Getting Slick with the Gears

[getfit]

I have recently been doing my rides on the top chain ring (48) and using the 8 ring cassette. This made me feel that I was achieving something! However after working out the exact ratio gearing I have started using the middle chain ring (36) and by double shifting, by this I mean when going up to the big chain ring I also change down on the cassette and the opposite on the way down.

What a difference it has made, the riding seems so much smoother and the chain isn't under so much side pressure. I'm sure this is obvious to you guys but a real revelation to me.

Really enjoying the riding out, going to tackle the commute to work soon.
GF

 

[Paulus]

Hi there, you will soon work out how to use the gears to get a better ride. It is advisable though not to use the big chainring at the front and the largest cog at the back, and the smallest chainring at the front and the smallest cog at the back too much as, as you have noticed, the chain is stretched at an angle across the gears and will tend to wear out both chain and cogs quickly.

 

[2Loose]

If your rear cogs are quite widely spaced then 'double shifting' can mean that it feels like each gear change is less of a step up or down when you do it, resulting in more consistent leg speed and therefore less straining on a change up.

 

[jimboalee]

If you have a nicely thought out gearset, you might have a 3 - 4" step on the small ring combinations, a 5 - 6" step on middle ring combinations and a 7 - 8" step on large ring combinations.

There is also scope to swap from ring to ring and sprocket to sprocket to get intermediate gears between the normal progression of ratios. But you need a memory like a genius to remember them all. At the end of a 200 km hilly rando, you won't be able to remember the normal set-up.

MachineHead has a good visual software package to sus the gearing on ya' bike.

 

[Woz!]

Am I alone in hating the front mech? I find it a pain in the arse to think about it and I'd prefer a single ring at the font as I tend to ignore it anyway.
The shifter travel required to get the front ring to change is always too big for a start.

 

[tandemman]

Get a Rohloff

 

[Randochap]

Am I alone in hating the front mech?

Maybe not alone, but certainly in the minority.

What's to hate? It's just a shifter and it gives more gear options.

 

[Browser]

Get a Rohloff

No thanks, she did that the other night 'cos I asked if her wrinkles were getting stretch marks !

They're a sneaky piece of kit aren't they. Mind you, at £870+ for one they need to be!!

 

[Trumpettom001]

I'm with you Moz!! - Even after I swapped my old 8 speed MTB really low gear casette to a 9 speed fairly high bottom gear - I still never take the front out of third - the only exception is when I have an RC plane in one hand - cycling up a hill one handed standing up is beyond me...

 

[2Loose]

Sounds like you guys need a proper hill! I stay on the top ring until I get half way home, then the hill means a quick trip down one on the front ring, and then again two hundred yards later or else I would be stationary!

 

[cheadle hulme]

No thanks, she did that the other night 'cos I asked if her wrinkles were getting stretch marks !

Actually, just learn to count your own cadence, then change gear till you're close to it. Its amazing how much time I spend on a 34t these days!

 

[Trumpettom001]

Ohhh I yeaaaarrrnnn for a hill - Leamington is sooo boringly flat - you never get 30mph for 5 min descents around here - I don't think I've ever hit 30 for more that twenty seconds at a time...