Does riding with gears cause laziness?

[mattc]

Why don't the pro's ride fixed in events like TdF?  

Banned: the organiser likes the riders to suffer, and he read on the InterWeb that Fixed is Faster.

[clarion]

I rarely get passed by a fixed rider on my commute, though I pass quite a few myself.

[Frenchie]

Slower is the answer.

In a bunch the trajectories are also different; when I am on fixed in our chaingang i know that I need to watch my turns.

[MSeries]

I rarely get passed by a fixed rider on my commute, though I pass quite a few myself.

I rarely got passed on my commute, whether I was on single, multi or Fixed. No other Fixed or SS riders went my way. If I did get passed it's usually on the descent when I was on one speed, Fixed or not. I owned the uphills though.

[vorsprung]

Yes.

My fastest commute times have been with Sid the Singlespeed.  If I use a geared bike I'm generally slower.  However when it's late at night, and I'm tired and knackered, it's so much nicer to be able to use gears on the way home.

Exactly the same experience here.  The singlespeed is faster for commuting but gears are great when you are knackered.  Since I got hub gears instead of a single speed I have missed less days riding to work.

One day i must build up a really light fast frame as single speed.  Maybe when the 9 speed 105 wears out on my Orbea.

[Greenbank]

Gears prevent knee exploding and subsequent weeks of enforced laziness...

Ah, the 'fixed causes knee problems' myth.

[токамак]

I laugh at the pinging of gears in the bunch as we approach the hill. I am on fixed, and I am relentless - see you at the top, loosers!

 

I laugh at the arrogance and pious pomposity of the fixers who, peering down their noses, sneer and believe themselves better than me because they ride fixed...  

<serious question>

Why don't the pro's ride fixed in events like TdF?  

I / anyone can get up a hill much quicker on a lightweight stiff racing bike with gears. My point is that to get stronger you need to push yourself and not be lazy, which for me means riding fixed for training rides in the winter. 

[edit] I also see plenty of serious time trialists riding fixed at the moment.

[Kim]

Ah, the 'fixed causes knee problems' myth.

No, the 'knackered knee is incompatible with grinding' fact.  If people with functional knees want to ride SS/fixed then good for them, I just don't realistically have the option.

[Greenbank]

<serious question>

Why don't the pro's ride fixed in events like TdF?  

Serious answer:

Because they're not lazy and will be trying to get the most from their bike.

Fixed/single-speed works because you mentally want to keep going at a constant cadence, when the road pitches up you put in more effort to try and maintain this. With gears one tends to change down too many gears and do less work at the preferred cadence.

Simply put, pros don't ease up when they change down, they put in the power they want to be putting in and choose the appropriate gear to keep their cadence where they want it.

Another reason is that they go much faster than us mortals, so they'd need quite a tall gear to be able to spin along the flat at 45kph. Such a gear would make climbing extremely difficult; once you start going below 40rpm pedaling is not so efficient, in a race situation a cadence 10% below the rider's optimum could have a significant difference to race position where hundreths of a second matter.

[mattc]

[edit] I also see plenty of serious time trialists riding fixed at the moment.

Makes perfect sense - fast courses are (almost) pan flat, and a TT is a constant effort application. The ideal usage for fixed, probably quicker on most courses.

[hatler]

Gears prevent knee exploding and subsequent weeks of enforced laziness...

Ah, the 'fixed causes knee problems' myth.

Not a myth from my perspective.

I have a dodgy left knee and have to spin. If I grind it swells up and I have to not ride for a day or two.

Or I could ride a small s/s / fixed gear but then I wouldn't be as fast overall.

I can't have it both ways on fixed (ie overall speed and happy knee).

[MSeries]

so it is the use of too large a gear that causes knee problems ? and not the lack of freewheel mechanism ?

[citoyen]

I have a dodgy left knee and have to spin.

I think Greenbank's point is that riding fixed doesn't cause dodgy knees, though as Kim says, that's no consolation when your knees are already dodgy to start with.

Speaking for myself, my knees are dodgy but I don't find riding fixed gives me any more problems than riding gears - doesn't make a difference on the flat, and going uphill hurts either way. YMMV. [edit:] as Mr N says, you'll only aggravate your dodgy knees if you mash a too-big gear.

d.

[Greenbank]

Ah, the 'fixed causes knee problems' myth.

No, the 'knackered knee is incompatible with grinding' fact.  If people with functional knees want to ride SS/fixed then good for them, I just don't realistically have the option.

Fair enough, but your original comment was a generalisation that implies that everyone who rides fixed/s-s will end up with exploding knees, or at least that's how I read it.

Gears prevent knee exploding and subsequent weeks of enforced laziness...

Ah, the 'fixed causes knee problems' myth.

Not a myth from my perspective.

I have a dodgy left knee and have to spin. If I grind it swells up and I have to not ride for a day or two.

Or I could ride a small s/s / fixed gear but then I wouldn't be as fast overall.

I can't have it both ways on fixed (ie overall speed and happy knee).

Again, I'm talking about the myth that fixed is bad for knees for everyone, not just incompatible with some individuals.

[hatler]

so it is the use of too large a gear that causes knee problems ? and not the lack of freewheel mechanism ?

I've hardly ridden fixed so can't really confirm that one way or the other. I do know that riding with too big a gear causes my knee to swell.

[mattc]

Ah, the 'fixed causes knee problems' myth.

No, the 'knackered knee is incompatible with grinding' fact.  If people with functional knees want to ride SS/fixed then good for them, I just don't realistically have the option.

Fair enough, but your original comment was a generalisation that implies that everyone who rides fixed/s-s will end up with exploding knees, or at least that's how I read it.

You seem to have thrown away your understanding of statistics before making that post.

When you see a smoker who hasn't had cancer, do you head for the tobacconists?!?

[Julian]

I have a knackered knee, and it's "powering up hills in a bigger gear than wot I'd usually choose" that makes it worse.  On gears I have the option of gearing down, so fixed tends to make it worse than gears.  

Obviously it's not the fairy dust in the freewheel mechanism that makes the difference.

[RJ]

In my case, the alternative to riding with gears is not riding - so (in my case) the answer is no.

I can freewheel down hills at speeds my legs can't possibly turn over.

Yeah, me too (or if I had a big enough gear to turn over I wouldn't want to for fear of approaching terminal velocity ...  )

[Greenbank]

You seem to have thrown away your understanding of statistics before making that post.

When you see a smoker who hasn't had cancer, do you head for the tobacconists?!?

Eh?

I read the original as: "Riding fixed will lead to knee trouble". I'm not sure what kind of analogy you're trying to pin on me.

As smudge says; riding fixed may exacerbate existing knee problems, but it's unlikely to be the *cause* of any new knee problems (bike setup aside).

[MSeries]

But too large a gear on a single speed would also cause the knee problems , no ? I have to concede of course that SS and multi geared bikes give the knee troubled rider the chance to rest, unlike Fixed. As Julian spells it out, it's not the freewheel that make the difference it's the size of the gear that's used.

[Julian]

Eh?

I read the original as: "Riding fixed will lead to knee trouble".

I read the original as "riding fixed will give Kim knee trouble"

Gears prevent knee exploding and subsequent weeks of enforced laziness...

Knee singular.  Just the one.  Not everybody's knees plural.

[mattc]

As I see it, riding fixed will always* lead to riding too big a gear, at SOME point on your ride.

[*ignoring pan-flat rides, you pedants]

[Wowbagger]

Wowb, is the Trek still rolling along OK?

TBH it's been sitting in the shed not doing anything for quite a while.

All my riding for about 7 months has been on Rohloff-equipped Thorn bikes, with the exception of about 4 miles on a Brompton when deflations were discovered at inopportune moments.

[MSeries]

As I see it, riding fixed will always* lead to riding too big a gear, at SOME point on your ride.

[*ignoring pan-flat rides, you pedants]

Well, too big depends on the individual rider. Anyway, it's not about Fixed, it's about too big a gear, single speed will surely cause the same problems.

[токамак]

Caution about fixed wheel - it will divide opinion.

Too big a gear is one that your body can't cope with. If you can slog it up a hill on 80" and not damage yourself, then all power to you. Read about Chris Hoy's old training antics around Manchester airport with huge gears and weighted bikes - it made him stronger!