2004 Furnace Creek 508 Webcast

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The Fixed 508

By Steven Barnes

If it isn't fixed, it's busted!  No one will be suggesting that anything it busted, even out of place, on Barley Boar Forsman's fixed gear steel Sycip.  Boar, once a crew member for Sam Seal Beal, has an orange "fixie" that is so delectable it almost looks edible.  With its beefy sculpted dropouts, gram-stingy Zero Gravity brake calipers, Phil Wood hubs and carbon fibre everything else, Boar and everything that surrounds his Furnace Creek 508 effort exudes precision.  When I guessed that his setup looked like about 75 gear-inches, he immediately corrected my error: "74.4 gear-inches, 42x15."  He elaborated, saying that he had chosen the gear ratio on the basis of what he felt he could pull – just barely – up the climb to Townes Pass.  Too tall a ratio, he reasoned, and he would suffer on the climbs.  But too short a ratio would limit his top speed on the flat and downhill sections.  

Boar spoke casually about spinning at 220 rpm, which would give him an impressive top speed of over 48 mph, if only briefly.  During the 508, Boar plans to spin around 90 - 100 rpm on the flats, good for 20 – 22 mph.  On the climbs, whatever he can muster.