anyone else find geared bikes use more energy or is it me?

been riding nothing but fixed for 9 months, feel quite fit, can do 25 miles fairly quick and not knackered at the end, got a road bike at the weekend and I'm shattered at the end of a couple of 16 mile rides, don't know if it's pushing a bigger gear with a tailwind or the fact that it seems to want to stop if I ease off slightly, my fixed feels like it wants to carry on, I got a geared bike to do some timetrials on but I'm seriously thinking of sticking to my fixed

anyone else find this with gears?

momentum init

yeah, actually, especially with hills. all that choice makes me lazy and then i can't pick a gear, wasting loads of energy. but i'm sure that most of it is due to just not being comfortable on it and forgetting how to use gears properly. it'll come back.

there is more weight, and more friction ...

plus a fixed will carry on as lucky said with momentum rather than clicking round the freewheel

dont dont be changing gears anyway, find one, keep cadence high, go all day
but im sure i dont need to tell people on here that :S

Fixed can make you lazy in the pedal dead spot, or hyper vigilant. It's all in the meta-psycho-physiological approach to riding.

I'm planning a detour into gearsville for hillclimbing. It's very exciting. Honest.

im going to bourg-st.mourice in the summer

taking bike to go climbing in the alps :D

cant wait, down again will be the shit

this is it.

learning to shift in the right places is important, otherwise you do end up pushing too big or too small a gear uphill and not reaping the benefit of the gears.

It's really important to shift , even if you think you don't need to, that you can get away with a slightly wrong gear just for a bit, you can't.
You push over the difficult bits with fixed, and spin faster on the easy bits, if you do that on a geared bike it will feel "harder" for a similar mileage.

Everyone seems to start clicking into easier gears too early on climbs (when I'm riding in geared groups).

Even worse is doing this before standing up. Nooooooooooooo! Should be doing the exact opposite. Duh.

Well, I don't think i'd like going on my fixed when i'm touring down to my moms place this summer.. It's a 4½ hour ride, with lots and lots of long hills.. And I'm not in perfect shape so I dot get tired from such a ride :) I have been thinking about doing it though, just to compare.. with the magic 69" (that i use in Copenhagen anyway) it should be okay i guess :)

yeah but they probly learnt to ride with down tube shifters.... dont know how your going to stand up sedal and shift that.

bad habits stay for life.

Bingo!

I'm way faster geared, and can cycle way further geared. But whenever I switch I have to remember to cycle through the dead spots, to not be tempted to slow and stop, to push myself into higher gears on inclines, and basically not to change the way that I ride when I'm fixed just because I'm riding geared.

If you want to ease off because you can, then you will. Just ride the same and use the gears to your advantage when on fixed you wouldn't have been able to push harder.

A good discipline: Don't use the lower gears... start and ride most of the time on something similar in feel to your fixed. And when you find yourself spinning at a high speed, that's when the other gears come into use.

i try to go big as long as possible on a climb then shift down just before 'stalling'. i used to shift down early cos i dont like shifting under load (extra stress on drive bits). i think i still do...due to fear of gears stuffin up then me falling off

gears will always be easier than fixed...if you think otherwise, you're possibly doing something wrong. and the extra 0.5-1.5kg of weight makes very little diff if any at all. i push harder on the road bike, but i also go faster and longer ;)

Sacre blu! Say at least that you will only want a 1x9 affair!

I rode the Tour de France mountain time trial route from Bourg to Val d'Isere once....in the middle of winter, freezing cold, tons of ice, I had no lights in the long tunnels, loads of trucks and coaches ferrying people to the resorts....probably the most stupid thing I've ever done.

see i disagree, when out on my geared bike i'll sit and spin in a lower gear when everyone else pushed a bigger gear and trudges up the hill i'll be faster and, less out of breath at the top.

Back OT

Training on fixed has only ever made me faster on gears........

I occasionally couriered on a geared bike when my trusty Veto was off the road....hate to tell you this...it was faster.

winston there scary roads, even in a car !!

trucks come flying round, local knowledge i guess

i agree with slack ... lower gear and faster legs mean u do a little bit of work every turn rather than a lot every turn

preference anyway i guess

I thought one of the main reasons couriers ride fixed is due to low maintenance, fewer parts = less likely to break down. Oh and cause they are cooler ;-p

i went to bourg-st-mourice last summer (actually in peisy along the valley) get yourself a lift pass and use the funicular railways and extensive system of chairlifts instead you know it makes sense.

True....occasionally you come out of a pickup to find a truck has rammed your backwheel, your brake blocks wear through your rims, snapped and seized seatpost....all these can put your workhorse off the road for a day or two.

2x10, but only 39x17/18/19/21 for the Catford. The other 16 gears are just for show.

not in my experience...my fixed has given me a million times more mechanicals than my shimano specialized. the latter is basically plug n play whereas my fixed requires constant looking after. anyone else find this?

+1 for deadspot on pedals - sometimes I almost stick as I expect the cranks to push my leg round the full revolution.

I seldom change gear on my roadie (is that as bas as saying 'fixie'?) around RP - just ride it like my commuter. But that's a pretty short ride.

I'm deffo faster on the geared bike. This weekend the wind was brutal - I think that may have been the key factor in your foray into gears.

I found that with geared bikes I could overlook minor imperfections and noises but with a fixed, any little drivetrain noise required a complete overhaul. Phsycologically, of course.

I'm sooo glad I overcame that need to constantly fiddle with my fix!

Then you aren't riding fixed properly...you lazy Sod.

may pros, including Lance, train on fixed to improve their pedalling technique, theoretically in hard training and racing it should teach you to pedal more in circles therefore with more upforce than a geared bike which many people pedal in a stomping "left down, right down" action.

dissed by the master :o(

I'm working on the souplesse - riding fixed just makes you think about it more.

yah, you have to pedal in circles, not that lazy pedaling :) why do you think you need clipless pedals? :)

I'm hankering for a geared bike for longer, hillier rides. Much as I love climbing hills on fixed, descending them can be a fucking nightmare!

On a slightly different tack. I watched a guy this morning bombing along the road full pelt on a full-suss mountain bike. He looked to be busting a gut but every pedal stroke he was bouncing up and down massively. I felt pretty smug about my efficient fixed gear bike. Is the difference in efficiency really as much as it looks?

Still haven't fixed that sticky 'n' key yet...

I want a tourer...


there I've said it.

Me too, I just want to ride off for 2 or 3 month, live in a tent, grow beard and eat lentils.

it was windy on my first ride and I didn't appreciate how much bigger the gears were, I ride 77" fixed, I struggled more with the wind behind trying to turn a much bigger gear than I'm used to, last night I kept it on the small front ring and it felt a bit better

next plan is to flip my fixed wheel and see if 81" would manageable on my local time trial course then the geared bike can be saved for hilly courses

I gather from the lack of winkies ;) there you're serious? or maybe archly sarcastic and I just missed it. I'd love to do that too, but I have a mortgage to pay, and a girlf who doesn't really dig cycling... and a three year old.