Gearing - Confused

[Ian Watts]

I have tried to read a number of articles on gearing as I try to improve my cadence, and am thoroughly confused (these were beginners guides too). With talk of Gear inch, 11/36 and things like that I am more confused than when I started. Now I apologise if this is something simple to everyone, but it is not to me. Sorry.

I will try and explain simply.

I have three cogs at the front - small, medium and large, The large makes pedaling harder, and the small makes pedalling easier. The large I call 3, and the small I call 1.

At the back I have 9 - small to large. The small in this case makes pedalling harder and the large easier. I call the small 9 and the large 1. (The one that makes pedalling harder is always the biggest number in my mind)

When i say pedalling harder, I am talking about resistance, not rpm.

I understand I should never run in 3-1 (large large), or 1-9 (small small), as it will cross the chain, which isn't good.

The order I tend to use the gears in is Downhill 3-9, 3-8, 3-7, On the flat and uphill (2-7 to 2-3), and steep uphill I will use 1-3 to 1-1 (very rare).

Am I doing this right, or is there a better way. Maybe I need to understand the technicalities better. Sometimes the jump from 3-7 to 2-7 is too much - i'm suddenly spinning the pedals until I slow down.

Hopefully there will be some help on here

 

[ColinJ]

Then why not use 3-6, 3-5, 3-4, and maybe (occasionally) 3-3?

 

[ColinJ]

Oh, and you could probably get away with 2-8 too.

 

[midliferider]

Yes, it is very helpful, if you understand the technicalities.
I started a thread here couple of days ago, "Gear ratio of less than one". I will try to post a link. Read that thread.
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/gear-ratio-of-less-than-1.142102/

It is very informative. Once you read that you will understand that your comment of 3-9, 3-8 is not very informative. Have a look at your rings and cogs. See how many teeths are there. Your front is likely to be 50-39-30 and rear is probably 11-25.
Then you can calculate the gear ratios and inches.
Come and tell us what you have.

 

[midliferider]

Have a look at this video

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AeNLTQvFN4

 

[Ian Watts]

I'll get around to reading articles etc in a minute.

Yes, it is very helpful, if you understand the technicalities.
I started a thread here couple of days ago, "Gear ratio of less than one". I will try to post a link. Read that thread.
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/gear-ratio-of-less-than-1.142102/

It is very informative. Once you read that you will understand that your comment of 3-9, 3-8 is not very informative. Have a look at your rings and cogs. See how many teeths are there. Your front is likely to be 50-39-30 and rear is probably 11-25.
Then you can calculate the gear ratios and inches.
Come and tell us what you have.

Front - 46-32-22
Rear - 34-30-35-23-20-17-15-13-11

I am a real newbie at this so please bare with me. I am trying to get more educated.

 

[midliferider]

I spent a total of nearly 2 hours over a period of weeks to understand the basics. So do not worry. You will get there.

 

[Ian Watts]

Wheels 26" MTB?

Yes - Specialized Rockhopper 2011 model

 

[Ian Watts]

Have a look at this video

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AeNLTQvFN4

Thanks - that did help alot.

 

[Ian Watts]

Yes, it is very helpful, if you understand the technicalities.
I started a thread here couple of days ago, "Gear ratio of less than one". I will try to post a link. Read that thread.
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/gear-ratio-of-less-than-1.142102/

It is very informative. Once you read that you will understand that your comment of 3-9, 3-8 is not very informative. Have a look at your rings and cogs. See how many teeths are there. Your front is likely to be 50-39-30 and rear is probably 11-25.
Then you can calculate the gear ratios and inches.
Come and tell us what you have.

I can now see why 3-3, 3-2 was unhelpful - though most of the above thread went right over my head.

 

[midliferider]

Gear ratios- as I understand them.
There are two wheels connected by a chain.
You apply power or energy to wheel one. It makes the chain to move. That in turns makes the second wheel to rotate. Your second wheel is connected to the rear wheel of your bike. So your rear wheel rotate and the bike move.
Now by changing the sizes of these wheels, you can make your rear wheel to rotate faster or slower.
Imagine your front wheel is the same size as rear wheel. You rotate front wheel once and rear wheel rotate once.
Rear wheel is half the size of the front wheel. So you rotate front wheel once and rear wheel moves around twice.
Size of the wheels are given by the number of tooth it has.
You can now write that in a simple formula like this.
Front divided by rear equals to gear ratio.
Multiply that by the circumference of the wheel. That is how far wheel will go.

My front wheel has 3 rings. 50-39-30
Rear has 10 rings, smallest cog 12 and largest cog 30.

That gives you 30 possible combinations or 30 gears.
Now try to work out gear ratios for each one of those possibilities.
50/30 going up to 50/12 for front ring.
39/30 to 39/12
30/12 to 30/30.
Because of frictions, you can not use the extremes, large with large 50/30 or smallest with small 34/12.
Now if you did the maths you will see that you can achieve the same ratio by using the different combinations. So in reality you do not have 30 gears to use.
Now that you understand the basic maths, next time you go riding, you can use different combinations for different purposes more effectively.
If you are still confused, feel free to ask.

 

[Ian Watts]

Gear ratios- as I understand them.
There are two wheels connected by a chain.
You apply power or energy to wheel one. It makes the chain to move. That in turns makes the second wheel to rotate. Your second wheel is connected to the rear wheel of your bike. So your rear wheel rotate and the bike move.
Now by changing the sizes of these wheels, you can make your rear wheel to rotate faster or slower.
Imagine your front wheel is the same size as rear wheel. You rotate front wheel once and rear wheel rotate once.
Rear wheel is half the size of the front wheel. So you rotate front wheel once and rear wheel moves around twice.
Size of the wheels are given by the number of tooth it has.
You can now write that in a simple formula like this.
Front divided by rear equals to gear ratio.
Multiply that by the circumference of the wheel. That is how far wheel will go.

My front wheel has 3 rings. 50-39-30
Rear has 10 rings, smallest cog 12 and largest cog 30.

That gives you 30 possible combinations or 30 gears.
Now try to work out gear ratios for each one of those possibilities.
50/30 going up to 50/12 for front ring.
39/30 to 39/12
30/12 to 30/30.
Because of frictions, you can not use the extremes, large with large 50/30 or smallest with small 34/12.
Now if you did the maths you will see that you can achieve the same ratio by using the different combinations. So in reality you do not have 30 gears to use.
Now that you understand the basic maths, next time you go riding, you can use different combinations for different purposes more effectively.
If you are still confused, feel free to ask.

Thank you for putting it in basic English - that it was I needed. That puts it in a language I can understand, and perhaps make more sense of what I am doing when out on the road.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Heres a list of gear " for a road bike, and gear ratios using something like the above setup, smaller wheels like on a m.t.b. will have slightly shorter gear inches.
Though the ratios are the same.

 

[midliferider]

I usually start my ride in "middle range" gear ratio of about 2 as I live in a fairly flat area to warm up etc. Then go up and down according to the circumstances. No wonder people think that cyclists are bit geeky!!

 

[sutts]

I mean seriously, what a load of shoot. If it's too hard I change down, if it's too easy I change up. Isn't that essentially what we all do?