indication that wheel speed is less than road speed

 

[andrew_s]

It could be bloody lethal if the clutch failed and the transmission suddenly re-engaged when the bike was going really fast!

That's why those occasions on which the fix/free drive has bindun have had no lasting effect, and have largely faded from memory.