Gears on a bike

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Example : 10 number of cogs on the back wheel.. ..2 no of chain rings on the front = 20 .....and so on ..:smile:
 
Last edited:

Rickshaw Phil

Overconfidentii Vulgaris
Moderator
^^^^ What @tissot said.

I'll just add that in the real world (as opposed to the marketing guff) it's not practical to use all of the gears you theoretically have. Quite a few of the gears overlap on a bike with a double or triple chainring set-up and there are some gears you should actively avoid using (big chainring to big sprocket and small chainring to small sprocket) as they can wear the chain excessively.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
Mike it was to show that overlapping gears is no bad thing, and to dismiss the idea that a 30th inner ring is only for climbing, I couldn't word it in such a way as to make it clear, but if you deem it inappropriate I will delete it.
I appreciate its a beginners section, I understood this lot when I started cycling, just not quite how it all worked together in practise.


I can see were Mike is coming from Nige.
After god knows how many years, miles and gear changes I have done over the years I don't even understand that chart. :thumbsup:
 

Newman8

Senior Member
I go with Phil totally:
In practical terms, 10 on the rear & 2 on the front = 11 (approx!) not 20... That is just marketing talk.
Going up in the gears - at some point roughly in the middle of your rear cassette you will change to your outer front chainring & the opposite coming back down. It doesn't always have to be the same cog. It's just a progression that seems right at the time.
Plus: It keeps a straighter line on your chain to stop it rubbing on your front mech or stretching your rear mech - especially in a big/big combo which could break your rear mech if there's not enough slack in the chain.
 
Top Bottom