Gears.

[mrbadexample]

Can someone explain my gears to me please?

I've got 21 of them. I've got three round spiky things at the front, and seven round spiky things at the back. But what's what?

It would appear that if I'm in the big ring at the front, and I move through 1-7 at the rear, there is a larger difference between the ratios than if I move through 1-7 in the small ring at the front. That seems to be logical. I get that bit.

But if, for example, I'm in the lowest possible gear, and I want to move sequentially through each gear until I'm in the highest possible gear, what order do I go through them in?

I ask because at the moment I go in whatever seems comfortable. But I'm not able to know what gear I went up that last hill tiny slope in compared to the time before, so it's difficult to work out how much I'm improving.

Any tips for working it all out?

Cheers,
MBE

 

[malcermie]

Can someone explain my gears to me please?

I've got 21 of them. I've got three round spiky things at the front, and seven round spiky things at the back. But what's what?

It would appear that if I'm in the big ring at the front, and I move through 1-7 at the rear, there is a larger difference between the ratios than if I move through 1-7 in the small ring at the front. That seems to be logical. I get that bit.

But if, for example, I'm in the lowest possible gear, and I want to move sequentially through each gear until I'm in the highest possible gear, what order do I go through them in?

I ask because at the moment I go in whatever seems comfortable. But I'm not able to know what gear I went up that last hill tiny slope in compared to the time before, so it's difficult to work out how much I'm improving.

Any tips for working it all out?

Cheers,
MBE

I made up a chart with three columns for the three front rings with the amount of teeth for each one and seven rows with the rear teeth in each then I divided the rear teeth into the front teeth to give the ratios you can then see the overlap. On my 18 gear I use all the middle ring and the top two on the large ring and the bottom two on the small ring. Hope this helps
Malc

 

[guitarpete247]

You will find that some combinations of Spiky thing at the front and Spiky thing at the back will be the same (or as near as dammit). You really don't want to be having your chain go from little front to little back or big front to big back as this will put a degree of strain on your chain. I find that for a small gear ratio change if you go up one at the front, then go down one at the back. Or down at the front one and up at the back one.
You'll get the feel for the right gear soon enough.

 

[Peteaud]

http://bicycleuniverse.info/eqp/gears.html

 

[guitarpete247]

On this page from the CTC you can download a gear table. Some sites will have calculators to put in your own sprocket and chainring sizes. Rear Spiky thing is sprocket, Front Spiky thing is chainring.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

This is something that causes a lot of confusion with newish riders and the simple answer is that you don't go though all the gears sequentially. Although you theoretically have 21 gears, many of them overlap and it is bad practice to "cross" the chain (running it from the biggest ring on the front to biggest cog on the back or smallest ring to to smallest cog) as this causes excessive wear of the chain and in extreme cases could result in it breaking.

The gears on the front give you low, mid and high range gears:

• Low range (small chainwheel) gives you your serious climbing or off roading gears and with this selected you should only use the lowest 3 or 4 gears(largest cogs) on the rear.
• Mid range is your everyday set of gears - in mid range on the front you can safely use all the gears on the rear.
• High range (big chainwheel) gives you your gears for fast cruising & you should only use the 3 or 4 highest gears (smallest cogs) on the rear.

I hope this all makes sense.

 

[Jimmy Doug]

at the moment I go in whatever seems comfortable

Then you've understood gears! Just go in the gear you're comfortable in, and don't worry too much about sequencing gears - it's not a car! Having said that, as guitarpete says, it is very good practise to drop down one at the back if you've gone up one at the front - also, avoid the "forbidden combinations" - there are two of them - where the chain is put under abnormal strain (biggest front smallest back; smallest front biggest back). What's important in cycling is cadence - that is how many revs per min you do. You should aim to do between 60 and 90 per min. If you're doing more, change up a gear; if you're doing less, change down a gear. When you analyse it like that it does seem complicated, but you'll get the hang of it quickly enough!

 

[Nebulous]

Some gears overlap, and some are pretty much the same, so you don't have anything like 21 distinctly different gears.

One option is to get into the habit of using a few faithful ones and building on that if you need more, rather than just trying them all.

When commuting on my mountain bike, which had a similar set-up to yours, I used three on the middle sprocket 3,4 and 5 and three on the biggest sprocket 5,6 and 7 and that was about it.

On my road bike, which has 9 on the back I use 7 gears, 3 through to 9 and very rarely change onto the smaller front ring except on very steep hills. I can't remember the last time I changed it. That's possibly a bit extreme and I maybe need to use more, but it gives you an idea of what I mean.

 

[GentlyBenevolent]

Another vote for not "going up through the box" like you would on a car or motorbike. Think of it in terms of the chainrings giving you a general gear and the sprockets letting you fine-tune to suit the incline you're on.

If I'm going along the flat I might be in gear 14 or 15, but if I can see (or know) there's a section of uphill coming I might change into gear 7 (i.e. big to small chainring, but then up a gear or two to compensate). This will give me more scope to change down gears as I lose momentum going up the hills without having to do the big "jump" in ratios when I'm trying to use a bit of power to get up the hill.

Once I'm at the top of the hill, and it's downhill or flat for a bit then I'd be building momentum, changing up the gears on the back to about 4 and then going into the big chainring. There's no rules about what gear when and what gear next - I've given these numbers for example, but the only time I know what gear I'm in is when I try to change down/up one more and find I'm in the bottom/top gear already.

I've only got two chainrings and I'd consider going up the ratios sequentially to be OCD madness. I'd end up plaiting either my thumbs or the chain. With three chainrings you'd be concentrating so hard on that it'd take all the enjoyment out of the ride.

 

[mrbadexample]

Thanks all - there's some really helpful advice here. I would never have considered the additional strain on the chain in the "forbidden combinations", for example. It makes a lot of sense too. Makes me even more glad I asked the question!

I guess I'm actually getting the hang of it by instinct. For the first couple of weeks I didn't really come out of the middle chainring. I still don't, much, but I have found myself dropping into the smaller chainring when I see the road rising up in front of me - I know there's a good chance I'll need it. Same with a good downhill section - I know I'll run out of gears in the middle ring so change up to the big one.

I think it's the same with cadence. I know when I'm grinding to a halt, and I know when I can't pedal fast enough to keep up. So I change gear. I've absolutely no idea how many I'm doing per minute. Probably about 12.

 

[totallyfixed]

Can someone explain my gears to me please?

I've got 21 of them. I've got three round spiky things at the front, and seven round spiky things at the back. But what's what?

It would appear that if I'm in the big ring at the front, and I move through 1-7 at the rear, there is a larger difference between the ratios than if I move through 1-7 in the small ring at the front. That seems to be logical. I get that bit.

But if, for example, I'm in the lowest possible gear, and I want to move sequentially through each gear until I'm in the highest possible gear, what order do I go through them in?

I ask because at the moment I go in whatever seems comfortable. But I'm not able to know what gear I went up that last hill tiny slope in compared to the time before, so it's difficult to work out how much I'm improving.

Any tips for working it all out?

Cheers,
MBE

You must also read "The Keeper of The Cog" or the "Velominati" as it is known, see rule 90
http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/

 

[2Loose]

Then you've understood gears! Just go in the gear you're comfortable in, and don't worry too much about sequencing gears - it's not a car! Having said that, as guitarpete says, it is very good practise to drop down one at the back if you've gone up one at the front - also, avoid the "forbidden combinations" - there are two of them - where the chain is put under abnormal strain (biggest front biggest back; smallest front smallest back). What's important in cycling is cadence - that is how many revs per min you do. You should aim to do between 60 and 90 per min. If you're doing more, change up a gear; if you're doing less, change down a gear. When you analyse it like that it does seem complicated, but you'll get the hang of it quickly enough!

FTFY

 

[mrbadexample]

You must also read "The Keeper of The Cog" or the "Velominati" as it is known, see rule 90
http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/

I've read the rules, and I always climb in the big ring. That's the big spiky thing at the back, right?

 

[guitarpete247]

I've read the rules, and I always climb in the big ring. That's the big spiky thing at the back, right?

No. It's the big spiky thing at the front .

 

[Minotier]

I have found this table useful, just put your wheel size, numbers of teeth on your chainring/s and cassette range and it give you mph/kph as required.

http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/