Gearing advice and musings

[Crackle]

I just wish I could have had 20 years' worth of Scottish mountains to experiment on.

You don't, trust me you don't. I really wish I could just avoid them but I have to lob my bike in the car and drive to do that (which I sometimes do if I want a flat pacy ride round one of the lochs).

Anyway. The 24 I'm agreed on. The 36 I think is better as a 38 for me but I can always try it and change it if it doesn't suit and the 45 has got me thinking.

 

[Crackle]

Anyway what's your set up then?

 

[NickM]

Ah, well I ride recumbents these days, so it's probably not really relevant. Like tandems, they slow down quickly going uphill (being heavier, usually), and speed up quickly going down, where their aerodynamic advantage comes into play. But even on my (touring/day-riding) Kingcycle I have no use for high gears:

13 14 15 17 19 22 26
46 87 81 75 67 60 51 (44)
36 68 63 59 52 47 40 34
24 (45) 42 39 35 31 27 23

The gearing that I have recently worked out for my other half's Yukon upright is a "chainring = three sprockets" setup, and goes like this:

11 12 14 16 18 21 24 28 32
42 101 92 79 69 62 53 46 40 (35)
28 (67) 62 53 46 41 35 31 26 23

Grrr, why don't tabs work here? I expect you can work it out...

 

[Crackle]

Ah! OK. That's interesting actually. I'm still toying with the idea of a recumbent, have been for a while. I think next year I might go and try some. I still look through e-bay for things like PDQ's. Logic goes if I buy one off e-bay and try it, I can then flog it on with little loss if I either don't like it or decide i want a better one. Whereas if I go and try some at a shop it means I have already committed and have to have the readies lined up. The other thing that I'm not sure of is how I'd get on around here on one, hills and rolling terrain means I probably won't get too much of an advantage on a recumbent, maybe even a disadvantage.

 

[NickM]

Yes, unless you pick a relatively light one, like a Speed Ross/Orbit Crystal (the same machine, more or less), which appears fairly regularly on eBay and goes for ~£400. They are rather like tandems, in that they slow down quickly going uphill (the extra weight), and pick up speed quicker going down (when their aerodynamic advantage comes into play). Since you can't honk, you soon learn to spin, and use the gears a lot!

I guarantee, though, that even if you are a bit slower you'll have great fun - there is nothing like piloting a recumbent down a decent hill!

PS It is widely believed that recumbents with a fairly "closed" body position (i.e. one which is not too recumbent, but rather more like an upright position rotated backwards) are better at climbing. The prime example being the American Lightning P-38, not that you'll find one over here - but the Kingcycle and Speed Ross are similar, in layout at least.

 

[TheDoctor]

If I can just jump back in here - if you've doing this on the Tiagra triple then a 36 middle ring is out. 38 is the smallest that will fit.
Although I'm sure I once heard of someone who made a 36 130 BCD ring. Well, more of a pentagon really. Anyway.
If you're doing the Stronglight thing then ignore me.

 

[Crackle]

Ordered a 46/38/26 in Zicral, Stronglight chainrings. I could've got a 24 but in dural not zicral. So as there was not too much difference I stuck with Zicral because I use the granny ring a lot around here.