Before all of you fixed gear proponents get all huffy about this issue, let me say that I am asking this question to promote discussion on the pros and cons of fixed gear, regular freewheel, and powercranks.
Old school roadies always talk about the benefit of fixed gear cycling to promote good spin. Anyone who has gotten on a fixed gear spin bike set at low resistance will find it very easy to spin at high RPM. The inertia from the heavy flywheel will help carry the pedal through the upstroke to smoothen out the pedaling action. But what happens when you switch to freewheel and take that inertia away? Supposedly “muscle memory” will take over and you’ll continue to spin in the same way. How much evidence is there for this? Or are you becoming dependent on the inertia in order to spin effectively.
Powercranks make it harder for you to spin. They take away the inertia of the rear wheel and they also talke away the inertia of the opposing crankarm. They force you to lift the crank in order to complete your pedaling action. So which is better?
hmmmmm this is a good question and I will be interested in seeing peoples posts. I use a fixed gear for alot of my training but it is a freewheel hub. (one of those reversible hub thingies)
I can always choose to train using bad techinque
Fixed gear bikes are a cheep training tool
used in early season with a easy gearing
anything that get you to bike more is worth using
if it is a new frame or power cranks or new shoes use all
Generally speaking when cyclists talk about fixed gear, they mean a non-freewheeling hub, as one would find on a track bike
Fixed gear actually will allow you to spin faster by pounding down harder on the downstroke while unweighing the upstroke, and it forces you to train without every coasting which I personally believe to be the single biggest benefit. In any case, you can get a nice round pedal stroke with fixed gear without ever really completely unweighing the downstroke. Bottom line is that most dudes that end up riding fixed gear end up with a nice circular motion rather than pedalling squares.
To spin with powercranks, you really have to train the upstroke so that you can lift the legs up at the same tangential velocity as the downstroke leg. Eventually, you’ll achieve a spin where you have zero assist from the downstroke leg.
Personally, I am still not sure what is more efficient. I believe Powercranks have a huge benefit (I have become a stronger rider overall after starting to use PC’s 4 years ago), but I really do believe that they are a training tool, and unless you are going to race on Powercranks, you need to do some riding on regular cranks too and I am playing around with setting up one bike as fixed gear bike (can you tell I have too many bikes)…you end up doing high cadence spinning as well as big gear work in every ride.
Anyone know the cheapest way to convert a freehub to fixie?
Of the 40,000 km or so that I’ve done on the bike over the last three years, about 3,000 (other than track racing) was on a fixed gear (not a single speed). So, I have some experience, but could hardly call it the cornerstone of my training plans.
Fixed gear riding in a small gear is related to the old rules not to use the big ring until you’ve put in base mileage (I think the old rule was a couple of thousand kilometres). This type of training base has declined in popularity in recent years. Last year, my son’s coach took the kids to Victoria for a Christmas camp. He had them doing low cadence big gear climbing. I thought it was nuts and the fact that half the kids had knee problems for a month after the camp suggest I may have been right, as were the old rules.
I see a few advantages in using a fixed gear:
It’s different. Sometimes we need something different from the old training regime and fixed gear can provide a bit of that.
Since you won’t have a big gear, you can put in small gear miles and save your knees.
It helps you work at high cadences. My fixed gearing is 45/17. At 30 km/hr, you’re spinning at 88 rpm.
Although it’s only anecdotal, I think that I am better at pedaling through the whole circle since I started using a fixed gear and riding on the track.
On the other hand, I’ve found that more than about 30-40 km on the fixed gear is just too much for me.
It is also possible to convert a Shimano cassette Freehub ® for fixed-gear use. Quality Bicycle Products makes the “Sub 11.0 Hub Converter”, an adapter that replaces the Shimano Freehub body with a rigid aluminum block that is threaded for a fixed sprocket and lock ring. Your dealer can order one of these for you from Quality, the top parts distributor in the U.S.
The Quality part number is HU9020. Expect to pay $70-80, plus sprocket and lockring.
This device is mainly intended for use with disc wheels and the like. Although it works with most Shimano cassette Freehubs, it is expensive enough that it doesn’t generally make sense unless you already have a very good wheel that you don’t have any use for as a multispeed. Bruce Ingle, a fellow member of the Charles River Wheelmen used a Shimano cassette hub, which he immobilized by brazing the ratchet mechanism together.
Yes, the fixie made me lazy when I rode it for hours on end and then switched back. Had to concentrate hard on the upstroke the first couple of minutes back on a freewheel.
I think this is the trick to riding a fixie now and then: I am getting reminded that I have to pull up when I switch back to regular cranks.
So yes, it helps to develop the stroke…
I have to agree about the benefit of constant pedaling.
I now pedal more through the corners and coast less, resulting in a smoother stroke and faster riding with less “jerky” accelerations.
I just realized that I have an old Campy Record (1986) wide flange hub with Mavic Gp6 tubular rims. It would likely be cheaper to build that hub up back with clincher rims and just screw on the 17 tooth thread on fixed wheel cog that I have lying around somewhere in the basement.
Before all of you fixed gear proponents get all huffy about this issue, let me say that I am asking this question to promote discussion on the pros and cons of fixed gear, regular freewheel, and powercranks.
Old school roadies always talk about the benefit of fixed gear cycling to promote good spin. Anyone who has gotten on a fixed gear spin bike set at low resistance will find it very easy to spin at high RPM. The inertia from the heavy flywheel will help carry the pedal through the upstroke to smoothen out the pedaling action. But what happens when you switch to freewheel and take that inertia away? Supposedly “muscle memory” will take over and you’ll continue to spin in the same way. How much evidence is there for this? Or are you becoming dependent on the inertia in order to spin effectively.
Powercranks make it harder for you to spin. They take away the inertia of the rear wheel and they also talke away the inertia of the opposing crankarm. They force you to lift the crank in order to complete your pedaling action. So which is better?
Actually, I think a fixed gear is better than a free wheel. But, PC’s are better than a fixed gear. What a fixed gear promotes is learning how to better relax on the upstroke, which will make you a more efficient rider.
PowerCranks is a more effective tool because they force to you completely relax on the upstroke to the point that you have to be active. PC’s also work the top and the bottom of the stroke and improve the run.
PowerCranks is a more effective tool because they force to you completely relax on the upstroke to the point that you have to be active.
Frank
I don’t fully understand what you mean by “relax”. Don’t you have to contract the hip flexors in order to raise the crankarm?
Yes, but you don’t have to apply force on the pedals up, more than complete unweighting plus a few ounces. Everyone actually uses the hip flexors some on the backstroke now using regular cranks as everyone unweights partially, we just don’t use them completely and tend to always have some back pressure. It is this back pressure I am referring to when I refer to “relaxing” even though it isn’t relaxing as we normally think of it. The less back pressure there is the more “relaxed” one is on the upstroke.
“Yes, but you don’t have to apply force on the pedals up, more than complete unweighting plus a few ounces. Everyone actually uses the hip flexors some on the backstroke now using regular cranks as everyone unweights partially, we just don’t use them completely and tend to always have some back pressure. It is this back pressure I am referring to when I refer to “relaxing” even though it isn’t relaxing as we normally think of it. The less back pressure there is the more “relaxed” one is on the upstroke.”
Everyone actually uses the hip flexors some on the backstroke now using regular cranks as everyone unweights partially, we just don’t use them completely and tend to always have some back pressure.
Your claim is not true: in some cases the force on the pedal during the upstroke is negative, in some cases it is neutral, and in some cases it is positive. In all cases, however, the force is relatively small, is not strictly due to muscular action, and has no apparent association with either efficiency/energy cost or performance.
The biggest, most beneficial thing I’ve noticed from riding singlespeed, fixed or not, is the elongation of your powerband over all cadences. It seems you can apply some serious torque at 80 or 120rpm. This is cool because when you’re in a group ride, you can attack without any warning i.e. changing gears, or getting out of the saddle, you can just floor it. Also handy on hills.
However, in terms of quality of pedal stroke, I think SS riding has made mine worse. Regardless of what gear you choose, if it’s the right one, you simply spend more time at 80 than 120, so that is where your power develops… even as low as 60. At 60, I feel I can deliver a very even stroke, but 80-90 tends to feel like gear mashing. Once I hit 100 and want to accelerate more, I have no choice but to deliver force around the whole stroke. But you spend more time in the 80-90 range, which is where I feel I have the ugliest stroke.
Everyone actually uses the hip flexors some on the backstroke now using regular cranks as everyone unweights partially, we just don’t use them completely and tend to always have some back pressure.
Your claim is not true: in some cases the force on the pedal during the upstroke is negative, in some cases it is neutral, and in some cases it is positive. In all cases, however, the force is relatively small, is not strictly due to muscular action, and has no apparent association with either efficiency/energy cost or performance.
Phoeey. If there were no muscular action unweighting the pedal on the up stroke then the negative forces on the pedal on the upstroke would be equal to the weight of the leg, 20-30 lbs or so. the fact that the forces on the pedal are small at this point in the stroke does not mean those muscles are not working but is evidence they are. And, they are doing work. They are simply putting potential energy into the leg that is returned on the downstroke. Everyone uses those muscles now, it is simply a matter of degree and the specific coordination.
Everyone actually uses the hip flexors some on the backstroke now using regular cranks as everyone unweights partially, we just don’t use them completely and tend to always have some back pressure.
Your claim is not true: in some cases the force on the pedal during the upstroke is negative, in some cases it is neutral, and in some cases it is positive. In all cases, however, the force is relatively small, is not strictly due to muscular action, and has no apparent association with either efficiency/energy cost or performance.
AC, are you saying that the energy cost of pushing down slightly harder in the down stroke (because the up stroke leg is not unweighted) is roughly equal to the energy cost of pulling up with the hip flexors to unweight the leg? therefore it 6 of one, half dozen of the other. pull up or push down harder, same/same?
i’m curious because i think this impacts postioning for me. i think i don’t get as low as i could in part because as i get lower i can’t unweight my up stoke leg as it approaches the top of the cycle. i’m pushing it over with my down stroke. so, are you say that doesn’t matter at all?
thanks
bb
“I just realized that I have an old Campy Record (1986) wide flange hub with Mavic Gp6 tubular rims. It would likely be cheaper to build that hub up back with clincher rims and just screw on the 17 tooth thread on fixed wheel cog that I have lying around somewhere in the basement.”
I wouldn’t change rims
just redish the wheel and put on some S22 TUFO tires
that is a great wheel for fixed
well any free wheel is a great wheel
