Sub-5'0" riders?

[Eden]

Triskeliongirl, please explain something to me (me and Physics never really got along well in college....) if the same rider were to ride two bikes, one with 650c wheels and one with 700c wheels, at the same energy output level, would the rider travel the same distance? Thanks!

K.

I'm not Trisk, but I can give it a go - the more important thing to worry about rather than wheel size is gear inches (don't get me wrong -wheel size does play a part in this *but* its not the most important part). If you have the proper gearing on a 650 bike you will still go the same distance with the same number of pedal strokes - your wheel will just turn more times. When you see someone with 650 wheels (or smaller) spinning like mad in their top gear to keep up then they don't have gearing that is big enough to compensate for the smaller wheels. To get nice representation of what gear inches mean and what affect they have you an try this calculator - the second calculation will give you cadence+ mph for each gear combination (though it can be a bit confusing to set up). Try it for 700's and then 650's and compare.
http://www.panix.com/~jbarrm/cycal/cycal.30f.html

btw - since its my winter bike and I'm supposed to go easier (I figured I'd want the small gears for spinning up hills and I wouldn't need the big ones since I'm not having to do any sprinting) I didn't bother to change any of the gearing on my 650 bike and I can't really say I notice any appreciable difference. I'm not feeling like I'm spinning to fast or that I can't keep up.