90RPM?! Ya kiddin me aint ya?!!

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Ian 74

Ian 74

Active Member
Location
Wigton
teletext45 said:
i always had this impression that high speed= low gear but after getting a bike computer with cadence that has changed i can hit same kind of speeds on my middle chain ring at a much higher cadence.
My average is 90-100 feels really comfortable

andy
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I have spent most of the year grinding the big gears for strength training (don't know how effective it has been).

I had a funny gear set up it started off as a compact 50/34, I fancied more top end so swapped out to 53/34. After riding my wifes bike with a middle 39 I realised I could get up steep hills with this cog and swapped out to 53/39.

I am now finding that by cycling at high cadences on the 39 with maybe 11 at the back I can go well over 20+mph.

I am now considering dropping the 53 back down to 50 and doing some serious spinning on the big cog. Me legs just won't spin the 53 at high cadences at the mo.

High cadence, thumbs up.
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fossyant

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Ian 74 said:
I am now finding that by cycling at high cadences on the 39 with maybe 11 at the back I can go well over 20+mph.

I am now considering dropping the 53 back down to 50 and doing some serious spinning on the big cog. Me legs just won't spin the 53 at high cadences at the mo.

High cadence, thumbs up.
thumbsup.png
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Erm 39 x 11 - you'll screw the chain and cassette. SMALL - SMALL and BIG - BIG (laymans term) are BIG NO on 8-11 speed..

OK My guidance.

53 x 19 is where I switch to 39 x 16 for the same gear then hit the hills. The 19 is 2 sprockets down from the top on an 8 speed - I can run big to big BUT = look at the chain line - don't run it ! Don't abuse your gears folks - look where the best point to change up or down is at the front - look at sheldons for gear inches - then look at where your gear ranges cross over.

Learn your gears and use them.

The amount of folk I can easily out shift on an old bike with down tube SIS shifters, than folk with STI/ERGO... is silly at hills. STI/ERGO should beat an old bike. Folk don't learn gears these days.
 
GrasB

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
fossyant said:
Erm 39 x 11 - you'll screw the chain and cassette. SMALL - SMALL and BIG - BIG (laymans term) are BIG NO on 8-11 speed..
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Er... I use those combinations a lot & am getting around 3000 miles out of a chain & about 9000 out of a cassette without any signs of shifting problems etc. I was more disciplined with my shifting for a while & got near identical wear across 2 chains.
 
OP
OP
Firm Button

Firm Button

Senior Member
Location
Uttoxeter/Charente
I dont have my bike yet, so have dug out an old gym cycle machine so i can prep myself a little before the bike arrives.:rolleyes:
I did 5 minutes on it, set it for a hill climb and boy was it hard work :laugh: :blush: :angry: achy wobbly legs like Id just a good sesh with the GF.:whistle:
I did manage to get up to 90 but holiding it there with my stubbie pins wernt easy i can tell ya!
Doing 2x 5mins seshes a day for a week, then upping it to 10 WHOLE MINUTES by the end of next week!! :thumbsup: :unsure:

Cheers all!

Steve
 
albion

albion

Guru
Location
South Tyneside
I used a cadence computer for the very first time today.Its certainly to become just a novelty once I learn to feel the rate I'm doing.So it was 90 whilst working hard and 70 to 80 whilst cruising.Its obviously to me now that cadence rises to correspond to wattage delivered.I had to switch to an easier return route at the half way point due to an inflamed knee on the climb.So my that 90 may have to go up to 100 if I want to repeatedly emulate today's effort.
 
GrasB

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
It's quite the opposite actually. Short legs should mean you can spin faster as long as you can get the muscle coordination sorted.
 
G

galactico

Active Member
can anyone recommend a cheap cycle computer that is set up to measure cadence? not bothered about it being wireless and i'm not a brand snob. tesco value will do as long as it does the job
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thanks paul
 
subaqua

subaqua

What’s the point
Location
Leytonstone
galactico said:
can anyone recommend a cheap cycle computer that is set up to measure cadence? not bothered about it being wireless and i'm not a brand snob. tesco value will do as long as it does the job
biggrin.gif


thanks paul
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have 2 of the tesco 19 function ones. one on Roadbike one on MTB. for a tenner you can't go wrong. its worth buying em for the batteries alone !!!
 
MacB

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
Location
Farnborough, Hampshire
galactico said:
can anyone recommend a cheap cycle computer that is set up to measure cadence? not bothered about it being wireless and i'm not a brand snob. tesco value will do as long as it does the job
biggrin.gif


thanks paul
Click to expand...

The other way of doing it is to work out your gearing and apply that to speeds, this will tell you what RPM will achieve what speed in any given gear. For example:-

A 60" gear will give 7.1mph at 40RPM and 26.8mph at 150rpm, every 5rpm step in between increase/decreases speed by 0.9mph.

It depends on how seriously you are training, if you just want to be able to figure your RPM for your own knowledge and to see if it's improving, then this is adequate. Maybe pick your 5/6 most regularly used gears and work out the speed for each at cadences from 70 to 120 rpm, you could even tape the info to your stem. You soon get to know it off by heart anyway.
 
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