Gear selection and use

[Psycolist]

Being a leisure cyclist who prefers to ride alone, it was unusual to find myself behind a roadie while out for a little tootle today. I managed to stay with him for about 3 miles ( i'm still in recovery ) but was perplexed by his use of his 20 gears. During the time I spent tracking this rider he only used his 2nd 5th and 9th cassette rings, and only his outer chain ring. This was a guy kitted out in all the right gear with what looked to me like a semi expensive Felt. Despite me going up and down my 27 gears as usual, he seemed to be quite content to use his 2nd smallest cassette ring, the middle ring and the 2nd largest ring, which I have to say was making an unholy racket because of the awful chain line it caused. I love a silent running drive train, a) because silence is golden b) because it means less wear and tear c) because it maximises efficiency, I even use silent clutch hubs were I can, but this fella seemed totally oblivious to the racket. To be fair, he was kicking along at a good average speed, a pace I couldnt keep up with for long, but it made me wonder if this 3 speed riding was common among road riders or wether this chap was a one off. And also, how do others react to noise in thier drive system, is it accepted as a fact of having moving parts, or do riders consider noise to be a warning for something not to be quite right.

 

[HovR]

I can see why the rider might be doing this. With modern 9/10/11 speed cassettes the jump in gear ratios is fairly small, therefore you could often have to skip a gear or two to get the gear change you want. If the terrain was gentle undulations then 2nd could have been his preferred gear for climbing, 5th for on the flat, and 9th for downwards slopes. On this sort of terrain I might only use 2 or 3 of my gears (out of a 5 speed freewheel (with double chainset) though, so less gear jumping).

2nd in the big ring may not be the best gear combination in terms of noise or chain wear, however many riders aren't aware of this or simply don't mind the cost of replacing chains more often.

Personally I will accept some chain noise, but only the noise of the chain running over the freewheel itself, no squeaking or other general rattling.

 

[Gary E]

I'm seriously considering ditching the triple front ring. I almost never use anything but the large ring and tend to stick to just a few on the back.

Interestingly when I first started riding I used all of the gears (particularly the small ring on the front for hills) but as my fitness has increased I tend to stick to just a few gears and just pedal harder, standing up if required.

 

[PBB]

I too only use the outer ring on the front, and generally only gears 4,5,6 on the rear.

Gear 7 on the rear seems to create noise (despite the chain being in line with the outer front ring) and any lower gear seems to create too much pedalling for too little progress.

I have heard that the Carrera Subway is regarded as some as being too low geared, which would account for the above.

 

[Mallory]

I ride 50/34 - 11-28.

I usually only use the smallest 4 sprockets and with me dropping to sprocket 7 to stop at lights/junctions. As soon as i pull away I fast shift out if the saddle to a higher gear.

34 - 24 above is left for the long climbs. Short and sharp keep it in the big ring.

 

[400bhp]

I think you just get used to using a few gears at a certain pace. This can vary of course between how yo're feeling/terrain etc.

I suspect I generally use about 4 gears. To be honest I never really look I just go off feel.

 

[BimblingBee]

Just because someone has expensive kit and dressed like a demi god it does not mean that they know what they are doing. Just carry on enjoying the silence!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

When I'm riding gears I tend to spend most of the time on the inner ring, I've got 42-48 on the front of my Verenti, I do use most of the gears on the back, most of the time though I'm on fixed, 44x18 65 inch gear with short cranks, 165's. I like my drive train silent, one of the beauties of fixed, its silence is stealth like.

 

[400bhp]

Just because someone has expensive kit and dressed like a demi god it does not mean that they know what they are doing. Just carry on enjoying the silence!

see other thread

 

[Ningishzidda]

My road bike has 53/39 to a 12 - 23. My Audax bike has 44/36/22 to a 12 - 27.
I use the lot.

 

[Psycolist]

My road bike has 53/39 to a 12 - 23. My Audax bike has 44/36/22 to a 12 - 27.
I use the lot.

That is what they are there for ! IMHO

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

My Brompton has 3 speeds, I also use the lot...

 

[summerdays]

I suspect I overuse my gears ... nearly all of them.... (well rarely the bad combinations but occasionally I don't notice).

 

[David Haworth]

Truth be told, I'm often not sure what gear I'm in and I don't know if I'm using the same ones all the time. I'd love more shifters to tell you what gear your in.

I can't help thinking though that if I could tell strava what wheel size, chain rings and cassette I'm using, then they could use my speed and cadence sensor to calculate what gear I'm in... That would be interesting... In a similar vein, I think di2 systems should have an ant+ transmitter (and profile) to transmit what gear your in for a cycle computer to record.

David

 

[400bhp]

Too many variables for that (strava) that affect it.

wind direction, gradient, road quality etc.