I have a frame coming that I will build into a fixed gear. Besides the “cool” factor I wanted some feedback about how experienced fixed gear riders improve their cycling. How long are rides typically? Do you do anything special or is grinding up hills and spinning madly down them enough? How has it helped your cycling? I’m thinking that because of the fatigue factor that a typical training ride would be in the 20-30 mile range. Thanks for any feedback.
guilty,
in spring, i train almost exclusively on it with my roadie team. rides up to 3 hrs. hillier rides are very tough to keep up with others, mainly on the downhills. very good training. 3 hrs is like doing squats over and over and over. enjoy it.
seamus
I wouldn’t call it ‘serious’ or ‘training’, But the flatlands in NW Ohio are perfect for finding one gear and sticking with it. I did ~5hrs today on my fixie. Why? Because!!!
Does it help? Difficult to say. The beauty of it is two-fold. One, there’s less crap to get gunked up. Two, since at no point in my ride was I mashing a gear, I got a good workout in, and my legs will be ready tomorrow for another one.
If there’s one thing I could say that riding a fixie (a lot!!) improves is that soooner or later you’re going to realize that you aren’t going to go any faster keeping your hip flexors (and other muscles. i guess. I never took anatomy) tense all the time. It’ll hit you like a two-ton heavy thing that you can go a lot faster if you R-E-L-A-X, and not fight your bike.
Best improvements are made keeping up with group rides (and WORKING in them) and careening down hills.
If anything it will make your pedaling more even…not sure, but they say it’s a great work out!!!
I am sitting here completely thrashed, from a ~75 mile ride in the hills of southern OH, “son of godzulla”:
I rode fixed (44x16) and my friend rode fixed (48x17). We got a bit behind the pack at the beginning due to a flat tire, and we (mostly he) had to pull like hell to try to chase down the pack. This was through a mostly flat section, and he had me spinning out to probable ~125 rpm, for 20 plus miles. Then we hit the hills, by the end of the ride, I could barely climb 6% grades, let alone the 12%+ that were common on this course.
This was not really a training session, as much as a measure of my limits, which I found and embraced!
But yes fixies are very fun!
They have helped me work on my spin, but it is more of a fun ride for me than a training tool.
Mark
You are unbeliveable on that thing. Glad you had fun.
My roommate can kick my butt on the bike, and he rides fixed-gear all the time! Seriously, he does 90% of his riding on it. He’s a 24hr Single Speed Solo World Champ, and was leading the So Cal CX Cup for a while, (Men’s A!) RACING ON HIS FIXED GEAR! His name is Tony Smith…Here’s a link to one of the races with a pic:
http://www.socalcycling.com/press/urbancross2_05.asp
Anytime I want my butt kicked on the bike, he’s happy to do it. He says it has really improved his cycling tremendously, and you can tell when your power has improved and you need to up your gearing.
I prefer flats and rollers rather than grinding up and spinning madly down big hills. The idea is to find a gear that you can hit a range from 90 to 110 rpm on and work your legs all the way around. If you hurt yourself, then the whole training idea is worthless.
Around here in the East Bay/SF, there’s really only one flat to rolling ride I can do so other than that, putting the fixie on the trainer makes it like a spin machine at the gym, flywheel style. That’s not bad either.
I just picked up one about 3 weeks back. It’s got a flip flop hub which is nice.
It came geared 48t Front and 15t rear, I live half way up the local mountain pass, it’s not flat around here at all. That 48 x 15 lasted one ride, or should I say I lasted one ride, about 20 miles on it. I replaced that front ring with a 39t from my wifes double front ring set (she uses a triple now), that 39 x 15 is much better. I can ride the local hills and still keep up on the flats (spinning some serious RPMs though).
I did a workout today a very slow speed up a gentle grade and slow back down it. Great leg work out. My Tri bike is parked till next season, the Fix is a kick in the pants and I’ll sticking to it.
I also plan to do all of my CompuTraining on it too.
who trains seriously on a fixed gear?
trackies. everyone else is just fucking around.
jerk
Yeah, but fucking around on my commute to work four times per week (40 miles round trip) has been a hell of a lot of fun for the last four years.
I guess if I spend more than half of my time fixed it has to be a significant part of my training. I like the fact that my fixie is cheap (rescued from dumpster), I am still on my original fixed cog and chainring and havent done anything but lube the chain for the last couple of years.
Don’t be fooled! Some of the gearing ratios mentioned here (42/39x15) are not for the “average” rider if you live in rolling terrain. (Just calculate rollout and speed at 90rpm for that).
I strongly suggest you gear down (compact or SS-crank) in the beginning if you don’t want to end up injured (achilles, calf, knees). Fixies at that gearing will, IMO, only work as a training tool (longer rides) if you can ride flat and want to focus on pedaling efficiency. And even then I prefer something like a 39x18 for everything more than tooling around and/or doing “weights”.
FWIW
Well,
then you are obviously a much better cyclist than me and most of the other people out there on the road.
More power to you…
B.T.W.: Thinking hard I came to the conclusion that chainrings come in different sizes too.
I probably do around 50-60% of my riding fixed. I do 90% of my TT fixed. I just like to ride fixed. Not real big on gorilla hills and flogging down, so I usually pick a flatter course. When I am fixed I guess I go half/half aerobars vs old skool. I have the luxury of having three fixed rides to choose from. All three frames are beauties that I picked up for under $400 each brand new with a carbon fork. So I guess other than my trick carbon race wheels I have less than $3k invested in three rides.
My rides are usually under 3hr fixed as I get too damn tired if I go longer than that. I really like to do intervals in areo fixed. Does make for a tough guy when the wind gets to 20 knots in a 92 inch gear. I am not that strong of a rider and weigh on the long side of 90kg, but I do tend to suprise a few folks on the flat TT courses.
I think on fixed and hills it is a good idea to start lower, but as you get used to the gear ratio it is easier to muscle a gear over a hill and not spin out on the downside. I run a 45 tooth front and a 15/17 flip-flop rear hub. I did ride my 45-17 combo up South Mountain locally, 1000 feet of elevation gain and pitches at the top of up to 12%. The last section was pretty hard.
I ride a lot of singlespeed mountain bike during the off season as well which can also be good strength training on the bike.
Bragging on 50x16 
also have a flip flop hub called ‘walking legs’ if the hill goes over 10%
For racing I find it better to overgear, spinning can become ineffcient whereas grinding for short lengths of time does no harm if you’ve trainned it.
Fastest times for 25 and 50 all done on fixed, I only managed 4 hours of a 12hr on it though.
Anyone done a tri on fixed?
how hard is SS MB riding ? I ride my FG all the time now . I would like to try a SS MB. what gear combos do you use ? My road bike is 42x16.
How about a flip flop are both fixed or not ?
Thanks Thom
I’ve done a little research on this, thinking about converting my moutain bike… What I’ve found is folks tend to ride 2:1 ratio for mountain.
I did cyclocross race last weekend on my single speed, flipped the wheel over to freewheel and 16t rear (39 x 16) and that was all most right, a bit tough on the stepper climbs. I was out of the saddle for all of the step stuff. I’ve not got the skills yet to even think about doing a race like that or mountain bike single track stuff whiled fixed, I’m using the freewheel side for that.
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Have you seen a surly fixxer ? I have another frame a fuji team I would like to change over to a fixed. But It has vertical dropouts. With half links do you think I could make it work? I have some nice dura ace hubs 9 speed with the fixxer if I could use the half link to make it work it would be a cheep new bike and very light .
I will try the SS MB. for Ice biking this year.
If you ride a fixed gear JUST FOR FUN as some have written, that’s one thing. If you want to use it as a training tool, then what some of the posts have said is way off base!! Cyclist using fixed gear as a training devise has been around for many years (more than 50!!) and they have learned a few things about it.
- Most pro racers will use fixed gear training in the early season and only for 2 or 3 weeks. Why? because it is very difficult on the body to accept it neurologically and still get the benefits from it. (by the way, this also applies to the power crank users)
- When you use it, you need to select the right ratio for the terrain. Normally you would ride flat terrain or gently rolling terrain. There’s no need to gut it out up steep hills in a fixed gear. Save that for your freewheel rides, anyway steep climbs are not part of your early year training.
- You don’t need to go long on a fixed gear. An hour a day would be plenty. Do your endurance ride with the freewheel. The idea of fixed gear is to smooth out your pedal stroke. It’s mainly for technique. Strength and endurance comes later.
- If you are using a fixed gear, use a shorter crank than you normally ride. This will allow you spin the crank faster.
- Most riders will lower their seat when using the fixed gear. I use to use my track bike with a front brake on it.
- Using a fixed gear as described above will definitely benefit your cycling technique.
That is what has been learned over the years by many cyclist. Now if you want to re-invent it all, you’ll have fun finding out what works and doesn’t work.