25/9. But I remember the old days with my 44/16. It was crazy going to the 36/13. But the 25/9 works for me just fine. If I ever break the sprocket, I’ll try a 28t.
For me personally it comes down to how hard you wanna pedal and rear end length. I used to run 28 tooth but my wheel would sit far out of the drop out. If I took a link out it would be a little to close to slammed for me. My route was get a 26 tooth sprocket. I also have a 27 as well. 26 is perfect for me. Just a tad harder to pedal than a 25 but not as hard to pedal as 28. And it keeps my wheel center in the drop outs.
I'm running 26/9 on a we the people Envy 2016. Perfect for street and park/dirt. Not the best for flatland but good over all. Fun to ride. Fun to ride it all.
You can’t talk about gear ratio without crank length. Here it is 27-9 with 175mm, 26-9 with 170mm, 25-9 with 165mm. 1 front sprocket tooth per 5mm crank length, when using a 9t driver. Makes a good rideable feel anyone can comfortably ride regardless of age or strength. This is the combo. Trust me.
Excellent advice. I'm getting a bike for my son, and since I'm old school, the micro-drive systems today kind of puzzled me. I rode back in the 80s, so much has changed.
@@flipfloppingwithMike ya, I bought all the different cranks and sprockets. Me and my friends all tested it and agree it works. It is based on bike guru Sheldon Browns theory of gain ratio. All I did was convert the road bike ratio to 9t driver bmx ratio. Glad to see you are getting your son into bmx, I love it!
@@bottomfeeder4235 Much appreciated! Hopefully, he will get into BMX like I did at his age. I'm going WAY back....I rode a Webco for my first BMX bike (remember those?) I also rode an FMF Team Replica, around '77. Then Diamondback, then Haro in the 80s before I got picked up by Revcore. Memories.....
@@flipfloppingwithMike wow, you were sponsored by Revcore, how cool is that! When you have kids you can do all the stuff you did when you were a kid again, and now your son is now your best friend and riding buddy!
@@bottomfeeder4235 I do indeed hope so. Actually, he turns 16 in a couple of weeks, and has yet to learn to ride. Absolutely true. Just never really had a place to ride growing up. Now that he does, I figure better late than never. And that Revcore, by the way, was a TANK...but unbreakable.
Awesome video! I’m strongly opinionated that 30/9 is my favorite because you can get so much speed with such minimal effort. Pretty sure Mark Webb was running a 22/8. I’ve always been interested in trying out that combination for the major clearance benefits.
Way back in the day my gear ratio was 43 / 15 . It made for a bmx dirt racing style drive back then & it was smooth , I just brong it over to bmx freestyle , made it simple to sit down & pedal up steep hills & you got more torque to go faster & this was back in the late 80s early 90s . People who rode my bike for the first time couldn’t Believe how much torque it had & how smooth peddling was & fast made going for big airs really easy & I needed all the help I could get because my bike was 40 pounds on the dot . Back then bikes were made out of 4130 Chrome Molly which made them very heavy .
My sweet spot for gear ratios is always 3.07 to 3.11. that's the number you get when you divide the amount of tooth on the sprocket with the tooth on the driver/freewheel.. i got a 28:9 ratio on my beater bike. And 43:14 on my mid school bike. For me, that ratio is just perfect. Fast enough, but not to heavy.
Is 28 9 harder to pedal then 44 16?, I like haveing fast high end speed but I'd like to lose some top speed to have an slightly easier pedal, I'm going to research 28 9 gearing. Even though it's 22 8, 25 9, 28 10, 30 11, 33 12, 36 13, 39 14, 44 16, grew up on 44 16, switched to 39 14, easier to pedal no top end speed. 36 13 was harder to pedal but had top speed. 30, 11 was hard to pedal prolly least favorite combo 30 11,. 32 14, felt great wasn't hard on the legs but wouldn't have fast top speed. I want to find a gear combo. That's not as top speed as 44 16 but slightly easier to pedal from complete stop then 4416. Rideing really fast like race bike is fine but it's sorta more loose control Wipeout around turns.
There used to be a bmx gear ratio calculator where you could put number of teeth of sprocket and teeth# of rear cog. And it would describe how easy and hard to pedal it was I'm description. I can't find that bmx gear calculator page anymore. It's only 1 that had description of how hard or ez pedaling was
So I currently have a 20 inch bmx with a 25-9 gearing and 170mm cranks. I'm considering getting either a 27 or 28 tooth sprocket but I'm trying to get into bmx racing
I need help figuring out what to run on my 2021 gt fueler I only use it for street racing and long distance no tricks just speed I want something fast easy to pedal and can stay at top speed for long
32 mph on a 20" BMX is haulin' bro! I'm running 39/17 on a 24" cruiser (DK Sentry 24 from 2013). My last bike was 25/10 (2020 model DK Legend 26") Seems like the most common are: ☆ freestyle bikes are unually 25/10 ☆ racing bikes are usually 39/17 For casual riding around the neighborhood or commuting to work, I find both are comfortable and still have a bit of sprinting ability.
Uh back in the 80s they made this cool little part that straps to the frame and protects the sprocket! Which will allow you to have an average size sprocket so you are not cranking like a bunny rabbit! I ride trails and have 48t front and 14t, and I run out of crank in 2 or 3 cranks! Those small discs are for the flatlands mostly, most of the guys I watched halfpiping back in the day maybe had a 36t and a 12t. But I'm old and old skool!
33/12 equals 44/16. 53.63 ratio. It's the perfect blend between acceleration and top speed. Thst means it's balanced between easy and harder to pedal. Too easy means you have no top end speed. And hard pedal is to rough to basically put all your weight in 1 leg to get first pedal off to roll .
So one of my bmx bikes has a 16t freewheel in the back and a 36t sprocket in the front and I feel like I’m pedaling a mountain bike in the first gear when I’m on it I hardly catch any speed and max out so quick. To easily fix the issue do u recommend that I buy a smaller freewheel like a 14t for the back? or a bigger sprocket like a 38t or 40t for the front? Any help would be appreciated! I’m just newer to this bike stuff and wanna do this the easiest cheapest way. I just want more momentum and speed per pedal rotation
Front sprocket is fast and easy to change. I would (and do) change the front first. A good idea would be a spider/chainring combo so only the tooth section that engages chain has to be swapped, rather than entire sprocket. ACS makes 'em in tons of colors and are quite affordable.
EXCELLENT video...and very informative. Personally, I'm old school, and I mean OLD. My ride back in the mid 80s was a Revcore (remember those?) and I ran a 36 up front and either a 14 or 16 in the back. Top speed was important because I could outrun somebody chasing me on foot. So now, I am putting a retro 1986 GT Performer together for my son, and buying him another bike in the meantime, and this micro-drive thing really threw me off. Now I understand it all. Thank you!
31/9 170 cranks but i ride mostly trails and thats my preferred ratio…but ive ran 28 and 33 also with same driver and tested both with 175 cranks and 170 i can seem to tell the difference between 2 teeth also can tell 5mm crank difference tests were done separately so wasnt making two changes at a time exaggerating the feeling.
cassette 28-9, freecoaster 30-9. freecoasters pedal smoother and lighter 30-9 avoids the hamster wheel feeling with them, you might want cl;arify how gear ratios work or some poor bastard that does't know anything ends up with 25-16 setup because they didn't know they have to have a cassette for any of this to appy
25/9. But I remember the old days with my 44/16. It was crazy going to the 36/13. But the 25/9 works for me just fine. If I ever break the sprocket, I’ll try a 28t.
For me personally it comes down to how hard you wanna pedal and rear end length. I used to run 28 tooth but my wheel would sit far out of the drop out. If I took a link out it would be a little to close to slammed for me. My route was get a 26 tooth sprocket. I also have a 27 as well. 26 is perfect for me. Just a tad harder to pedal than a 25 but not as hard to pedal as 28. And it keeps my wheel center in the drop outs.
I'm running 26/9 on a we the people Envy 2016. Perfect for street and park/dirt. Not the best for flatland but good over all. Fun to ride. Fun to ride it all.
You can’t talk about gear ratio without crank length. Here it is 27-9 with 175mm, 26-9 with 170mm, 25-9 with 165mm. 1 front sprocket tooth per 5mm crank length, when using a 9t driver. Makes a good rideable feel anyone can comfortably ride regardless of age or strength. This is the combo. Trust me.
Excellent advice. I'm getting a bike for my son, and since I'm old school, the micro-drive systems today kind of puzzled me. I rode back in the 80s, so much has changed.
@@flipfloppingwithMike ya, I bought all the different cranks and sprockets. Me and my friends all tested it and agree it works. It is based on bike guru Sheldon Browns theory of gain ratio. All I did was convert the road bike ratio to 9t driver bmx ratio. Glad to see you are getting your son into bmx, I love it!
@@bottomfeeder4235 Much appreciated! Hopefully, he will get into BMX like I did at his age. I'm going WAY back....I rode a Webco for my first BMX bike (remember those?) I also rode an FMF Team Replica, around '77. Then Diamondback, then Haro in the 80s before I got picked up by Revcore. Memories.....
@@flipfloppingwithMike wow, you were sponsored by Revcore, how cool is that! When you have kids you can do all the stuff you did when you were a kid again, and now your son is now your best friend and riding buddy!
@@bottomfeeder4235 I do indeed hope so. Actually, he turns 16 in a couple of weeks, and has yet to learn to ride. Absolutely true. Just never really had a place to ride growing up. Now that he does, I figure better late than never.
And that Revcore, by the way, was a TANK...but unbreakable.
Awesome video! I’m strongly opinionated that 30/9 is my favorite because you can get so much speed with such minimal effort. Pretty sure Mark Webb was running a 22/8. I’ve always been interested in trying out that combination for the major clearance benefits.
What's the best for riding around, wheelie, and doing some tricks?
30/11 is the best gear ratio but then again I ride a 22” wheel Bmx
Way back in the day my gear ratio was 43 / 15 . It made for a bmx dirt racing style drive back then & it was smooth , I just brong it over to bmx freestyle , made it simple to sit down & pedal up steep hills & you got more torque to go faster & this was back in the late 80s early 90s . People who rode my bike for the first time couldn’t Believe how much torque it had & how smooth peddling was & fast made going for big airs really easy & I needed all the help I could get because my bike was 40 pounds on the dot . Back then bikes were made out of 4130 Chrome Molly which made them very heavy .
Dang my bike is chromoly and only 25 pounds dang
@@1fiddysquiddy386 same
still are for the most part (fst bikes)
My sweet spot for gear ratios is always 3.07 to 3.11. that's the number you get when you divide the amount of tooth on the sprocket with the tooth on the driver/freewheel.. i got a 28:9 ratio on my beater bike. And 43:14 on my mid school bike. For me, that ratio is just perfect. Fast enough, but not to heavy.
Back in the day I ran 39 16 for a while , it was cool in tiny parks and spaces where acceleration mattered
Is 28 9 harder to pedal then 44 16?,
I like haveing fast high end speed but I'd like to lose some top speed to have an slightly easier pedal, I'm going to research 28 9 gearing. Even though it's 22 8, 25 9, 28 10, 30 11, 33 12, 36 13, 39 14, 44 16, grew up on 44 16, switched to 39 14, easier to pedal no top end speed. 36 13 was harder to pedal but had top speed. 30, 11 was hard to pedal prolly least favorite combo 30 11,.
32 14, felt great wasn't hard on the legs but wouldn't have fast top speed. I want to find a gear combo. That's not as top speed as 44 16 but slightly easier to pedal from complete stop then 4416.
Rideing really fast like race bike is fine but it's sorta more loose control Wipeout around turns.
There used to be a bmx gear ratio calculator where you could put number of teeth of sprocket and teeth# of rear cog. And it would describe how easy and hard to pedal it was I'm description. I can't find that bmx gear calculator page anymore. It's only 1 that had description of how hard or ez pedaling was
i like it
So I currently have a 20 inch bmx with a 25-9 gearing and 170mm cranks. I'm considering getting either a 27 or 28 tooth sprocket but I'm trying to get into bmx racing
Hey guys whats the best for low speed or freestyles?
I use 25t x 9t for my 24inch bike ❤
❤Extremely informative!
I need help figuring out what to run on my 2021 gt fueler I only use it for street racing and long distance no tricks just speed I want something fast easy to pedal and can stay at top speed for long
32 mph on a 20" BMX is haulin' bro!
I'm running 39/17 on a 24" cruiser (DK Sentry 24 from 2013). My last bike was 25/10 (2020 model DK Legend 26")
Seems like the most common are:
☆ freestyle bikes are unually 25/10
☆ racing bikes are usually 39/17
For casual riding around the neighborhood or commuting to work, I find both are comfortable and still have a bit of sprinting ability.
Uh back in the 80s they made this cool little part that straps to the frame and protects the sprocket! Which will allow you to have an average size sprocket so you are not cranking like a bunny rabbit! I ride trails and have 48t front and 14t, and I run out of crank in 2 or 3 cranks! Those small discs are for the flatlands mostly, most of the guys I watched halfpiping back in the day maybe had a 36t and a 12t. But I'm old and old skool!
Harder the ratio the less slack you have in your freecoaster!
33/12 equals 44/16. 53.63 ratio. It's the perfect blend between acceleration and top speed. Thst means it's balanced between easy and harder to pedal.
Too easy means you have no top end speed. And hard pedal is to rough to basically put all your weight in 1 leg to get first pedal off to roll .
So which bb height do you recommend, keeping in mind that the Bike should be stable enough
So one of my bmx bikes has a 16t freewheel in the back and a 36t sprocket in the front and I feel like I’m pedaling a mountain bike in the first gear when I’m on it I hardly catch any speed and max out so quick. To easily fix the issue do u recommend that I buy a smaller freewheel like a 14t for the back? or a bigger sprocket like a 38t or 40t for the front? Any help would be appreciated! I’m just newer to this bike stuff and wanna do this the easiest cheapest way. I just want more momentum and speed per pedal rotation
Front sprocket is fast and easy to change. I would (and do) change the front first. A good idea would be a spider/chainring combo so only the tooth section that engages chain has to be swapped, rather than entire sprocket. ACS makes 'em in tons of colors and are quite affordable.
Best modern day is 170mm crank, 25t front 9t rear.
28/9 on 175mm cranks, wouldn't have it any other way 💯
I’m running 28t - 9 but will be going to 30t - 9
EXCELLENT video...and very informative.
Personally, I'm old school, and I mean OLD. My ride back in the mid 80s was a Revcore (remember those?) and I ran a 36 up front and either a 14 or 16 in the back. Top speed was important because I could outrun somebody chasing me on foot. So now, I am putting a retro 1986 GT Performer together for my son, and buying him another bike in the meantime, and this micro-drive thing really threw me off. Now I understand it all. Thank you!
31/9 170 cranks but i ride mostly trails and thats my preferred ratio…but ive ran 28 and 33 also with same driver and tested both with 175 cranks and 170 i can seem to tell the difference between 2 teeth also can tell 5mm crank difference tests were done separately so wasnt making two changes at a time exaggerating the feeling.
Tire size is also noticeable
@@howiegruwitz3173 I run 30/9, 175mm cranks, 2.5 Merritt tires with tannus armour. Best combo ever!
Does anyone understand that a 44/16 is an almost identical gear ratio to a 25/9 they did it because of size.
🤝
My preference is 27/9 have been riding it for years now.
I run 33 /9 but i think im gunna be goin up to 35 /9 on my new bike
A 36 😎
I like 28/9 but have considered 30/9 over the past few months.
Both are good. You can't go wrong with either one.
36/16 is great for hillclimbing!
I got some 44s maybe some bigger
I run 28-9 on 160mm cranks!
33-9 is my gear of choice, it's stiff as hell but sends you to the moon off half a crank
30 /9 duh 175 cranks
My favorite combo.
Hell yess
When I was growing up BMX meant you were racing on a dirt track. The guy in this video looks like he's riding freestyle or flatland.
Profile elite ?
Hi
33/10 great for trails and street
What frame do you ride that takes that sprocket?
@@eyeseayew189 S&M Credence
@@stinnettracing thanks.
@@eyeseayew189 30/9 is the 100% exact same gear ratio.
@@sn0fx I don't know what you're talking about. My question to the comment was, what frame he was riding, not what ratio.
25-9-170
Race or freestyle, for the love of God, there is a difference!
30 9
I'm riding 30/11, but I want to step up a notch by going 30/10
30/11? That's hella slow. 30/10 is the equivalent of 28/9. Stick with 30/9.
@@eyeseayew189 I will be going from 28 to 30 soon I like to go fast
Best sprocket to ride with 11 tooth rear
43-16
33/9 165 cranks
Go 175mm and you'll go hell fast.
44/16 is the best for rolling ratio... Just not good on clearance.
Just got a 46t
cassette 28-9, freecoaster 30-9. freecoasters pedal smoother and lighter 30-9 avoids the hamster wheel feeling with them, you might want cl;arify how gear ratios work or some poor bastard that does't know anything ends up with 25-16 setup because they didn't know they have to have a cassette for any of this to appy
I ride 30/11
Too slow. 28/9 is faster.
28/12 *chefs kiss*
Super slow!
28/9 165 cranks. feel no difference from 25t