Singlespeed MTB Gearing Moron Math

In this wideo I babble about singlespeed mountain bike gearing: how to talk about it, how to calculate gear inches, what gear inches are, and why none of it really matters.
My hat & shirt: endurancethreadsne.com/
Viewer questions answered: • SSMTB Gearing - Viewer...

[@chrisreichel4068]

Doing the lord’s work.

[@ABFPV584]

Amen

[@DEEZEEMTB]

Great comments! I am 59 and still ride my fully rigid SS…love it. Always thought it was funny when people discuss the ratio they run. So many factors. I have two chains and different cogs depending on where I am riding. Basically estimate minimizing spinning out and walking. That simple.

[@djsonfire0001]

Great video can't wait for more about single speeding!

[@stuartbrown3229]

I’m building a fixed gear bike this video has totally gave me the “moron maths “ to select the right hardware for the project amazing cheers 🍻

[@PeepMeRide]

Dude, I went out and resisted shifting from 32x21 for 20 mins. I was freaking dying (but didn’t) so I think I’m going to order the parts and give it a try. Thanks for all the awesome info. Now I just have to decide between Spacely Sprockets or Coswell Cogs

[@supertrampalex]

3:15 haven't laughed this hard in a while xD

[@jamesswinney2408]

Huge thanks for that learned what I needed to put any efficient chain ring to set up for pulling a trailer that on occasion has 200 to 300 pounds worth of tools and materials on it. Thank you very much.

[@TheDavidjakeson]

"You gotta get that gear right or, in most cases, less wrong" is the truth of singlespeeding. Unless you're Gerry Pflugh and the only gear is 38x22 or whatever crazy tall gear he ran.

[@tommywhiteman6466]

Would a 38 -16 on a "26" on a Fuji mtb be a good for flat land?

[@TheDavidjakeson]

@@tommywhiteman6466 On the road? Maybe. I feel like that might be too tall of a gear for trails, especially if you're in some place where trails are twisty and you have to accelerate back up to speed a lot. It's been a hella long time since I've run SS on 26" wheels, but given that that's about a 32x15 on a 29er that's a pretty tall gear. Even in Delaware which is pretty flat (short but steep climbs) most people would run 32x20 or 32x18 on a 29er.

[@tommywhiteman6466]

Where I live near sandy hook beach which is pretty flat on the bike path

[@marcusmartin5758]

@@tommywhiteman6466 im using 38-16, yes its good on flat road, kinda hard on ascend but doable.

[@theshedMTB]

I have made my own gearing videos, just never single speed! Cant resist a whiteboard video though!

[@renalcolic3361]

Wiscaaahnsin checking in. Digging the SS content!

[@jasonbehringer743]

NICe work Tom, could even simplify it more.... "32 x FU Run What'ch Brung!!!" Look forward to the other videos.

[@workhorsemtb7075]

Super helpful, thanks!

[@Cobwobbler]

To help in deciding what Ss to select try a ball park gear inches on your multi speed and ride your favourite trails just in one gear. Then maybe add an inch or two and go for it. Bypassing the jockey wheels on a derailleur gives you a tick more power for some reason.

[@Brighterdays346]

Great video

[@josephthomas7404]

Great video and advice :) I am hoping to get back into single speed mtb racing soon. I rode a 26” single speed Giant dirt jumper with a dropper seat post. Gearing at my peak was 34/16. I think bike weight was 26lbs. Rear brake only. When I started out I was geared at 32/20. I used the red road trail at oak mtn state park in Alabama as my gauge. If I could do the whole trail without putting my foot down once, I would gear up a tooth in front or down one in the back.

[@sandy_knight]

I run 32x14 on my DJ bike (26" wheels, 2.1" tyres) and 32x16 on my trail bike (27.5" wheels, 2.4" tyres). We don't have any big hills where I live but there are some short (~300ft) steep ones I can just about get up. I do take my bike to the big mountains occasionally but that's always lift assisted downhill.

[@jamessher6956]

I must be a real weakling but my hometown of Durango and being in my seventies requires lower gearing than what you describe . I ride 30x21 on 27.5 wheels with 2.8 tires. As you say different areas require different gear combos. I’m able to get up some long and steep climbs which is more important to me than being spun out on the flat. Fully rigid Hardtail brings me great joy. You sure kick ass on those rocks!

[@j.l.5966]

I’m new to this SS voodoo and I’m glad I discovered your channel. Subbed right away! Just ordered the DMR STS and that came with a 16t. I’m converting my 27.5” trail hardtail that already has a 32t. Flat, fast flowy trails where I ride. My 26” dirt jumper is 32:14 and it mostly feels great for what I’m riding except for some climbs. Both have 2.3” tires. Based on your equation, my hardtail comes out to 55” which will make it a bit easier than my DJ at 59.4”. My intention is to make the hardtail a bit more capable at climbing so this should be a good starting point right?

[@DirtWireTV]

I think so. 55" is a good climbing gear for a strong rider on flowy trails. Would be a little high in some areas.

[@maribelvillasenor8]

I love your SHIRT!!!

[@ronnielarga7260]

Very informative, thanks.

[@hardmtnbiker]

Hopefully this video will go viral and people will stop trying to compare their SS gear combo to mine and feel the need to brag that they run a harder ⚙️. I think the question “what gearing are you running” is usually asked by some losers that hardly ride bikes and when they do ride it’s on trails that gain only 600feet elevation in 4 miles because they live in TX or some other flat state. Go ride you SS and figure out what works for you, the more you ride the more you will know and absolutely don’t listen to others.

[@DirtWireTV]

Haha! I cover the "what gear on my [geared] bike compares to your SS gear?" thing in the upcoming viewer question vid. It's actually interesting to me how they compare from my trail bike to my SS.

[@hardmtnbiker]

@@DirtWireTV I’m looking forward to that, also the oval ring topic. Personally I don’t feel they benefit SS Mtb’s but that’s just my opinion.

[@danwebber9494]

I’m running an oval 30:18, and am pretty sold on it. Gets over the dead spot quicker and spends more time on the power stroke. Feels a little funny at high rpms though.

[@hardmtnbiker]

@@danwebber9494 for me that loss of resistance when standing and pedaling feels like it takes away the variable power to push up technical sections. I guess it’s what you’re acclimated too.

[@kennethelliot8164]

Big gears are so interesting. I worked up to pushing 2:1 29x2.35s through last season and was posting rolling singletrack avgs in the 12-13 mph range and lots of pr's. I dropped back to a 32:19 for some big climbing rides in the mtns late fall. I got lazy and stayed at 32:19 in the local rolling terrain through December and started posting pr's? The torque out of corners is crazy. I think having a big gear big you ride 2x a week as effectively strength training and then ride a higher cadence gear the rest of the time is the way but then again I have no idea? Ha

[@goldensack_fieldadventuref4538]

i ride mtb 29er, with same distance about 15 km. first used chainring 42 or 34 and cog at 16. at last i ride with 24/16. but got the same period on time. love to try again and again. it's so easy to ride and not tired on all any tyle of track with out changing gear.

[@chocolatechiclid7654]

VERY HELPFUL 👍

[@Soniksessions]

Nice! I’m learned now.

[@danielpittman889]

We used to mess with various ring and cog sizes, half-links, slightly worn chains, etc. to get a setup that would work on a frame with vertical dropouts without a chain tensioner.

[@DirtWireTV]

"Magic gears."

[@danielpittman889]

@@DirtWireTV 32x16 on my 26" Fisher. A bit snug with new parts, but a slightly worn chain was perfect.

[@gravedoja]

32 X 20 was the magic gear on my old niner air 9 scandium. I tried 32 X 16 on a on one inbred 29, knee popping fun. 😱🍻

[@eriklenzing3288]

Do you prefer 29" wheels for SS ? I have ridden 27.5+ also and it has some good points.

[@ilanpi]

Hello there! I think you can build on this by taking power into account. That is, given your power profile, i.e., the power you can sustain for different time periods, you can figure out the speed you can go at various inclines and then compute the cadence that different gears give you at these inclines. For example, I am old and weak and my FTP is about 200W, so a 10% grade at FTP for my weight and mountain bike weight would produce cadences lower than 40 rpm for any gear higher than a 1:1 ratio. I live in Switzerland where there are a lot of sustained steep climbs, and I doubt that a single speed can work here. I just did a simulation on my CX bike using a 39x25 on a 500m and 12% grade and it did not work well, I was pedaling in the mid 30's at 220W and not feeling good. However, I can fairly easily produce close to 400W for 1 minute efforts. My general conclusion is that for me, a single speed can only work on terrain with steep sections that take less than about one minute. However, I usually maintain 250W for 5 minutes without any issues, so I think it was the low cadence that killed me. The other conclusion is that I need to build up strength endurance in my legs. I will try to do that, in the meantime.

[@briancarlson1364]

Trying to pick my battles for 2021 - 100 pushup challenge or singlespeed Buck Hill?

[@aliveandwell2078]

Great vid!!

[@pchykins6680]

I don't do math with my cycling hobby...it muddles the fun! ahaha...but going "by feel" , the smaller the chainring (not the cog), the easier to go over obstacles, the easier to climb...I learned this thru a fixie and thru a trials bike (not TT bike)...so my gear ratio is always 2:1.... So if I go 32-16 (he defined as "hard") - this will be harder to climb or go over obstacles compared to my 22-11 gearing...these use the same 2:1ratio...mathematically it's the same but if you ride it, it's totally different...having a tiny chainring removes a whole lot of effort and I have no idea why.

[@glennpettersson9002]

Thanks 👍

[@willmanhi1]

Rocket surgeon was like the perfect thing to say at that point hahaha 😂

[@travisarnold9530]

You’re friggin bored huh dude? Haha great, video.

[@cameronlesley2428]

Cool content thanks. I’m running a 34-20 gear ration on my home town trails as it’s hill as fuck

[@threeohm]

When it's hilly you have to ration your gearing.

[@Anonymous-ex7dj]

32 19 29wells what you think???

[@29ervitus80]

Just turned my Vitus hard tail into a single speed. Welllllll the shop did. I just paid. Math is hard

[@Stop_Elitists_Wars]

Wanna do same with my Vitus Rapide CRX, 2020.. Did you go Rigid or Suspension fork?

[@threeohm]

If you've already covered this in a previous video can you point me at the right one....if not can you cover SS riding in a group with geared folks? Riding SS alone or with other SS folks the pace works out on its own...with geared riders you are fast where they are slow and vice versa. It's hard to smash a steep climb SS when the geared rider in front of you drops into their granny and crawls upwards. Greta channel. Thanks for the content. 🙂

[@SnootchieBootchies27]

I ride my singlespeed on group rides all the time. I generally try to be in the front on the climbs.

[@SnootchieBootchies27]

People describe my legs as tree trunks. I run a 32x20 on a 27.5x2.5. I tried one notch harder (32x19) and spent too much time in the easiest gear (walking). I am the only singledpeeder in my town so I have no one to bounce ideas off of

[@Chychyl-u5e]

Most of fixies have 46x16 ratio… where did u find 32x18?

[@Anonymous-ex7dj]

I used 32 19 is???

[@josephsowinski6960]

34 16 27.5 signed nick

[@TheNosarajr]

The low and high confuse me, on my car a low gear was slow for hills.

[@edensgardenshed9622]

Same on a bike slow for hills and easier to pedal on hills. If higher gear too hard to pedal

[@jonbarry8187]

Rocket Surgeons! Lol

[@mtus647]

And there's me, using 48t x 18t, lol

[@tommywhiteman6466]

That's great for speed

[@johnfriedl7126]

He's talking off road cycling, big boy.

[@marcusmartin5758]

Try that 48t x 18t on the trail before you talk tough guy

[@ThisIsLesli]

39 x Kick Ass 😎

[@RadioSnivins]

I'm a rocket surgeon. Does that mean I'm persona au gratin?

[@TimCalvin]

Wait wait wait wait. We're not all just doing 32:16 all the time anymore?

[@DirtWireTV]

I think that used to be more doable when our wheels were 3 inches smaller. 32 X 16 on a 26er is like a 32 X 18 on a 29er.

[@TimCalvin]

@@DirtWireTV Fucking math how does it work.

[@Gieszkanne]

My street bike has 46/21

[@eddieokeefe5826]

Wait .... more on math ? or moron math ? I'm so confused or maybe I'm just light headed from riding too big a gear with too little legs

[@970SHARKO]

i got a 34x14😭

[@Rikson_27]

Lmaoooo ur funny 😂

[@kimrice394]

What the best gearing?... There’s no 1 answer. Just ride. Struggle. Walk when you have to. Get strong. Change gears. Repeat. If in the mountains. Run 2 cogs side by side. Climb on one, descend on the other.

[@SnootchieBootchies27]

Haha, but then you're not singlespeeding...

[@markifi]

you forgot to multiply by pi there. gear inches means one revolution of the pedal gives you pi times that number of forward motion. think about it. if it were like you described and we really only got ~51.5 inches from a revolution of the pedal, that's a 1.5 gain ratio (dependant on crank length) and we'd barely go faster than walking/running pace. it's the gear inches number times pi.

[@bikebudha01]

All the "single speed math" you'll ever need: Rent one for a weekend. Get the bug out of your system. Never look back...

[@Chychyl-u5e]

Most of fixies have 46x16 ratio… where did u find 32x18?

[@Chychyl-u5e]

Most of fixies have 46x16 ratio… where did u find 32x18?