What's the point of having lots of gears? (21, 24, 27, etc)

[screenman]

How can you have inches with s 700c tyre

All good fun.

 

[winjim]

or maybe this will help

View attachment 75790

Ye gods, what monstrous abomination is this? For the love of all that is holy, label your axes man!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@bpsmith easy one of two ways measure it or convert it.
Same tables in ratios

These are 25c tyres.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Ye gods, what monstrous abomination is this? For the love of all that is holy, label your axes man!

As we are talking about front chain rings and rear sprockets anyone with any common sense would see which is which.
Its just a screen grab of the relavent information, the full table is a little complex as it includes gear inch, ratios, gear inch change and percentage change, along with the change on the front chanirings, also FD & RD difference and capacity needed for the RD, so its just easier to do a screen grab of the relevant info in context of the thread.

 

[winjim]

I meant the graph but yes, a healthy application of common sense should see you right.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I meant the graph but yes, a healthy application of common sense should see you right.

Right got you.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I'm not looking for a bike to compete in the tour de france.

Aye, but here comen in the concept of N+1
I find my single speed more than adequate for the daily (flat) commute, can even go up some steep short hills. Love the semplicity of it, I'm lazy at changing gears.
My old banger 5 speed (I mostly run it single speed anyway, did I mention I'm lazy at changing gears?) allows me to ride up any hill there is in this town.
But my super duper low geared 27 speed triple tourer allows me to do long, hilly rides with my pals. Wasn't I half glad for the 1/1 granny gear on the Arran hills!

 

[chrisuren]

Slightly off topic, but having ridden a road bike for a few years, I feel incredibly ashamed to ask this, but quite often I hear people speaking about gears and they will say something like "He rides a 21/40" and I have literally no idea what they're talking about, I know it's something to do with the gears but I do not know what, could someone explain?

 

[User16625]

I didnt read the huge OP. But to answer the question "What's the point of having lots of gears?"

Having more gears gives you much less of a jump of ratio between each gear change. This makes it much more likely to find a gear that suits you for any given circumstance (hills, wind etc)
.

Another possible answer is that more gears generally gives a wider range of ratios. This may not always be the case but sod pedantics. More gears means your much more likely to have an easier gear for going uphills. (ask for a triple!) More gears make going uphills easier.

Ideally: A triple will give you extra low ratios for climbing steep hills while also giving you those big fat gears for sprinting back down em. Perfect if your me.

Realistically: I have never maxed out my road bike which is a compact double (20 speed). I have hit 50mph on it. 50,34 I think it is. My mountain bike has a triple and its rather easy to max it out in top gear on one particular downhill. On both bikes I use the lowest ratio much more oftwn than I use the higher ones, you decide.....

 

[User16625]

My bicycle has 20 gears, a bugatti veyron heas 7 gears and the russian rocket used as an alternative to the space shuttle has 0 gears. If you use these as examples of speed vs gears............and so on.

 

[KneesUp]

That was a silly reply.

Not that silly. It seems like everyday there is someone asking which flimsy, light-weight bike designed for speed over comfort and durability they should spend a thousand pounds or more on simply to get to work.

 

[bpsmith]

I didnt read the huge OP. But to answer the question "What's the point of having lots of gears?"

So you didn't read the OP, but did you even read ANY of the thread?

If you had, you will know Everything that you said has already been said and you post is pretty pointless.

Read the thread, and definitely read the OP before posting eh?

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Not that silly. It seems like everyday there is someone asking which flimsy, light-weight bike designed for speed over comfort and durability they should spend a thousand pounds or more on simply to get to work.

Was the TDF bit which the poster has now said was TIC - was not a comment on the subject matter of the thread.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Slightly off topic, but having ridden a road bike for a few years, I feel incredibly ashamed to ask this, but quite often I hear people speaking about gears and they will say something like "He rides a 21/40" and I have literally no idea what they're talking about, I know it's something to do with the gears but I do not know what, could someone explain?

Not sure I understand that.
Inch refers to how far the wheel will rotate for one turn of the crank, or how far the bike will travel. a 26" gear i.e. a 30x30 on a typical road triple will travel 26" on 52x13 about 104"
If you read that as 40x21 (usually the crank figure is first) that would be a front 40th with a 21th rear or a 50" gear

 

[Tigerbiten]

Not sure I understand that.
Inch refers to how far the wheel will rotate for one turn of the crank, or how far the bike will travel. a 26" gear i.e. a 30x30 on a typical road triple will travel 26" on 52x13 about 104"

Not correct.
Gear inches come from the Ordinary bike and is the based on diameter of the wheel.
So a 26" gear has the same size as a 26" wheel and will cover 26 x pi = 82" or almost 7' with one turn of the pedals.
The continental system is meters development and based on is how far you will go for one turn of the pedals.