The sport and culture of track cycling

Gearing for track riding?

am getting a track bike for the new season, am curious what gear ratios people use for various events - pursuit, sprints - feedback appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Josh on February 11, 2008 at 1:28pm

Depends on which track. When I was racing as a Cat 2 at Hellyer and doing team events at collegiate nats and AVCs, I'd go between 88" and 92.6"

Maybe 88"/49x15 for sprints or maybe a madison, 90"/47x14 or 50x15 for a points race or madison, 92"/51x15 or 92.6"/48x14 for a scratch race. I probably would have used a 51x15 for an individual pursuit and if I could find it, I'd use bigger for a team pursuit. 94" maybe. I'd probaby go with that 48x14 for a kilo.

My gearing selection was pretty good: 47-51 chainrings, 14 and 15 bogs.

They used to say that you should use a smaller cog/chainring combo (like 48x14) for sprints and a bigger combo for pursuits (like 51x15) even if they're the same gearing. The thinking was that the bigger chainring "rolled" better (whatever that means) and the smaller chainring was better for accelerations because the crankarm could get more leverage. I have no idea if either one of those is true.

Also, you want to gear up open on a longer, more open track and gear down on a tighter steeper track.

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Permalink Reply by Bilko on October 3, 2008 at 9:25am

Gearing is dependent upon many factors.

What is the distance and steepness of the track you are riding? Shorter, steeper tracks generally require a lesser gear than bigger tracks. What is the temperature conditions/weather? Colder temps, with wind require easier gearing.

Be more specific and I am sure you'll get more specific answers.
-Bilko