Gears..... Help :(

[SkipdiverJohn]

Whilst you will get a feel for the "right" gear by what your legs are telling you, knowing the numbers does help. If I'm on my highest middle ring gear, 6th, I'm pushing a modest 74 inch ratio. Say I'm rolling along on a nice smooth level road and the wind is giving me a little helping hand so my road speed builds to the point where the cadence gets a bit frantic. I want a higher gear but only a bit higher, not massively so. I'm also riding a flat-bar bike, so the effect of aerodynamics means large gear ratio jumps at the top end could actually slow me down, not speed me up. I'm already in 6th so I can't change up a gear on the back cogs, so my next change has to involve the front ring. If I do a simple change from the 38 to 48 tooth front ring, and leave the rear in 6th, my gearing jumps 19 inches from 74 to 93, which is going to kill my legs and cause my cadence to fall below it's optimal/comfortable range. Because I know what the ratio numbers are, in this case what I'll do is change DOWN on the back cogs from 6th to 5th, at the same time I go up from the middle ring to the big one - a double change. Now, instead of a massive jump in gearing from 74 to 93 inches, I'm getting a much more useable increase to 82 inches, which is NOT going to kill my cadence or make my legs protest, so I'm able to keep going along at a decent pace without either frantic spinning or putting so much load on my legs they end up feeling like jelly. The fewer gears you have on the back, the more important it is to be very familiar with which combination of front and rear gears give you which ratios. The worst thing you can do, especially on a hill, is to make a "bad" change, and find yourself in an unsuitably high gear that kills your momentum dead and causes you to run out of steam.

 

[stuarttunstall]

The worst thing you can do, especially on a hill, is to make a "bad" change, and find yourself in an unsuitably high gear that kills your momentum dead and causes you to run out of steam.

That is me exactly, I made the wrong choice and just stopped dead at least I now have some good things to work from, thank you..

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

We've all done that and ground to a halt at some time. Another favourite mistake is to find yourself stationary at a traffic light or mouth of a junction then when you try to pull away you realise you are still in the high gear you were cruising down the road in because you forgot to change down before you stopped. Doh!! Of course if you have Sturmey Archer hub gears you just flick the lever and away you go - none of this business of lifting the rear wheel off the ground and giving the pedals a shove to get in the right starting gear again.

 

[mcshroom]

Simplest way to use gears is really to stick it in the middle ring and move up and down the cassette at the back. If you reach the end of the cassette and the gear is too low/high then try the big/small ring. If you have the lowest gear set and still can't make it up the hill, get off and walk for a bit until it gets less steep. There's no rule that says you have to ride all the way up

PS: Your bike will be fine, don't worry about being heavy. I'm big and heavy and one of my bikes is a carbon road bike. The only change I've made is to put 36 spoke wheels on instead of the factory 18/24 spoke ones so that a spoke break wouldn't be as big an issue.

 

[stuarttunstall]

Simplest way to use gears is really to stick it in the middle ring and move up and down the cassette at the back. If you reach the end of the cassette and the gear is too low/high then try the big/small ring. If you have the lowest gear set and still can't make it up the hill, get off and walk for a bit until it gets less steep. There's no rule that says you have to ride all the way up

PS: Your bike will be fine, don't worry about being heavy. I'm big and heavy and one of my bikes is a carbon road bike. The only change I've made is to put 36 spoke wheels on instead of the factory 18/24 spoke ones so that a spoke break wouldn't be as big an issue.

That is what I do, just walk up, still exercise which is the idea...

When I purchased the bike and realised I was about 10KG too heavy that is what the shop and a few others said, it will be the wheels if anything... The current wheels are 32 spoke and so far seem OK apart from a slight blip i the front which I did on the first ride out just caught a rut, so I will ask them to do that when it goes in for the free 6 week check up, not major enough for a special trip..

I did, out of curiosity get a quote from Spa cycles for some custom wheels which came back at £195 a pair using the same hubs which I thought was pretty good... When I asked if they would take my current weight they replied.....

First reply...

Hello Stuart

The guys in your shop are probably right. Those rider weight limits are pretty conservative so I think you should be OK on your current wheels. If you do want to upgrade then a handbuilt set with Shimano Deore hubs, Exal DC19 rims and Sapim spokes would cost £195 (+£8 extra if you wanted black spokes).

Regards

Sam

When I asked about the weight....

Yes, they're built to potentially take a big rider, with full camping gear over rough terrain. So you'll be fine!

Best

Sam


So if I do get issues I will get them sorted, but hopefully get below that weight in a few months

 

[mcshroom]

Hopefully so

Wheels are actually very strong. My changing the wheels was probably an overreaction, and it's also due to the fact I live in a rural area with poor transport links, so if I broke my bike it would be a bit more difficult to get home than most.

What I find I do to wheels (partly due to the wonderful Cumbrian road surfaces) is knock them out of true over time. A little bit of re-truing with a spoke key sorts that out though.

 

[stuarttunstall]

Hopefully so

Wheels are actually very strong. My changing the wheels was probably an overreaction, and it's also due to the fact I live in a rural area with poor transport links, so if I broke my bike it would be a bit more difficult to get home than most.

What I find I do to wheels (partly due to the wonderful Cumbrian road surfaces) is knock them out of true over time. A little bit of re-truing with a spoke key sorts that out though.

Just like the roads around here, I am only using the quite lanes at the moment to avoid traffic until I am more confident after such a long time off a bike, they are used mostly by farm vehicles and not maintained, so have lots of potholes and ruts, which is what I hit, as I say if I spin the wheel you can just see a very slight blip... plus they are not the smoothest so speed is a "no-no"

I am the same, this village is about 20 miles from the nearest bike shop in almost all directions so if I can wait until the service I will

 

[Alan O]

I much prefer @DCBassman's input which can be boiled down to "stick to the middle ring unless you want to go down or up hills"

There's a slight variant angle on that which appeals to me: Always ride at your most comfortable cadence, and if you find yourself on your middle ring most of the time, you've probably found about the right gearing for you.