How many gears do you use???

[Bman]

I use all my gears.

Same.

Except the ones that interfere with my chainline

 

[Cubist]

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!

Big chainring small sprocket is OK, the trouble starts when you ride small chainring smallest sprocket, or big chainring largest sprocket.

 

[zigzag]

on my commuter i use 8, on a faster audax bike - 7. stock bikes come with way too many gears, imo.

 

[Lucheni]

Out of a possible 21, my bottom 3 gears and the middle 5 get most use. It's very rare for me to use the big ring at all. (This was fine until recently when I realised how low my gearing is. Ever since I've had a little gremlin on my shoulder telling me I ought to "upgrade" and get more top end. I'm not fit enough to use the top I've got!)

 

[Jonathing]

On my fixed I use 70.3 and it works very well on the terrain around here.

On my racer I use whichever one I need at the time.

 

[perplexed]

On the compact road bike, all of them.

On the hybrid, I've not used the granny ring for eons, but I use all the others.

 

[mrmacmusic]

Had my new bike for a month now and have just about become used to completely alien 'road' gearing – 30-42-52 up front and 12-25 at the back (8-speed cassette).

I'm really enjoying commuting (another new thing, 14 miles each way, 3 times this week!), but so far have found myself stuck spinning away in the middle ring and 5th or 6th at the back. This will see me pootling along at 16-20mph (depending on the wind), sometimes as much as 22mph, but I find I just can't sustain pushing the big ring. I do go to 7th occasionally, and try to introduce a bit of 'big ring action' every time I'm out to let the legs get used to it, but it's still feeling tough going

I do find I sometimes need to drop down to the small ring for hills too, but then I guess that's what the gears are there for, right? Hoping that the big ring will come as my legs get stronger, as I'd like to increase my average from 15.5mph up to 18+.

 

[adds21]

I use most of my gears, except the very lowest.

I always think, in an ideal world, you'd never use the highest, or lowest gear. If you do, it almost indicates your gearing is too high or too low.

Since riding fixed gear occasionally, I make a conscious effort to increase my cadence rather than my gear when on a geared bike.

 

[Klaus]

I use all my gears.

+1

High Wycombe & Chilterns are like a roller coaster!!!

 

[byegad]

27 gears doesn't mean you have 27 different gears. Most set ups have duplication or near duplication of some gears. Having a granny you don't normally use is, to me, a sensible precaution in case of high winds or chronic fatigue striking you.

 

[twobiker]

Having a triple and a granny, means you can tackle any hill or downhill you want, and can go off into uncharted territory knowing you have the tool for the job, less planning more adventure.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

I know this has probably been covered many times before but I'm a bit of a newbie! Was cycling to work this morning and realised that I only actually use about half of the gears that I have (13 of the 24)...is this normal or am I not making the most of the gearing???
Just in case anyone is interested I tend to use:
2, 3, 4, first chainring....have never needed the lowest granny!
9,10, 11, 12, 13, second chainring...mostly used on gentle gradients
20, 21, 22, 23, 24 third chainring...generally motoring along and of course going down hill!

Russ

I probably use 3 gears 90% of the time. My MTB has 37 and my road bike 14. The others are just moved through quickly to get me to the desired high or low gear.

 

[User16625]

Big chainring small sprocket is OK, the trouble starts when you ride small chainring smallest sprocket, or big chainring largest sprocket.

I only have a double so would it be so bad if I used the smallest chainring with the smallest sprocket? Im constantly switching chainrings. On a triple the angle would be greater but surely the effect is considerably smaller on a double chainring bike?

 

[Wades]

The secteur's got a 105 triple but I don't think i'd have spec'ed it that way if it hadn't of been such a bargain as I've never had any reason to use the granny ring up front.

I've probably used the rest of the range at some point though (if only because the novelty of the shifters hasn't worn off yet!)

 

[SquareDaff]

I've got the SRAM Rival. Have never used the cross over combinations. And never used 2nd on the small front. So 15 out of 20 for me. Realistically I regularly use about 8 gears and just spin.