Gears and Brakes

[Riverman]

I currently own a a Diamondback Outlook 2008 Hardtail.
http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/...008&Brand=Diamondback&Model=Outlook&Type=bike

I use it as a road bike and I'm about to do an 85 mile tour.

Gearing

I find the gearing is way too easy. I'm not a good cyclist at all. I'm confused though as I only use the top front chain ring, and unless there is a big hill I will stay on the highest gear for the whole of a ride.

For example, I recently went from Southampton to Romsey and back without changing gear and there are several hills on this route. Thus I'm led to beleive such a bike is not suited for the road, although perhaps it's just that I don't really know how to ride a bike properly.

Once in the highest gear I sometimes feel like I'm cycling in a low gear on the flat and would like maybe another three or so changes above it to go faster.

Is there anything I could do to change this? Maybe get some new chain rings? And how much better would a road or touring bike be?

Brakes

I have tighened these up as much as I can but they always seem to stick. Thus, I seem to unwittingly be cycling against them for miles. I feel like the only thing I can do now is replace the brakes or try taking them apart.

For a new bike I'm quite disappointed by it. Several other bits have started to fall apart, although I got it cheaply for £115, so I can't really complain.

Frame size

A quick question about this. I'm 5 foot 8 inches tall and the frame is 18", I was told in the shop that's about right although I feel abit constrained.

 

[Ant]

Blimey. Those specs show that your highest gear is 48X13 It's not as high as a road bike, obviously, but it's pretty decent for an MTB....or even a hybrid for that matter.

If it feels extremely easy for you, even going up hill, then you've either got legs like Arnold Schwarzenegger or you're on the wrong chain ring.

You can look at the possibility of a replacement cassette with a higher top end. A quick look shows that Shimano do an 11-28 7 speed. This will give you a bit more at the top end.

You will get higher gearing on a road bike. My highest is 53X13 but you can also commonly get 53X11 too. That should be high enough for anyone

 

[Arch]

I currently own a a Diamondback Outlook 2008 Hardtail.
http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/...008&Brand=Diamondback&Model=Outlook&Type=bike

I use it as a road bike and I'm about to do an 85 mile tour.

Gearing

I find the gearing is way too easy. I'm not a good cyclist at all. I'm confused though as I only use the top front chain ring, and unless there is a big hill I will stay on the highest gear for the whole of a ride.

For example, I recently went from Southampton to Romsey and back without changing gear and there are several hills on this route. Thus I'm led to beleive such a bike is not suited for the road, although perhaps it's just that I don't really know how to ride a bike properly.

Once in the highest gear I sometimes feel like I'm cycling in a low gear on the flat and would like maybe another three or so changes above it to go faster.

Is there anything I could do to change this? Maybe get some new chain rings? And how much better would a road or touring bike be?

You are what I would call a 'far too strong for your own good show-off'

You should be able to swap either the chainrings (or maybe the whole crankset) or the sprockets at the back, or both, to get higher gears. If might be worth telling us what you have at the moment - how many teeth on each chainring, and how many teeth on each sprocket. Im not expert, but there will be people here who can tell quickly how low or high your gears are. (is it as in the ad? 28,38,48 and 13-34? - sounds similar to my road bike, and I'm not a high gear person...)

If you don't change gear up hills, are you still spinning your legs round smoothly, or are you grinding up? Grinding is bad for your knees, and the reason you have lower gears to go down into to keep your feet spinning. If you are spinning uphill in top gear, then you really do need bigger gears.

Brakes

I have tighened these up as much as I can but they always seem to stick. Thus, I seem to unwittingly be cycling against them for miles. I feel like the only thing I can do now is replace the brakes or try taking them apart.

V-brakes are a pain to adjust, and esp if your wheel happens not to be nice and true. This is why so many yoofs just disconnect them, to save the bother, and use their feet to brake... When you say you have 'tightened them up' what do you mean. Adjustment can be quite fine, and done at various places. Adjusting brakes is a classic 'five minute' job - IE it usually takes a week and a half...

For a new bike I'm quite disappointed by it. Several other bits have started to fall apart, although I got it cheaply for £115, so I can't really complain.

Is that for new? In which case, you get what you pay for, I'm afraid. You might be able to upgrade it, but you'll be paying for bits, it might be more economic to get a generally better, higher geared bike. Did you go to a bike shop? Did you tell them you wanted to tour/ride on the road on it? If so, choose another bike shop - there are bikes much better suited to that sort of thing.

 

[Riverman]

Hi thanks for the help.

I think maybe I have overstated things a little so I apologise if that came across as boastful.

The one thing which is definite is I have no use for the other two front chain rings. I've been riding for three months and never used them. As I suspected, rather than being a good cyclist I'm simply not riding the bike properly and 'grinding' too much, although I'm unsure as to the extent I'm doing this.

I do feel more comfortable going up moderate hills in higher gears because I don't like spinning my feet too much and feel like by staying in higher gears I'm going faster, building more strength in my legs and generally getting more of a workout.

To bring this back down to earth if anyone knows Chilworth, there is a hill coming out of North Baddesley, not a huge one but that's probably the hardest hill I've come across and that's perhaps the only time I've thought about changing to a lower chain ring although I was abit tired when I did it.

The hill to bitterne past northam bridge was ok in the higher chain ring.

 

[marinyork]

Gearing sounds fine for somewhere very flat. You have a 7 speed K on the back? All this is meaningless without the cadence really.

You might need to lube the insides of the V brakes if they are sticking. Doing that and adjusting should work fine, if not replace.

If you put your info in http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/ and that will tell you what speeds you are doing for what cadences so that should answer whether you're grinding too much or are absolutely brilliant.

 

[Arch]

Hi thanks for the help.

I think maybe I have overstated things a little so I apologise if that came across as boastful.

The one thing which is definite is I have no use for the other two front chain rings. I've been riding for three months and never used them. As I suspected, rather than being a good cyclist I'm simply not riding the bike properly and 'grinding' too much, although I'm unsure as to the extent I'm doing this.

I do feel more comfortable going up moderate hills in higher gears because I don't like spinning my feet too much and feel like by staying in higher gears I'm going faster, building more strength in my legs and generally getting more of a workout.

I was having a bit of a laugh with my show-off remark, I hope that came across... Sorry if it didn't.

With regard to the 'workout' bit - you just need to balance work out with knackering your knees. Spinning is generally better for your joints I think. No point being ultra fit, if your knees creak all the time...

 

[Riverman]

No worries.

This is the bitterne hill. I think for such a hill I should use the lower chain rings. However I'm convinced I need higher gearing than my highest gear for the flat and slight inclines. Thanks for the links.

 

[Riverman]

Incidently, do you think it's worth investing in a spedo that measures cadence?

 

[marinyork]

Personally no. I'd use sheldon's gear calculator. Put in 7 speed 7, put in 26-1.9 and so forth and that should tell you you're good upto getting upto about 28mph. So I doubt you're running out of gears in that sense.

Either middle or biggest cog 48/20, 38/20 should be fine if you're as fast as you say. What sort of mph are you doing up that hill. For those gear ratios you should be doing about 16mph up the slope or 13mph at 90rpm. I know which I'd use.

 

[RedBike]

I find the gearing is way too easy. I'm not a good cyclist at all. I'm confused though as I only use the top front chain ring, and unless there is a big hill I will stay on the highest gear for the whole of a ride.

Let see. Your top gear is 48/13
and your wheels with the 26x1.95 tyres have a circum' of about 2089mm

Pedalling at 110rpm you'd turn the wheel 110*48/13 = 406 times per min
Therefore you'd move 2.089*406 (852) meter/min or 51km/h. Thats about 32mph.
- In other words you DONT need higher gears you just need to learn to pedal a bit quicker!

I have tighened these up as much as I can but they always seem to stick. Thus, I seem to unwittingly be cycling against them for miles. I feel like the only thing I can do now is replace the brakes or try taking them apart.

I think you need to get these properly adjusted.

When I used to set mine up I would put a 2p coin between the pads and the rim to get the correct gap. If you spin the wheel it shouldn't touch the pads.

Another tip is to put an elastic band around both brake arms to hold the brakes on/inplace while you mess around with the cables / tightened everything up.

 

[Riverman]

I'm guessing but it feels around 10mph. I will get back to you on that as I've only just bought a computer.

I think this thread has gone down the wrong road lol. It was more about not having a high enough gear on the flat and straight. which I find quite annoying but I've ended up talking more about hills becuase of my reluctance to shift down to lower gears and spin more.

I'm really not a good cyclist and relatively unfit comapred to most of you so we should probably assume I'm in the wrong gear.

Perhaps the way forward is to try and use the lower gears more and spin more, whilst upgrading the bike to incoporate a few higher gears.

 

[marinyork]

You definitely don't need higher gears. You'd only need higher gears if you were constantly cruising around at high 20mphs on the flats. Unfortunately we can't help unless you tell us what gear and what speed you're doing something on. From what you've said you could be spinning at low as 40 or 50rpm. Or you could be doing 80 odd depending how far you flick down. You need some very exact measurements really.

We know it's a 13-15-17-20-24-29-34 and 48/38/28 though.

 

[Arch]

This isn't meant in any way to be rude, but I just want to make absolutely sure..

Your biggest (highest) gear is the biggest chainring (at the front) and the littlest sprocket (at the back). 3 on the front shifter and 7 on the rear. That is what you are referring to?

I'm just thinking that spinning out (or feeling you need higher gears) on the flat at 32 mph sounds a bit much, even for the fit people I know...

 

[Riverman]

Your biggest (highest) gear is the biggest chainring (at the front) and the littlest sprocket (at the back). 3 on the front shifter and 7 on the rear. That is what you are referring to?

Indeed that's the one. I'm clearly not riding my bike properly. I think it's going to take a long time to break this habit as I've been riding bikes like this for many years.

As you say there is no way that I should be spinning on that gear at that speed, so something is either very wrong with my bike or my idea of spinning is grinding.

On reflection I think I just feel more comfortable not having to spin too much and instead sticking to a higher gear. Naturally with this mentality, one would want higher gears to go faster.

 

[marinyork]

From what you've said you're doing one of two things - you're either spinningly insanely low in a massive gear or flipping down and spinning a bit on the low side.

It doesn't take too long to break the habit at all. It's also perfectly understandable if you have only just fitted a speedometer. I used to do exactly the same spinning along at about 40rpm in massive gears. Getting a speedometer and having a target cadence that works for you is the way to go. If you have poor pedalling technique you might want some clips. Until you work out what it is you need to get the speedometer on and learn some gear ratios and see what it's like at 80rpm, 90rpm, 100rpm and see which you prefer.

e.g. Going up the hill middle front, middle back you should be doing 13mph for cadence 90. If you're on 48/20 you'd be doing 16.5mph.