Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Updates and Upgrades to CCVA Forums Software

Hey Everyone, 

As promised, we're moving forward with some updates and upgrades to the CCVA forums software. 

This should be taking place over the next few days and should not interfere with using CCVA. 

You may see a sign posted saying the forums are down or disabled for upgrades, please check back in a few hours, but more times than not, the upgrades are done in the night.

Thanks, 
Admin

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Single Speed Gearing

Single Speed Gearing:  What are you running?

Here's a simple gearing chart for the most popular 29" gearing pairs and how they stack up against the old standard base, a 26" wheel, 175mm crank arm, with a 32 tooth chainring and a 16 tooth rear cog setup.  AKA: 2:1 ratio.

The issue that arises when making comparisons becomes, how can we accurately describe the relationships between similar gearing when ratios only apply to the relationships between the chainring and rear cog, without actually accounting for the wheel size which needs to be taken into account as the user tries to spin it.

This is why we need to look at Gear Inches.  It more accurately takes into account and creates a direct correlation between gear setup and wheel size.

Here's a simple chart to ponder and demonstrate the differences:
Using the 26" wheel as a base, look to see how and what Gear Inches vs. Gear Ratio combinations on a 29" wheel come close.  Higher values on gear inches makes it harder to pedal, but delivers higher top speeds, lower gear inch values make it easier to pedal, but lessen top speeds.

Talk about this on the forums: SingleSpeed Gearing Thread