I rode the bike to work today. According to strava I have ridden in 2 months. Yeah, I made it half way up "the walk of shame" before I started walking. Man I used to be able to do that without even getting out of the middle front ring. Pathetic.

 

What is this "middle ring" you speak of?

 

Its the one between the man ring and the bitch ring, kind of a tweener ring.

 

you might read about these as a 3xX or something online vs a 2xX

 

Sorry, I'm only familiar with the big ring, bitches.

 

3-ring cranksets are perfect for people who think that bikes are "just a bunch of tubes welded together", I guess.

 

I'm sorry I cant handle the 52 tooth ring on my bike all the time. They dont even make MTB derailleurs that can handle something that large. And spinning out the 52-12 combo on that bike is just moronically fast, the geometry is unstable at all speeds.

 

I'm genuinely curious about this. Admittedly, my current daily-driver has only one ring on the front, but I don't quite understand why having three would be universally "wrong" for all applications.

Is this a fixie thing, or a macho thing?

 

yes.

 

I learned that fixies were awesome from Premium Rush.

 

Didn't you read those stupid cycling rules? Pretty sure there's one about dont ever downshift from the big ring ever.

 

No 200 watt average, no care.

 

When I built a bike that was capable of ~500 watts continuous and about 1.3 kilowatts peak (the continuous power is limited only by the heat dissipation of the motor), you mocked me.

That bike never left the big ring, incidentally- even on 10% grades.

 

I need a meter.

 

Or folks who tour. Ever see one of these winnebagos on wheels in the Rockies or Sierra's? We're talking 17 gear inches on the bottom. That's a nice 75rpm at oh, 3mph. Perfect for a 2hr slog up a 9,000' mountain pass with 100lbs of bike and gear.

In a cat 1-2 crit (flat circuit race) we'll sit in the 53x15 for most of the race averaging about 29mph. Last 3 laps are usually at about 31mph. Last lap is usually about 33mph where the sprinters launch off the last corner (I was always a lead out guy) and hit 40+. I would do the last lap in the 12 and grab the 11 coming off the last turn if there was no head wind. I'd hit 800watts for 6-10s. The sprinters hit 1500+ watts for about 4-5s. Freaky.

A good race bike is rock steady cruising along at 35mph in a pack.

 

Cipo was rumored to top 1900 watts in his prime.

 

Pro's sure. The current top pro's all are near 2000 watts. The top olympic sprinters are hitting 2400 watts. Most good amateurs are well under 2000 though. Best I ever saw in a training ride was 1100 watts for 3s or so. I'm a spider monkey climber/ TT guy though. All slow twitch.

 

I saw a vid of Contador going up 10% grade in the big-ring, probably when he was EPO'd. I heard that Savington is a bauce climber and only using the big ring.

 

BRB, touching genitals.

I'd buy that frame in 54cm if I could find one.

 

You need a 54cm bike? serious- i have one for sale- not as nice as that giant though. [/spam]