# Any fixed gear bikepackers around?



## Trower (Apr 27, 2009)

I am planning on doing a bit of a rual road with some dirt trails bikepacking trip this summer. I want to do it with my monster cross fixed dingle speed I'm building. I building it primarily to be able to bike to some single track (5 miles away) and then hit the trails there. I thought it would also be fun bike for this trip. The only option for a dingle cog with a decent range range is Surley's 17&21 tooth combo. Planning on trying it with a 42 and 46 tooth chainrings, which would give me 54.56 & 73.82 gear inches respectively. Do you guys think that gearing is doable? I will have a frame pack with my hammock, rain jacket, food and cooking supplies, my small down sleeping bag on the handlebars and some cloths, tools and odds & ends in a seat bag. I could drop the chainrings down to 40 & 44, and get 51.96 & 70.61 gear inches. I know I may have to just try it, but figured I see what you guys thought


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## jmmUT (Sep 15, 2008)

I don't ride fixed but do ride all singlespeed. Between the two choices, I'd go with the lower. Of course a lot depends on your trails/roads, but I have a dinglespeed 29er for this that's 28/18 and 32/14 which gives me about 45 and 66 gear inches. Even lower would be nice at times when loaded, but I'm in the Rockies so it's more technical and climbing. 

For comparison, my daily SS is a 29er with 46 gear inches (32/20) but with that I ride much more technical and steep stuff than my bikepacking ride. 

The added weight will make a difference so go low in my opinion


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## Simonns (Mar 25, 2004)

The only one I know of is a member by the name of SlowerThenSnot. Maybe he will chime in.


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## Trower (Apr 27, 2009)

Well after thinking about it this afternoon I think I may start with a 40 & 44, and go from there! Were I'm headed I don't really have much knowledge of terrain wise, there are some rollers, but nothing crazy, so I think I'll do some loaded testing at my local singletrack trails and see how I make out, well I will once the snow leaves:/ 

I'll have to get ahold of SlowerThanSnot and hear his take on fixed bikepacking. I have really only been riding fixed in the winter on my commuter, I find it offers much more control in the snow and on the ice, and had just found it lot of fun as well! 

Thanks for the input!

-Nick


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## Addy Marx (Jul 18, 2009)

Fixie Dave (slowerthansnot): Perseverance. His dedication to completing the divide stands alone. 
fixie dave divide set up on Vimeo

Deanna Adams. Another incredible cyclist and inspiration.
kickstarter: Fixie World Tour - YouTube


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## Chris_N (Mar 12, 2008)

54" would probably be ok. I rode my my fixed gear CX bike on the Welsh Ride Thing last year - 36T ring with 17 and 19T cogs:



Not yet found a hill I can't walk up. :thumbsup:


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## SHNIPE (Jun 14, 2006)

One Gear Ray.... Beast of a SS guy
One Gear Ray


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## Trower (Apr 27, 2009)

Well thanks alot for all your insight guys! Its much appreciated

I can't believe some of those guys linked above, just crazy (guess you have to be to ride off road fixed) thanks for showing me them!

I put the wheelset on the bike over the weekend and mounted some tires that I thought would work on the road and trail and took in on some reasonably flat single track and double track after work and it was an absolute blast! I had 42c tires on her and it handled very well and rode comfortably. I think that the 17/21 in the back and 42/38 upfront will work well rode it with 42x17 today on the trail unloaded and it was a bit high on the trail and a little low on the road so I think it will be perfect with a light load and a lower gearset for offroad. Need to make a pack and braze on some canti studds! Anyhow a couple pictures I took whilst out.


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## SlowerThenSnot (Jul 16, 2004)

54-63 gear " is what I shoot for, it was about 59" on the divide this past year


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## Pedlin' Slow (Sep 9, 2009)

*Do it all the time.*















SlowerThenSnot said:


> 54-63 gear " is what I shoot for, it was about 59" on the divide this past year


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## stremf (Dec 7, 2012)

Bumping this back up. My personal preference would be 40/36 front ring and 17/21 dinglecog. That would be 65/47 GI set up. Maybe even slightly lower than that, still. But I live in the mountains with some good amount of climbing at elevation.

I am a firm believer in dingleism. Recent overnight outing with 50 miles of flats, 20 miles of climbs (total 10k ft), I was glad to have the high gear for the flat sections and the low for the climbs.


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## Mark_BC (Sep 19, 2012)

I have a tringle, front 22/28/33 and back 32/26/21. That works out to 18, 29, 42 gear inches. It was good for rough off road bikebacking. For roading use I'd want an extra higher gear and I could fit another one on there to turn it into a quadringle if I forgoed the bashguard so something like a 38 front / 16 rear would be good to give a GI of 63. However, with this extreme range of ratios the chain won't stay snug for all gears, so a chain tensioner is needed.


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## leeboh (Aug 5, 2011)

^^^ Just run a 1x9/10 ?


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## stremf (Dec 7, 2012)

Mark_BC said:


> I have a tringle, front 22/28/33 and back 32/26/21. That works out to 18, 29, 42 gear inches. It was good for rough off road bikebacking. For roading use I'd want an extra higher gear and I could fit another one on there to turn it into a quadringle if I forgoed the bashguard so something like a 38 front / 16 rear would be good to give a GI of 63. However, with this extreme range of ratios the chain won't stay snug for all gears, so a chain tensioner is needed.


You run a tensioner on a fixed gear? Guess if the tensioning isn't off by much, that won't cause major issues.


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## Mark_BC (Sep 19, 2012)

stremf said:


> You run a tensioner on a fixed gear? Guess if the tensioning isn't off by much, that won't cause major issues.


Yes, it makes it less critical to have the right chain tension, plus you don't destroy anything that goes around the chainring under the chain since the tensioner takes up the slack. Also makes changing gears easier since you don't have to loosen the wheel. Only takes a few seconds to move the chain between the gears.


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## stremf (Dec 7, 2012)

Mark_BC said:


> Yes, it makes it less critical to have the right chain tension, plus you don't destroy anything that goes around the chainring under the chain since the tensioner takes up the slack. Also makes changing gears easier since you don't have to loosen the wheel. Only takes a few seconds to move the chain between the gears.


Are you using a Surly fixxer?


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## Mark_BC (Sep 19, 2012)

No, a regular shimano freehub with 1 1/4" plastic ABS pipe as spacers.


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