What gear to select?

[mobi]

My bike has total 3x5 gears

Low Medium High (largest sprocket) on front
1 2 3 4 5 (smallest sprocket) on rear

Currently I mostly use L3 or L4. Is that right? I ride on level ground.


Is there any rule or just personal preference? What's the best setting on riding on level road?

Thanx

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

No doubt someone will be along shortly to give you the science bit, but until then my suggestion is to go with what feels comfortable. The recommendation usually is that you "spin" the pedals: try to maintain a pedalling speed of around 90 pedal revolutions per minute. Well, actually I think between 80-100 is OK.

Apparently, most inexperienced riders tend to pedal too slowly, pushing too high a gear, which is not good for your knees. I was in that category until ..

I noticed that days when I "took it easy" going to work (basically, using a slightly lower gear) were faster than days when I tried to go fast, using a higher gear. A bit of googling later and I realised what was going on.

I measured my "cadence" (which is what the pedalling rpm is known as) on an easy day as about 90-95rpm by using the stopwatch on my cycle computer, counting how many times I turned the pedal in say 10 or 15 seconds and multiplying up appropriately. So I was happy with that 'cos it felt comfortable and worked best for me. And as a bonus was in the "recommended range".

So I stick with that .. course, as my legs have got stronger I can now hold that cadence in a higher gear and so get to work quicker.

One thing to avoid is using low gear at the front, high at the back, and vice versa 'cos it crosses your chain up and makes it unhappy.

 

[4F]

My bike has total 3x5 gears

Low Medium High (largest sprocket) on front
1 2 3 4 5 (smallest sprocket) on rear

Currently I mostly use L3 or L4. Is that right? I ride on level ground.


Is there any rule or just personal preference? What's the best setting on riding on level road?

Thanx

Ride whatever you feel most comfortable with. I like to ride with a cadence of about 70 so obviously choice of gear depends on the terrain.

 

[4F]

One thing to avoid is using low gear at the front, high at the back, and vice versa 'cos it crosses your chain up and makes it unhappy.

Taking into account the op has a 5 gear triple I cannot really see that being a problem.

 

[joebe]

You'll find that there's overlap between the gears depending on what chain wheel (the big cog) you're on, i.e small 5 may be similar to medium 2. The rule of thumb is to try and keep the chain in a reasonably straight line, eg Small 1,2,3; medium 1,2,3,4,5; large 3,4,5. If you run at one extream (small 5, or large 1) shifting won't be as smooth and there's more chance of the chain coming off.

Oh and re Cadence - Lazy C is bang on

 

[joebe]

Taking into account the op has a 5 gear triple I cannot really see that being a problem.

Still an issue on a 5 speed cassette. Just because the chain's thicker doesn't mean it won't come off

 

[Over The Hill]

Firstly remember that although you have 15 gears (3x5) you do not have a range of 15 gears. Each set of 5 will cross over with the next.

The front cog will set your range and then the back will adjust for the slope or flat.

If you are in the smallest ring on the front then that is the one that will make hills easier but the pedals may go round too much on the flat.

Try putting the front cogs on middle and then use only the back range for most of the time (bigger on back for hills). Drop the front down to small cog for steep uphill bits again with the back on bigger.

Smallest on the front is easiest while biggest on the back is easiest (=to first gear on a car)

If you are a bit out of shape or carrying a bit of weight then you may need to be in the small ring most or all the time until you build yourself up a bit.

As you progress you may then go onto the big ring- especially for a blast along a downhill bit. 35mph on a bike is fantastic!

 

[snorri]

Ride whatever you feel most comfortable with. I like to ride with a cadence of about 70 so obviously choice of gear depends on the terrain.

I had never bothered to count my cadence before, but after reading this thread in the morning....did some random checks on my 20 mile leisure trip this afternoon and found I was tootling along quite comfortably on a fairly level road at about 12-14mph with a cadence of about 60.
Some will say I should try harder, but I don't like to perspire.

 

[Willow]

Excuse the lack of technicality here - so what happens when you start to run out of gears on the big cog and find yourself rarely using the little cog. This seems to have happened relatively quickly in my new lease of cycling life does that mean I'll need different gearing or do you just cycle like that and make your legs rotate faster! I sometimes feel like I need another couple of gears and am surprised I've got to the end of them. My route incidently is very up and down (A246 leatherhead to guildford for anyone that knows it)

 

[Over The Hill]

I had never bothered to count my cadence before, but after reading this thread in the morning....did some random checks on my 20 mile leisure trip this afternoon and found I was tootling along quite comfortably on a fairly level road at about 12-14mph with a cadence of about 60.
Some will say I should try harder, but I don't like to perspire.

I agree with earlier threads - do what is right for you. But I am not sure you are getting it from your last line.

It is not a matter of pedalling faster in the same gear (=work harder) it is that you change to an easier gear (legs go round more but they put in a bit less work on each turn= same effort, just applied in a different way.

They say that a newbie tends to pedal slower but in a harder gear. I think this then tires the muscles more and can mess up your knees. I found it useful on rides to drop down a gear from my usual to see how it felt. I now do ride in lower gears and pedal a bit faster than I did. But I certainly dont put in any more effort.

 

[marinyork]

Mobi and willow, what are the teeth numbers on the front and rear?

Sheldon has a great page

http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/ unfortunately it doesn't cover 5s which is why I asked.

 

[fossyant]

Cadence of 60 or 70...noooooooo

Grinders !!!!

 

[mobi]

I need count the teeth

 

[marinyork]

I agree with earlier threads - do what is right for you. But I am not sure you are getting it from your last line.

It is not a matter of pedalling faster in the same gear (=work harder) it is that you change to an easier gear (legs go round more but they put in a bit less work on each turn= same effort, just applied in a different way.

They say that a newbie tends to pedal slower but in a harder gear. I think this then tires the muscles more and can mess up your knees. I found it useful on rides to drop down a gear from my usual to see how it felt. I now do ride in lower gears and pedal a bit faster than I did. But I certainly dont put in any more effort.

I used to do this. I think you can get away with big gears if you live somewhere flat such as York, Guildford, Bristol, Cambridge where ever. As soon as you get somewhere slightly hilly it punishes your knees. After pedalling back in lower gears I'm in the position of having to flick back up to grow the muscles now I'm happy with the lower ones and climatised to more hills.

It is worth checking I think. I was doing something like 45rpm in the past.

 

[Over The Hill]

Excuse the lack of technicality here - so what happens when you start to run out of gears on the big cog and find yourself rarely using the little cog. This seems to have happened relatively quickly in my new lease of cycling life does that mean I'll need different gearing or do you just cycle like that and make your legs rotate faster! I sometimes feel like I need another couple of gears and am surprised I've got to the end of them. My route incidently is very up and down (A246 leatherhead to guildford for anyone that knows it)

Find steeper hills!

If you have a mountain bike then you will run out of gears on the road as they are often set with a fairly low range for - well mountains and off road stuff. Sort of like a tractor.
If you are on the road then get a bike for the road! You should then find you will not run out of gears until you are doing 40mph!
I run out of gears on my fold up and mountain bike on the road but hardly go into top gear on my racer.