Gearing on your bicycle

[Dale 1956]

I'm not sure where to post this if it needs to be move please do.Now about my gearing on my Surly Disc Trucker I run a 40,30,22 chain ring and a 11-34 rear cassette on my bicycle I can go up just about any hill when I am fully loaded and pulling a BoB trailer loaded as well.But I built my bike for touring but I can ride it any where.I am so tired of this virus going on here it's driving me nuts I want to get out and do some touring by my state has us lock up we can not leave the state at my age I hate to wait I'll be 64 this year.I've only been doing this from 2009 till now 11 years but the last year I was moving to my new little home here in Maine and I got my self a Harley Davidson as well. Now that that bug is over with I now want to get back to riding my Surly Disc Trucker I miss the fun of riding.What are the gearing we use I just would like to know for my self Thanks!

 

[MichaelW2]

Hang on to your sanity as long as you can and stay well.
On the more important point of touring bike gear ratios, you are best using a gear metric that is useful for comparison. Gear inches , or if your country has not put a man on the moon, gear development are the two most common metrics.
The right gear depends on rider strength, power, resting heartrate, VO2 max, crank length, luggage weight, surface roughness, gradient, wind, beer consumption and forthcoming engagements such as ferry timetables. You can enter all of these variables into my handy ideal gear calculator app.

 

[steveindenmark]

Im jealous about the house as I am a lighthouse fan and Main is lighthouse heaven..

Im sorry about the Harley 😊

As for the gearing. It sounds that you have got the gearing that suit you. Keep it.

 

[MontyVeda]

11-32 on the back, 44,33,22 upfront

 

[Globalti]

Hang on to your sanity as long as you can and stay well.
On the more important point of touring bike gear ratios, you are best using a gear metric that is useful for comparison. Gear inches , or if your country has not put a man on the moon, gear development are the two most common metrics.
The right gear depends on rider strength, power, resting heartrate, VO2 max, crank length, luggage weight, surface roughness, gradient, wind, beer consumption and forthcoming engagements such as ferry timetables. You can enter all of these variables into my handy ideal gear calculator app.

Surely wind comes after beer consumption?

 

[Smokin Joe]

11-32 with 50/34 rings on a road bike. Gearing is entirely personal and the only one who can decide what's right for you is yourself.

 

[DCBassman]

Old mtb: 48-38-28 front, 12-36 9sp rear.
Roadie: 52-42-30 front, currently 11-34 8sp rear, also moving to 12-36 9sp. Lumpy around here!

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Unless your idea of fun is tearing about as fast as possible and pedalling rather than just freewheeling on downhills, any gear ratio over about the mid-80's inches is pretty much wasted for normal leisure/utility cycling. There's a very good reason why the 48/38/28 triple combined with a 14-28 rear cluster is very common on flat bar machines.

 

[Dale 1956]

Im jealous about the house as I am a lighthouse fan and Main is lighthouse heaven..

Im sorry about the Harley 😊

As for the gearing. It sounds that you have got the gearing that suit you. Keep it.

We do have some nice Light House for sure.As for our little home it is small but payed for too.Every thing we have is payed for that's why we don't have any money now lol.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

We do have some nice Light House for sure.As for our little home it is small but payed for too.Every thing we have is payed for that's why we don't have any money now lol.

You probably don't have any debt either, which puts you in a better situation than most of the population!

 

[CXRAndy]

50/36/26 with either 11-40 or 11-32

 

[Dale 1956]

You probably don't have any debt either, which puts you in a better situation than most of the population!

Nope debt free for once in my life.

 

[Dale 1956]

50/36/26 with either 11-40 or 11-32

Wow to much for me to handle.

 

[byegad]

My old ICE QNT had 55-40-24 to 11-34. With a 20" rear wheel that got me up anything and spun out at around 35-40mph.

 

[MichaelW2]

Low enough to get up a steep hill.
Your gearing sounds fine for touring. These days, touring loads are lighter than they used to be.