what gear should i be using.

[terry_gardener]

when i had the hybrid i used the middle chainring as it provided the best range for the ride that i do, now that i have a road bike with a compact 50-34 i am confused which front ring i should be using.

at the moment and have been using 34 chainring and about the 3 - 6 on the back.

since I got the bike i have never used the 50 chainring for a period of time only to test to make sure it still moves to it smoothly.

so for general riding what gear should i be using mainly, i have attached one of my previous rides so you can see altitude and other stats.

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/163124406/1916033

 

[themosquitoking]

Sorry mate but i can't answer your question but it sounds like you've just changed bikes in a way i am about to change bikes. I hope you don't mind me asking but what did you have and what did you buy?

 

[terry_gardener]

Sorry mate but i can't answer your question but it sounds like you've just changed bikes in a way i am about to change bikes. I hope you don't mind me asking but what did you have and what did you buy?

i had a raleigh urban 2 (hybrid) and now have the cube agree sl. i have had the road bike for over a year but still don't know the answer.

 

[monkeylc]

surly you use what you're happy with?

 

[betty swollocks]

Use whichever gear feels most comfortable for you at any given time: there are no rules.
Try to avoid extreme crossovers of the chain ie big ring at front to perhaps two biggest at the back and small ring at the front to two smallest at the back.
http://sheldonbrown.com/gears.html
http://sheldonbrown.com/gear-theory.html

 

[themosquitoking]

i had a raleigh urban 2 (hybrid) and now have the cube agree sl. i have had the road bike for over a year but still don't know the answer.

Have you tried the big ring much?

 

[marzjennings]

Are you not pedaling down hill? Generally I find small front ring for going up, large front ring for the flat and downhill.

 

[monkeylc]

try moving up through the gears more,your avg speed is quite low.
when i got back on a bike properly about a year ago I used to pedal to a certain speed/gear and then free wheel. (pedal/free wheel/pedal/free wheel)
now I use the rest of the gears and just keep pedaling.
avg/top speed has gone up.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

try moving up through the gears more,your avg speed is quite low.
when i got back on a bike properly about a year ago I used to pedal to a certain speed/gear and then free wheel. (pedal/free wheel/pedal/free wheel)
now I use the rest of the gears and just keep pedaling.
avg/top speed has gone up.

Could be traffic, fromwhat I remember about endomondo, depending what you use to record, it didn't include stoppages

 

[albion]

One thing I did not do when younger was change gears for comfort enough.
Myself, I don't get warmed up in the first 5 miles so these I find hard going.

For me, I switched my road bike double to a triple 28/38/48.
The next change will be to a 22/32/44 chainset.

I use them all so that suits me.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

One thing I did not do when younger was change gears for comfort enough.
Myself, I don't get warmed up in the first 5 miles so these I find hard going.

For me, I switched my road bike double to a triple 28/38/48.
The next change will be to a 22/32/44 chainset.

I use them all so that suits me.

I did that, went from 30/40/52 to a 26/38/48 and a 34-13 rear, (later changed to 28/13 then 26/13) I am now going the other way, still the 26/38/48, but i spun out down hill @ about 27mph in 48/13 I now run the same front set but 24/11, which I did last wk (other factors here so might be the sole reason) but my avg speed since hasn't been below 14mph, before I was struggling to make 14mph.
When I started I even looked at changing the 7sp to 8 or 9, but to be honest with the 3 front rings I have plenty of range.

 

[jowwy]

i'm currently running 30/42/52 up front and 12/26 rear and i find the middle 42 i little too much for some climbs - so i'm changing it to a 38 and will probably change my top ring to a 48t to so i can get a better range - i'm not bothered about spinning out at the top end as its more for recreational riding than racing.

 

[ushills]

Whatever keeps your cadence up around 80 to 95 rpm, this generally should provide the greatest efficiency.

 

[ColinJ]

Whatever keeps your cadence up around 80 to 95 rpm, this generally should provide the greatest efficiency.

Sounds right to me. Just remember that you can get similar ratios using different combinations of ring and sprocket so choose the combination that gives you the straightest chainline.

i'm currently running 30/42/52 up front and 12/26 rear and i find the middle 42 i little too much for some climbs - so i'm changing it to a 38 and will probably change my top ring to a 48t to so i can get a better range - i'm not bothered about spinning out at the top end as its more for recreational riding than racing.

I had the same chainrings on my bike but found a 39 more usable as a middle ring than the 42. I changed the small ring to a 26 for some of the really steep hills that I encounter, but find that a bit low most of the time and an enormous step down from the 39 so I will change back to a 30 if I ever get reasonably fit again. I stuck with the same big ring, but changed to a 14-28 cassette so my top gear is limited too, but I can pedal it up to 30 mph or so and I don't do more than that unless I'm riding downhill and just freewheel above that speed.

 

[boydj]

Had the same problem with 50-34. Now it's 48-36, cruising on either ring is much easier. On the triple, I'm seldom out of the 42 middle ring.