Newbie saying 👋.

[Rich68]

Just managed to find a 2021 Giant escape 3, at my lbs. Trying out the gears, because I will be riding the bike paths. Asking you all, if I should just keep it on 2 on the left, and use the shifter on the right, to shift up and down. At this moment, I won’t be encountering any hills, so shouldn’t that setting of gear usage, be just fine? Love the bike..today I did 2 20 minute rides, and burned 440 calories. I know that’s not a lot, but eventually longer rides..better condition overall. Thanks all.I posted somewhere about finding a bike for my wife, and posted the picture. Well we picked it up lastnight. This morning we were going to Walmart to pick up some bike accessories, and low and behold, she seen the bike she wanted 2 days ago, when 3 Walmart’s in our area, had 0 women’s cruiser bikes in stock. So now she has the new huffy cruiser she wanted 😂😂.

 

[DCBassman]

That's the approach I take. Both the bikes I use are triple chainset jobs, so for most riding, even here in hilly Devon, it's middle ring and use the whole cassette as required. Only shift to small ring for worst hills and big ring for gonzo descents!

 

[PeteXXX]

 

[JohnHughes307]

My first bike after a many year layoff was a Giant escape and that was exactly the approach I used. I would suggest you try left shifter occasionally though - that way it won't be strange when you do need it and you'll know if it needs any attention. Welcome aboard!

 

[vickster]

Just managed to find a 2021 Giant escape 3, at my lbs. Trying out the gears, because I will be riding the bike paths. Asking you all, if I should just keep it on 2 on the left, and use the shifter on the right, to shift up and down. At this moment, I won’t be encountering any hills, so shouldn’t that setting of gear usage, be just fine? Love the bike..today I did 2 20 minute rides, and burned 440 calories. I know that’s not a lot, but eventually longer rides..better condition overall. Thanks all.

Welcome

I’d take calorie burn calculations from any device with an enormous pinch of salt and certainly don’t use it to influence your diet. I routinely use two devices to record rides and one (Garmin) gives literally double the count of the other (iPhone App)

My personal guesstimate is 30-40 calories per mile depending on how hard the ride is. If your ride is flat, it’ll be lower (if you are very heavy, you will burn more for the same effort as a much lighter rider)

 

[Cycleops]

Hello and to the forum.

I should use the RH lever to find your best natural cadence, In other words how you like to pedal, spinning the cranks or using a higher gear to push more.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

If you plan on keeping the bike a long time, and want to get the maximum life out of the chainset, then don't just hog the middle ring all the time. It's a lazy and non-thinking way to ride, just like middle lane hoggers on the motorway aren't proper drivers. Use the large ring whenever the road conditions and wind direction permit, and don't be afraid of dropping into the smallest ring when climbing long grinding gradients.
The idea is not only to optimise the use of the most appropriate gear ratio, but also to spread the wear out more evenly over the whole drivetrain. You don't want to be having to replace your chainset in a couple of years because the middle ring is completely worn and the chain skips, but the other two rings have hardly seen any use and are still like new. On most cheaper bikes the individual rings can't be replaced separately so the life of your transmission is limited by which bit you wear out first.

 

[DCBassman]

If you plan on keeping the bike a long time, and want to get the maximum life out of the chainset, then don't just hog the middle ring all the time. It's a lazy and non-thinking way to ride, just like middle lane hoggers on the motorway aren't proper drivers. Use the large ring whenever the road conditions and wind direction permit, and don't be afraid of dropping into the smallest ring when climbing long grinding gradients.
The idea is not only to optimise the use of the most appropriate gear ratio, but also to spread the wear out more evenly over the whole drivetrain. You don't want to be having to replace your chainset in a couple of years because the middle ring is completely worn and the chain skips, but the other two rings have hardly seen any use and are still like new. On most cheaper bikes the individual rings can't be replaced separately so the life of your transmission is limited by which bit you wear out first.

Come on, SDJ, unless you do thousands of miles a year, it will make no discernible difference. And none of us said to use ONLY the middle ring, just that it inevitable gets the most use, and will do no matter what shifting scheme you use...

 

[Rich68]

Thanks all..everything dually noted. Appreciate the advice.

 

[Rich68]

Update after buying Giant escape 3. Last night we picked up a huffy cruiser for 120 Usd. Another picture of mine being in our kitchen, due to lighting, and no I don’t use it to cook with😂😂👋oh sorry the Huffy is for my wife.

 

[Mike Ayling]

+1 for what DCBassman wrote.
It takes a long time to wear out a middle chainring.

Mike

 

[plustwos]

Coincidentaly was reading the Shimano recommendations last night and they specifically advise not to use the two smallest cogs on the middle ring and not to use the four smallest cogs on the small ring. Page 36 in Shimano's DM-GN0001-24-ENG. pdf download from their website. Throws up the same .pdf for all their range. The small ring bit suprised me after forty years of using triples.

Ken

 

[Nomadski]

My own POV is if you have the gears, use them, or at least all the gears you need to get you over the terrain you have while keeping some semblance of a smile on your face.

It's good for your own experience to use as many gear combinations as you can anyway, just so (as someone said above) when you need that easy or harder gear, you can change without thinking about it.