Gears Advice Please

[graham jw]

Hi All,

Newbie here.

I have an old non suspension MTB that I bought second hand several years ago. (So, it is pretty old). I have been riding it 3 times a week now for about 5 weeks and my circuit is 9 miles long. I have replaced the tyres with road tyres.

My question is; When cycling on the flat I am already in the highest gear (or, is it lowest?). smallest cog on cassette and largest on chain ring. I run out of gears when going down hill even on slight declines. Currently, I have a 3 cog chain ring and 5 cogs in the cassette with shimano index levers.

Please could you advise me of how much you recon my LBS might charge to change my set up to something more suitable.

Thanks in advance.

 

[RedBike]

Pedal quicker, seriously!

You should ideally be looking to pedal at 80/90rpm. This means that if you count how many times you push the right pedal down in a 30 sec period you should count just over 40. Any less than 40 and you should be in a lower gear pedalling quicker.

Although a lot depends upon the gearing on the bike,top gear shouldgood for 30/35mph

 

[Tigerbiten]

What size are your chainring, cassette and wheels ??
Without knowing that, its hard to advise on what to change.
Also with that info, you can work out your gearing in inches, Gear calculator. and workout what swop each end would do.

Ps, A 100" gear will give you 30mph at 100 rpm, which is my top gear.

 

[jimboalee]

It could be a 42 x 13, which is around 90 rpm at 22 mph.

Don't pedal downhill, that's the trick, let gravity do the work.