How many gears do you use???

[adds21]

That be a 45%. Showing my age me thinks

A 1:1 would be 50%, or 45 degrees, I think!

 

[JonnyBlade]

Small front ring 2,3,4,5,6,7
Big front ring 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

 

[adds21]

A 1:1 would be 50%, or 45 degrees, I think!

Humm.. Or maybe 100%, or 45 degrees...

(so says wikipedia)

 

[danger mouse]

Humm.. Or maybe 100%, or 45 degrees...

(so says wikipedia)

I knew I should have qualified that answer

Qualified for being thick that it is

 

[ColinJ]

I only have 27 gears on my Basso so I have to make do with them!

(I'm still overgeared on the steepest climbs and undergeared for fast descents so it would be nice to have 30 or 33 gears. PS I am talking 25-30% climbs and 50+ mph descents.)

 

[Easytigers]

A few people saying that they use all gears...this may be a myth but thought I'd heard that it's not good to use the biggest chainring and the smallest on the cog and vice versa...is that true???
Not that I actually think about that much when I'm commuting...just use what feels right at the time!

 

[Matthew_T]

For some reason, I have got used to starting off on the big chainring, in the 3rd gear. It just seems comfortable to me. From then on, I normally use 2 gears on the flat (Sometimes use my highest when I have a strong tailwind). I only use the lower ones when I am going up steep hills, other wise I find it easier to be in bigger gears. It makes me feel like I am making more of an effort.

 

[Bicycle]

A few people saying that they use all gears...this may be a myth but thought I'd heard that it's not good to use the biggest chainring and the smallest on the cog and vice versa...is that true???
Not that I actually think about that much when I'm commuting...just use what feels right at the time!

Mechanically, it's not a happy thing to do as it gets the chain out of alignment.

In truth, however clever you are with the levers you will do it occasionally.

It doesn't make the whole plot fall to pieces, but most people try not to do it.

Similarly, one oughtn't turn the steering wheel of a car when not under way.... But people seem to do it.

And in a similar vein, reversing a car at speed into a busy major road is frowned upon.... but hands up who hasn't done that?

 

[Bigsharn]

Depends where I'm going, on my commute I use 3, but when I'm going out of town I use about 7

5,6,7 on middle ring for hills
4 (for spinning out) ,5,6,7(for descents) on the big ring

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I do most of my riding on fixed so have only one gear, on the geared bike I do most of my riding on the inner chain ring and I tend to use the bottom eight on the ten speed cassette on the back.

 

[biggs682]

russ on single speed bike i use 1 gear

on 3 speed sturmey archer i use 3 gears

on a bike equipped with more than 5 , more than likely only use 2 or 3 of them .

 

[Nebulous]

I tended to only use high gears, but since I've been reading up about it I've been using more.

On my road bike I have 18 gears and have pretty much used them all at times, though I try to avoid the two smallest cogs in the small ring and the two biggest cogs in the big ring. So effectively 14 gears. 90% of the time would be in the big ring though.

On my mountain bike that I commute on I used to pretty much only use 2, but again have broadened that out. It has 21 gears. I don't think it goes into the small ring - so I use:-

middle ring 2,3,4,5
big ring 5,6,7

so a total of 7 gears.

 

[mickle]

I do not know how to answer the question since I pedal a NuVinci CVP - I use all of my ratio? Each of my gear?

http://www.fallbrooktech.com/08_bicycle_home.asp

 

[Ian 74]

I tend to only use my easiest gear 39/-27 on stupid climbs 20% +. I use the rest of my gears as and when the road demands.

 

[HLaB]

On my utility bike I tend to cycle in the big ring (48t) with something between 11-30, I really should get round to sorting my front mech out so I could use one of the other chainrings . On my road bikes I tend to use all the rings & cogs, bar the big, big and small, small combos.