Big ring fever?

[Chrisc]

Is there such a thing as big ring fever? On my new road bike today, three rides which is a bit much really but the excitement was too much, I found I was trying to stay in the big ring most of the way if poss and have brought on my old knee trouble. Likely a case of too much too soon again or a bike fit thing, not having it properly dialled in yet.
Either way I now have to take it easy for a bit and ease the knee back into action. Oh to be young and invincible again!

 

[oliver]

well i was wondering the same about a week ago - and i live in a hilly area, but luckily youth is on my side

 

[zacklaws]

On my double, I like to sit on the smaller ring, and on my triple, I sit in the middle ring, as I find these combinations give me the gearing for most of the terrain that I come across and also to keep up a high cadence. My golden rule though is soon as I hit 20mph then I move up onto the big ring and once again keep up the high cadence till conditions dictate that my speed is dropping below 20mph then its back too a smaller ring.

I find a lot of riders like to push the big ring regardless of the conditions, and I get comments as to why am I on a smaller ring.

 

[Muddyfox]

I use the Big rings on my bikes so much ... that i'm thinking about filing them down and using them as chain guards

I tend to stay on the middle ring for most of my riding

Simon

 

[gaz]

I barely pop it in the big ring. I love to keep a high cadence and can easily pop 30mph on a 34 - 12

 

[MacB]

I barely pop it in the big ring. I love to keep a high cadence and can easily pop 30mph on a 34 - 12

interesting, so you can spin along at 130rpm, that's a pretty good rate, I would normally max out, for comfort, at about 120. Still about 27-28mph in a 34/12 combination.

I reckon I treat my triple as a double by ignoring the outer ring, so ride in the 42t and have a 30t(which I may change to a 26t) as backup. Have just change the cassette from 12-26 to 13-25 as well.

 

[Crankarm]

I spent much of my 85 miles ride on the 53 ring. So mine is bigger than yours and gets used loads. Only on a few steep climbs did I drop down onto the 39 ring. So ner na ner na .

 

[Mark_Robson]

Phew, I'm pleased to see that I'm not the only one who mainly uses the bottom ring on a double and the middle on a treble. The only exception is my racer with a compact 34 / 50 chainset, I tend to use both rings equally on that bike.

 

[Chrisc]

Phew, I'm pleased to see that I'm not the only one who mainly uses the bottom ring on a double and the middle on a treble. The only exception is my racer with a compact 34 / 50 chainset, I tend to use both rings equally on that bike.

Mine's a compact as well. Not used to having derailleurs yet so changing is interesting at the mo. Unsure how to best change for hills and such. Trying to get on the right chainring, swapping in the middle of the cassette, going from big to small chainrings is a bit of a sudden drop so am changing down the cassette furiously before dropping onto the little ring. Sure it'll work itself out after a few more rides.

 

[HLaB]

I'm almost never in the small ring of my compact its too big a jump (50/36) unless your on a hill and its too spinney for me. The small ring of the 52/38 gets used a little more but not too much.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

I tend to use the big ring 95% of the time, yesterday I managed to get up a 17% gradient in 52x23, so it needs to be really steep, or really long before I need the smaller ring.
Yesterday I could drop the people I was with no bother on the hills, they were in the small ring spinning away, I could just power away from them.

I'm not saying using the middle ring is a bad thing though, obviously people find other things more comfortable. For me, I find a reasonable gear ratio on the big ring and spin at about 90rpm, I can't stay in the little ring spinning at 100rpm+ for too long, it just doesn't feel right, I like to feel resistance on the pedals.

 

[MacB]

Let's see, if you compare a road triple, double and compact, with a road cassette of 12-27:-

Triple 30/42/52 - inner = 30-60 inches in useable gears, middle - 42-95 inches, outer - 52-117 inches

Double 39/53 - inner = 39-80 inches, outer - 57-119 inches, only the largest 3 are higher than the triple middle

Compact 34/50 - inner = 34-70 inches, outer - 54-113 inches, only the largest two are higher than the middle of the triple

With the triple I can spend the majority, if not all of a ride, in the middle ring. With the double/compact then there's the potential for more front shifts being required.

If you're not racing, or tempo focused, then I can see an argument for running a 1x9 setup for simplicity. Say a 39 ring and 11-34 cassette, gives you a 31-96 inch gear range but bigger gaps between gears.

 

[jig-sore]

I use the Big rings on my bikes so much ... that i'm thinking about filing them down and using them as chain guards

just like this ....

i don't give a shite what "ring" im on, I'm just concentrating on being in the right "gear"

 

[GrasB]

Let's see, if you compare a road triple, double and compact, with a road cassette of 12-27

You're talking 700x32c tyres right, I ask because 700x23c gives me a 118" gear at 53:12.

Should really say I run a 12-27 cassette, 42/54 crankset & 700x28c tyres with the b'man hybrid. Most of the time I'll run on the big ring, the reason for running on the big ring is simple, if I drop to 80rpm on the big ring, I can drop to the small chairing & I'm up at 100rpm.

 

[shippers]

Let's see, if you compare a road triple, double and compact, with a road cassette of 12-27:-

Triple 30/42/52 - inner = 30-60 inches in useable gears, middle - 42-95 inches, outer - 52-117 inches

Double 39/53 - inner = 39-80 inches, outer - 57-119 inches, only the largest 3 are higher than the triple middle

Compact 34/50 - inner = 34-70 inches, outer - 54-113 inches, only the largest two are higher than the middle of the triple

Should I understand this?
I've read it 3 or 4 times and it's only just starting to make sense. Feel a bit dense now.

On a happier note, 36 miles tonight! Mainly on the largest ring of my triple, but I do switch quite a lot to keep the pedals spinning happily. The chap I'm out with has a double and keeps pretty much to the big ring most of the time.