Gears - simplified!

[kayajs24]

Has anyone got any general advice when it comes to using gears? There's a lot of articles online, but they're so long and tedious I lose interest! It might be that using gears needs a lot of explaining, but surely there are some unwritten rules and general tips that would be useful for a relative newbie?

My bike has 24 gears, I'm still building up at the moment, so only do around 6-7 miles every time I go out. I run occasionally, but I struggle with motivation and wanted to do something I'd actually enjoy (which I do!)

Thanks all.

 

[MontyVeda]

I tend to change gear, one at a time whenever i feel my legs are either spinning or pushing too much. If I feel i'm spinning (not doing enough work), I change to a higher gear... if i feel I'm pushing (doing too much work), I change to lower gear. It means changing gear a lot, but it works for me.

 

[welsh dragon]

What specific problems are you having?

 

[midliferider]

Read this...

There are two wheels connected by a chain.
You apply power or energy to wheel one. It makes the chain to move. That in turns makes the second wheel to rotate. Your second wheel is connected to the rear wheel of your bike. So your rear wheel rotate and the bike move.
Now by changing the sizes of these wheels, you can make your rear wheel to rotate faster or slower.
Imagine your front wheel is the same size as rear wheel. You rotate front wheel once and rear wheel rotate once.
Rear wheel is half the size of the front wheel. So you rotate front wheel once and rear wheel moves around twice.
Size of the wheels are given by the number of tooth it has.
You can now write that in a simple formula like this.
Front divided by rear equals to gear ratio.
Multiply that by the circumference of the wheel. That is how far wheel will go.

My front wheel has 3 rings. 50-39-30
Rear has 10 rings, smallest cog 12 and largest cog 30.

That gives you 30 possible combinations or 30 gears.
Now try to work out gear ratios for each one of those possibilities.
50/30 going up to 50/12 for front ring.
39/30 to 39/12
30/12 to 30/30.
Because of frictions, you can not use the extremes, large with large 50/30 or smallest with small 34/12.
Now if you did the maths you will see that you can achieve the same ratio by using the different combinations. So in reality you do not have 30 gears to use.
Now that you understand the basic maths, next time you go riding, you can use different combinations for different purposes more effectively.
If you are still confused, feel free to ask.

 

[Joshua Plumtree]

As MontyVeda said.

Try using a cadence sensor.

It's fairly flat where I live, so I spin at between 90-100 rpm regardless of terrain.

If, on a lumpy stretch, this cadence becomes too hard, then I drop down a gear(s). On the other hand, if it becomes too easy, and I'm over spinning above 100rpm, then I shift up.

 

[mcshroom]

Without the cadence sensor, just ride at a comfortable feeling pace and if it feels harder then switch down a gear and easier shift up one. Probably start in the middle ring at the front as that should cover most circumstances.

Don't worry about it too much just change when your body tells you to

 

[Crackle]

Try to avoid big outer with big rear and small inner with small rear. Other than that pick a gear which suits the speed you want to do on the terrain you're on and try to keep your cadence, the rate at which your legs go around, high enough so that you are not constantly grinding. If you feel it getting tough change to an easier gear.

The rest will follow with experience.

 

[kayajs24]

Thanks all, I do adjust depending on how much resistance I'm getting or how much I'm spinning, so I'm glad I've been doing that right!

What cadence sensor would you all recommend?

 

[smokeysmoo]

What cadence sensor would you all recommend?

I wouldn't TBH. IMO they're for elite athletes training for marginal gains, they do have a very short term novelty value for the average cyclist, but some people do like crunching numbers to the ninth degree.

In a nutshell, when you feel you legs are spinning too fast change down, when it's too hard change up.

If you've changed all the way down and your legs are still spinning out just buy a faster bike

 

[raleighnut]

^^^^^^ +1

 

[Deleted member 26715]

-1 I'm not an elite athlete never was never will be, I don't crunch numbers to 9th or even 6th degree but I do like my cadence sensor, I find that if I don't keep an eye on it then my spin slows & I end up grinding. I just find it focus's the mind when I first had one my average was 64, using it has brought it up to 80 & hopefully if I ever get back out on the bike higher. As to which one, that's your choice, it depends what you want, I was lucky enough to pick a brand new Garmin 800 up for £120 so I use that with a B'twin sensor.

Alan...

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

If it hurts too much change down a gear,if it still hurts change down again.

Cadence sensors

 

[DaveReading]

I'm still at the novelty stage with my new cadence sensor, and I agree I'll probably ditch it in due course, but for the time being I'm finding it makes a huge difference to my cycling by not letting it drop below about 90.

I'm sure my body will get to recognise optimum cadence without needing to read it off, but in the meantime my knees are very grateful.

 

[Big_Dave]

listen to what your body tells you, its the best sensor you have, it will let you know if your in the wrong gear by the amount of pain your legs are in. Cadence on a computer is just a number, e.g 80rpm, its how you use your gears efficiently to achieve that 80rpm, 80rpm down hill/on the flat is easy but trying to do 80rpm up a mountain side in the same gear as you did downhill is not.

 

[Joshua Plumtree]

I wouldn't TBH. IMO they're for elite athletes training for marginal gains, they do have a very short term novelty value for the average cyclist, but some people do like crunching numbers to the ninth degree.

In a nutshell, when you feel you legs are spinning too fast change down, when it's too hard change up.

If you've changed all the way down and your legs are still spinning out just buy a faster bike

Cadence sensors aren't for elite athletes only - don't be a numpty!

If anything, they're more beneficial to a beginner.

Very easy to instal and use and, if you're not yet at the stage where you can judge your own cadence, then a cadence meter is a useful tool for getting it right.

By all means ditch it when you're more experienced, but as a beginner it's a much easier way of learning how to spin the pedals effectively rather than trying to understand all the different gear ratio combinations.