What is your lowest gear and how low is too low. Are new bikes geared too high?

[tyred]

Of my most used bikes, my touring bike conversion of a '90s MTB has 28/32.

My Viscount has 36/32, and I did plenty of life added touring with that, and found It adequate. It was before I smashed my leg and lost a lot of fitness all the same.

My Pioneer has 48/22 and a Sturmey hub.

My Brompton has 50/15 and a Sturmey hub. I've done loaded touring on this too. I might have to walk the odd hill, but not as many as I thought.

Old bikes often had crazy gearing. A typical rod braked roadster has gearing best suited to time trials, unless someone has fitted a bigger sprocket. My 1958 Raleigh Trent has four sped Cyclo-Benelux with a bottom gear of 63" which is a bit pointless. Only I like the novelty of having a bike with working Cycling gears, it would probably be better as a single speed. I'm not sure what brand they smoked around Nottingham back in the late '50s!

 

[Fastpedaller]

...


That's an incredible speed on that hill. Maybe some calibration needed...

70kph, perhaps.

[Edit: just checked, the KOM on the descent to Glossop is held by Ethan Hayter, 70kph average, max 90kph]

That's only about 42 MPH average (which, depending on how far in total, could seem feasible), but the top speed is about 54mph, which doesn't seem a lot for that hill - maybe it's flattened a bit since my ride about 35 years ago! I used to regularly get up to 50MPH on a hill in Essex, but the most I get to now I live in Norfolk is a sedate 32MPH.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Slightly off topic but I recall reading a piece about the early Tours de France. Back then gears were not allowed for the racers (sometimes even freewheels weren't allowed but the rules varied a lot) The result was that tourists could much more easily ascend the big climbs on their geared bikes to get to their vantage points than the poor racers could when they arrived.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

That's only about 42 MPH average (which, depending on how far in total, could seem feasible), but the top speed is about 54mph, which doesn't seem a lot for that hill - maybe it's flattened a bit since my ride about 35 years ago! I used to regularly get up to 50MPH on a hill in Essex, but the most I get to now I live in Norfolk is a sedate 32MPH.

54mph is a *lot* for the Snake. It only averages 6%, and is pretty constant.

Looking at my rides down there, the fastest average is 45kmh which maxed at 59 kmh. I'm a fairly fast descender, I remember waiting for my companion at the bottom that day. No way I'd get near 50mph on it.

There are a few hills in the Peak you can get to 50mph+, but that's not one of them (unless like Ethan Hayer, you're pro level and giving it everything).

 

[steveindenmark]

Wow that seem very high to me. If I had that gearing I would be walking 🤣

But then if you go to Stelvio or Monte Grappa. You would still want lower gearing. You can never get too lower gearing. 😀

 

[Ming the Merciless]

54mph is a *lot* for the Snake.

You need a pretty straight road to hit this kind of speed. A snake is not straight. Bends tighten very quickly when you are over 50 mph.

 

[lenfield]

The lowest gear on my 3-speed is 48 inches. It will get me up all but the steepest urban hills.

Speed bumps then ?

Most of mine are about a 5% gradient.

 

[Binky]

Regards top speed, I'm very sceptical of some readings I see.
A mate I occasionally ride with is adamant his speed is correct but it's BS. I'm not a quick descender but I go much faster than him and we'll do same ride and I might hit 40mph and he'll barely get 30ish but his ride will say something like 63mph. That's mph not kph.
His rides consistently have this so it's his set up or something plus his denial!

All irrelevant of course but to claim you do something which is clearly incorrect seems a bit silly. But hey ho.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

You need a pretty straight road to hit this kind of speed. A snake is not straight. Bends tighten very quickly when you are over 50 mph.

Yeah. Plus it's just not steep enough, at least for mortals on uprights.

 

[8mph]

22 front 40 rear on my hardtail. I took the big ring off a 22/32/44 crankset and replaced the 11-34t cassette with 11-40 to make a 2×8 drive chain. For purely off road I find it perfect. Cost was about £60

The lowest gear on my road bike is 34 × 28, which I find ok

 

[Shearwater Missile]

Regards top speed, I'm very sceptical of some readings I see.
A mate I occasionally ride with is adamant his speed is correct but it's BS. I'm not a quick descender but I go much faster than him and we'll do same ride and I might hit 40mph and he'll barely get 30ish but his ride will say something like 63mph. That's mph not kph.
His rides consistently have this so it's his set up or something plus his denial!

All irrelevant of course but to claim you do something which is clearly incorrect seems a bit silly. But hey ho.

My first dropped handlebar bike had something like 46 chainwheel and whatever the 5 speed sprocket had. I had a mechanical speedometer fitted that attached to the front axle, Huret I think. For years I believed what it said, 40 mph down Station Road hill in Hadleigh, Suffolk. Whilst it is not impossible, it is very unlikely that I hit that speed. You see, that speedometer was to my knowledge never calibrated to the wheel. By the same token, I never cycled as far as I thought. The most I achieve now is 30ish, the thought of 40mph scares the living daylights out of me.

 

[katiewlx]

Regards top speed, I'm very sceptical of some readings I see.
A mate I occasionally ride with is adamant his speed is correct but it's BS. I'm not a quick descender but I go much faster than him and we'll do same ride and I might hit 40mph and he'll barely get 30ish but his ride will say something like 63mph. That's mph not kph.
His rides consistently have this so it's his set up or something plus his denial!

All irrelevant of course but to claim you do something which is clearly incorrect seems a bit silly. But hey ho.

depends what tool theyre using to measure it, I often question my garmins speed calculations for instantaneous speed, as it can feel like its 30seconds behind reality, and the trace line it draws often looks horribly inaccurate as to make you wonder how on earth can it calculate speeds correctly, I did use their speed sensor for a bit, and it did add a good 1-2mph to my averages, which I thought was interesting, though again Im not entirely sure of the accuaracy.

but I remember a former work colleague used an apple watch I think certainly some kind of smart watch to record their times, and they had an ancient classic BSO thing, which somehow enabled them to always claim to be 5mph quicker on average than my best ever times, and its not like they were some super fit unknown Pog.

at which point I kind of stopped listening to what speeds people claimed to ride

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

For me gearing must depend on use. eg loaded touring on steel bike in a hilly area would want very different gearing from peloton training on a carbon frame in Flatlandia.

On my upright (Croix de Fer) used for day recreational and loaded touring I've changed the gears to 24" to 123" gear inches.

On my tadpole recumbent (day rides and loaded touring) purchased configuration 16" to 104" gear inches then after a few years switched to a Rohloff (after they extended their torque specification limits) giving 13.6” to 110” gear inches.

 

[Fastpedaller]

You need a pretty straight road to hit this kind of speed. A snake is not straight. Bends tighten very quickly when you are over 50 mph.

Using all the LHS, and going often between the O and the W
When my pal who went with me applied his brakes the Shimano pads melted, but my Koolstop ones didn't!
Speedo is an echowell (from Ozzo, remember them?) and is still in service. I don't question its accuracy, my average on wednesday was only 14.4, although I did get to a heady 31.2 on a Norfolk downhill with the wind behind.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Using all the LHS, and going often between the O and the W
When my pal who went with me applied his brakes the Shimano pads melted, but my Koolstop ones didn't!

I think you must be remembering a different hill. You barely need to brake at all on the Snake descent (and definitely not if you're doing 70mph ), and you'd never get close to melting pads.

It's only 6%.

Winnats, maybe.