General utility bikes - how much gearing do you REALLY need?

[GuyBoden]

If I was only cycling a few flat miles locally, a single speed would be fine and less/easy maintenance..............

 

[MontyVeda]

For a utility bike no more than 3 gears is fine. Maybe even single speed if you really want to keep ir simple.

Depends where you live. I would wouldn't want to ride up some local little hills, fully laden with shopping with only one uphill gear to choose from.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Depends where you live. I wouldn't want to ride up some local little hills, fully laden with shopping with only one uphill gear to choose from.

Fixed that for you.

 

[XC26]

For me, 3 gears is plenty for most occasions. My general purpose workhorse machine, pictured, has a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub with drum brakes front and rear. With 26” x 1.75” MTB wheel/tyres and a 44/20T chainring/sprocket combo, it has approx. 42, 56, 75 gear inches to play with. This gets me up most hills with ease. It’s quick of the mark in town traffic and cruises comfortably around 20mph. I tend to ride it using top gear mostly, as is recommended for most 3 speed hub utility setups.

 

[Venod]

I am using a Sturmy Archer 2 speed kickback hub for rides of up to 40 mile, with a low gear of about 50 inch and a high of about 70 inch, I find it OK as long as there is nothing too steep to get up.

 

[Chris S]

My AW hub is ideal for south Birmingham with its 80, 60 and 45 inch gears. London is flatter so I reckon you should be OK with a 5/6 speeder. I'd use the chainring that give the best chainline.

 

[petek]

I traded up from a 3 speed to a 5 speed this summer.
First on the 5 speed is 'kinder' that was first on the 3 speed.
Seldom have to get off and push uphill now.
Anything above 5 gears seems extravagant.
What can 10 gears do that 5 cannot?

 

[XC26]

I am using a Sturmy Archer 2 speed kickback hub for rides of up to 40 mile, with a low gear of about 50 inch and a high of about 70 inch, I find it OK as long as there is nothing too steep to get up.

The SA 2-Speed KickShift (S2) is my favourite hub and if I only owned one bike (perish the thought), it would have this hub. I fitted an S2 hub to one of my out-of-town 700c single speed bikes, and with a 44x18T chainring/sprocket combo it gives me roughly 64 & 89 gear inches. As the bike is fairly lightweight, most hills are no problem and it can cruise around 25-30mph. I really like the simplicity, looks and minimalism of a single speed bike but occasionally feel the need for an extra gear without disturbing these features. The S2 does this perfectly. I often take it out for 50-60 mile jaunts as it’s such a joy to ride.

 

[Tigerbiten]

What can 10 gears do that 5 cannot?

It gives you a bigger range of more closely stepped gears.

It all depends on what, where and how you ride as to how many gears suit you.

I think my setup is ideal for me but then I've 24 unique gears at around a 14% step between gears over the whole range.
But that does mean my total gear range is 1872.4% .........

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

My AW hub is ideal for south Birmingham with its 80, 60 and 45 inch gears. London is flatter so I reckon you should be OK with a 5/6 speeder. I'd use the chainring that give the best chainline.

Whilst most of London is fairly forgiving, gradient-wise, it nonetheless does have a number of locations where having to get off and walk up is a real possibility if your bottom gear is relatively high. It's a fallacy that London is flat, just in the same way Norfolk isn't flat either.

When you look at the ratios on a lot of bikes with a high gear count, what you find is ratio duplication, or ratios that are so close as to be pointless - such as two gears that are only an inch or two different. Personally I don't see the need for more than 10 well-chosen ratios, What I think has happened, especially at the low budget end, is that manufacturers have engaged in a ratio "arms race" as a selling point. They use the fact that their bikes have 18 speeds as a marketing tool, despite the fact most buyers of such bikes won't ever use half the gears offered! Rather than make a big deal about selling £100 cheapo bikes with 18 gears, they would be better off selling £100 bikes with just 5 gears and using the money saved from the multi-chainrings and front changers to improve the component quality.
Looking at the rust/wear on the chainrings of my salvage 18 speeder, it's clear that the smallest chainring has never been used at all, the middle one is little-used, and the vast majority of it's miles have been clocked up in High range.

 

[HLaB]

Bet your single speed bike doesn't weigh 35lbs, @ColinJ !

Mine did but I used it for the flatlands down here mostly

 

[Tigerbiten]

When you look at the ratios on a lot of bikes with a high gear count, what you find is ratio duplication, or ratios that are so close as to be pointless - such as two gears that are only an inch or two different.

If used correctly, it's handy to have identical gears as it lets you pre-select the chainring needed.
Coming up to a sudden climb and you know you'll be dropping a chainring on it.
Do you wait until you're on the hill before dropping the ring. Along with the risk of a bad chainring shift under load.
Or do you shift down early while climbing a couple of sprockets at the back to get back to the same gear. That way there's no risk of a bad chainring shift on the hill.

I've gone out of my way in trying to get my duplicate gears identical.
My ideal large chainring is 56t as that is almost exactly 3 gears above my 38t small chainring. But this fouls the chain on the chain guard. So I've only fitted a 54t one.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

What's your "utility"

If it's dragging an old fashioned steel framed swivel chair on the back of a trailer up a mostly 10% but with a steep bit at the top, or lugging 4 rolls of turf (about 60kg) even along the most minor gradient then you'll appreciate why I like my low gears.

If it's the flat route to work and back then a Nexus 3 speed is plenty

 

[Chris S]

Whilst most of London is fairly forgiving, gradient-wise, it nonetheless does have a number of locations where having to get off and walk up is a real possibility if your bottom gear is relatively high. It's a fallacy that London is flat, just in the same way Norfolk isn't flat either.

Yes - and Birmingham is on a plateau, with one or two big lumps on it

 

[MacB]

Another option is to run a single run up front and maybe 7/8 speed at the back, if not going hub gear. Then set that up to give you your general riding gears and add a small inner ring to the front. No shifter needed just change manually on those rare occasions you need an extra low gear.