Gearing for Quickbeam

[alan lavine]

Hi All,
Changing a few things on a new to me QB, and was wondering how others have them set up. For the rear I have a 17/21 dingle that I want to use, but haven't decided about the front. Single or double chainring?
Would love to hear what others have used, and for what purpose, I.e. around town, touring, climbing, etc. My use would be mostly around town, occasional 30-40 mile rides with moderate climbs, but no off road use. Maybe CC tours in the future.
Also, how often do you actually change the gears? I wonder if I'd be too lazy to do it often, and just use a geared bike when needed. So maybe a single up front and dingle in the rear would suffice.

Thanks,
Alan
NYC

[Deacon Patrick]

Congratulation, Alan! First, for perspective on the numbers I’m about to give you, read my review of my QB (pre-fixed though it is). http://thegrid.ai/withabandon/quickbeam-sightings/

How, a few details and thoughts, recomendations:

1. Ride what you have. Learn. It will be hard, no matter what the gearing is. You’re learning to use one gear instead of 20+.
2. Ride one gear only and you will learn even more. Do this for three months.
3. Ride till you can’t, walk till you can.
4. You are always in the right gear. This is just as true as you are always in the wrong gear. But the countanance of joy from always being in the right gear greatly exceeds that of always being in the wrong gear.
5. Your 4 tooth dingle cog will give you a reasonable drop in gear. That’s all I use on my QB (44 x 17/22) and I ride asphalt, dirt roads, trails, rocks, roots, hills. My high is 71”, my low is 57”.
6. My Hunqapillar gearing will have greater range because I will have a double chainring and 5t spread in the rear. 34/38 x 17/22 (via a flipflop hub). This will give me three ridable gears for loaded bikepacking and errands of: 61”, 47”, and 42”
7. Try fixed. Try it for a week or two. You’ll love it or hate it, but you’ll learn. A lot.
8. Learn to climb in slow cadance without going anaerobic. This takes time, but basically I view each pedal stroke as a squat. I don’t do power/speed squats, I do slow squats.
9. You’ll be amazed how much stronger your riding gets (on any bike) with consistant ss riding, and if you only ride ss for a few weeks, just how fast your get stronger.
10. LCG. Lowest Common Gear. Comes with every bike, standard. It is also biking, never failure.

Enjoy!

With abandon,
Patrick

[Minh]

alan, i don't have much to add from what patrick has posted.  and this is my opinion only but this kinda feedback is pretty useless, its one of those cases where you have to find what works best for you because it really depends on what shape you're in and what style you like to ride.  some people hate grinding up hills at a pace you could walk faster at, some people hate coasting, etc.  

you just have to find your own zen on the bike, that's the best thing about the QB/SO bikes that's different from my other Riv, you can try to force it to be something it's not but the best riding is to let it come to you.

that will end my personal philosophy lesson about riding the QB.  

minh, who just walked in after a spirited ride grinding up some hills on his QB.  

FWIW i run a 40/32 up front and a 17/19 out back, i almost never change out of the 40/17, find the changes enough of a PITA that i don't do it.

[Kainalu V.]

I had a 16/19 W.I. freewheel with 40 up front. I never used the 19.
-Kai
BK NY

[Mojo]

Hi Alan, Deacon is The Man of course. But here is what I did with my Q gearing: I used 39/45 chainrings with a 17/21 Dingle and a 23T on the flip side of the hub. That gave me 5 useable gears from 46 to 72 inches. Like Minh I most often chose a gear and stayed there for the entire ride.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/79695460@N00/2760281945/in/album-72157607471577085/

Since that picture and description my tires have grown to 32 or 35mm width (& thus my gear inches have increased a bit) and I am using freewheels instead of fixed. Fixed is pure and all that; freewheels are...well, free.

Joe in GJT

[alan lavine]

Appreciate all the input.  I think for now, I'll leave a single up front, 39 or 40, with the dingle 17/21 in the rear.  Gives a high in the mid 60's and low around 50.  Since I don't do mountains, like Deacon, this should be OK.  Then we'll see where it leads.

Alan

NYC

[Conway Bennett]

I'll chime in. I have a 37/39 up front and a WI dos 17/19 freewheel and a surly 18t fixed cog out back.

If you have interest in trying freewheels I have both 16 and 17 WI freewheels in my surplus.

Fair winds,

Captain Conway
www.ChicaGoByBoat.com
833.312.BOAT
@svnightswimming

[Sean Kline]

I’ve loved riding my QB (as SS) around the San Francisco Bay Area for the past six months so much that I thought I take it to Paso Robles next weekend for l’Eroica (not truly pre-1980s, I know, but within the guidelines). For those of you who have gone to this event, am I crazy not to go with a bike with more gears? I’m OK walking occasionally, but am not quite what I’m in for.

Thanks,
Sean

[Jim M.]

I saw several track bikes when I rode Eroica. Also, Lucian Berrutti rode this:

So it's certainly possible, but challenging.

good luck

jim m

walnut creek, ca

[Joe Bernard]

I haven't been, but yes, you're crazy! San Francisco can be a daunting place to ride a SS, but you have the option of skipping certain hills. An organized ride inevitably has "challenges" on the course, and you ain't gettin' around 'em. Use gears!

[Philip Williamson]

This seems perfect.
I have a 39/44 with a 17/21 dingle cog on my Quickbeam. I don’t shift often, because you really don’t need to.

Philip
Santa Rosa, CA

[Deacon Patrick]

Craig in Tucson asked me to post this on his behalf as his posts aren’t posting for some reason...

Hey Alan, this is Craig (yea...so what?). When it comes to riding fixed, for knowledge, inspiration, and enlightenment, you always start with the English. Single chainring flip-flops were the standard set up for every bike sold, unless you had money, from the 1920's thru the 1940's. And these guys did everything on them (because you could only afford one bike): commuting, club rides, time trials, AND camptouring. From my perusal of bike catalogues from this period I've found that the standard gearing was usually in the mid-upper 60's. Racing (time trials were the only legal racing for years) was usually done on a 72" gear and that was considered a "medium" gear. In fact there's still an association that does "medium gear" time trials in the UK. Any Roughstuffing would usually require a gear in the 50's.

Dingles are cool but I think, given where you live, you'll find that going thru the greasy hassle of manhandling the bike into a different gear isn't necessary. You'd be surprised at what one can do on a single 65"-67" gear. ( Motel touring the grasslands of southeast Arizona: https://www.flickr.com/photos/24722971@N05/23798789135/in/album-72157622053427539/ )

My fixed tourer ran a 44-41 double up front with a 17-19 fixed double/16-18 White Industries freewheel in the back. I don't remember changing gears too often (and that's going from unladen to a camping load). https://www.flickr.com/photos/24722971@N05/2561917302/ I would occasionally flip over to an 18t freewheel if I knew there was a long downhill.

For what you're doing I'd start with a mid-60's gear and stay with it for a while. Get some experience (as in months) then take it from there. Why complicate things from the get-go?

My dollar's worth.

Craig in Tucson

[Alan Lavine]

Hi Craig,
Thanks for the interesting info. I’ve had some experience with fixed gear riding, just locally and on a much lighter bike. Having the QB now, with those great track dropouts, I thought I should take advantage and make a multi-gear fixie. This would allow me to extend my travels out of the city.

So thinking as you did (great minds and all that) I started with a 39 up front and 17/21 dingle in the rear, yielding a 63” high and 51” low. No FW yet. As the weather warms (40 this AM when I rode) I’ll start going further, into New Jersey, where there are hills (no mountains). And then we’ll see. I ride better when its warm, and will be in better shape in the summer, so I may make changes as this experiment progresses. I also want to be cautious with my knees, which are OK now, but there is some history there.

I am incredibly jealous of your weather.

Alan
NYC

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[tc]

My SimpleOne is currently setup a bit over 66" (38 chainring, 16 cog on 700x42 tires).  I will stick with this for a bit and see how she goes.