Mo1959
Legendary Member
- Location
- Perthshire,Scotland
Yep, I think it will soon be time to think about a 30 or 32 tooth on the back for meYup - it's pretty elusive that even lower gear!
What's the point of having lots of gears? (21, 24, 27, etc)
- Thread starter Thursday guy
- Start date
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A wide range of gears is to cater for crawling up a steep hill at less than 4mph and going down the other side at over 40mph. Multiple gears help you to keep a comfortable pedal cadence regardless of speed.
KneesUp
Guru
It was quite normal for 'sports bikes' in the 80s and 90s to have 10 gears - a five speed block and two chainrings. Of course this had some duplication, whereby, for example, the smaller chainring and one of the smaller cogs at the back would produce almost the same gear ratio as the larger chainring with one of the larger cogs at the back - so in effect you had 7 or 8 gear ratios like the bike you tried. The only difference now is that all 8 are on one cassette so you only need one chainring.
That works perfectly well if you live somewhere flat, undulating or not too hilly, and/or if you don't carry much luggage. When I had such a bike in Manchester I never felt the need for any more gears. When I took the same bike to Wales I really wanted some lower gears, and I would have liked a higher one too, but I wouldn't have wanted to have bigger gaps between the middle gears. I currently ride 21 gears somewhere quite hilly and although my bike is slightly under-geared (i.e. I don't use the lowest few but I can't pedal fast enough downhill) that seems to be enough (I just need bigger chainrings)
That works perfectly well if you live somewhere flat, undulating or not too hilly, and/or if you don't carry much luggage. When I had such a bike in Manchester I never felt the need for any more gears. When I took the same bike to Wales I really wanted some lower gears, and I would have liked a higher one too, but I wouldn't have wanted to have bigger gaps between the middle gears. I currently ride 21 gears somewhere quite hilly and although my bike is slightly under-geared (i.e. I don't use the lowest few but I can't pedal fast enough downhill) that seems to be enough (I just need bigger chainrings)
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Thursday guy
Active Member
I would say the hill I was cycling in is around 7 degrees. Not the steepest, but the thing is that I found that at the lowest gears on both 8 gear and 21 gear bikes, they 'felt' the same in terms of how difficult it was to pedal. I'm not entirely sure, but that would suggest that for inclines even higher, there would be no difference between the bikes is there?
iggibizzle
Senior Member
- Location
- blackpool
The smallest gear on my 7speed elswick is about the same as 4th on smaller ring on other bikes I've found. Had no choice when faced with a hill but to suffer at 1st. But now glad of it. Fly up them while people used to having more spin away at a snails pace. Wouldn't mind another higher gear tho. Find myself spinning out on long flat roads.
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Thursday guy
Active Member
Yeah the 21 gear bike I rode has 3 chainrings. So if I go from 1 to 2 on the chainring, I drop from a 7 to a 5 on the cassette? Why do you only drop back 2 gears on the cassette? (this is the sprockets shifter, right?)
Either way though, there's still the extra fuss of changing one shifter and then having to change the other one.
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Thursday guy
Active Member
Are you saying that the lowest gear on your 7speed elswick is not quite as low as the others, meaning that it was tougher to pedal on an uphill climb?
I don't understand why you're now able to fly up them while other people with 21/24/27 gear bikes spin away at snail pace? If its tougher to pedal, wouldn't you be even slower than the other people?
What type of cycling do you intend to do? I only ride to keep fit, never to commute, nor tour, or even day trips.
A 2 hour ride of say 35 miles twice a week with maybe a shorter fast one thrown in is my style now Len down the road rides his bike at 10mph for 3 miles along the Sustrans route to the pub 3 times a week.
Different horses, I would suggest that you do not buy anything that you feel is complicated, as this may be enough to put you off riding it.
A 2 hour ride of say 35 miles twice a week with maybe a shorter fast one thrown in is my style now Len down the road rides his bike at 10mph for 3 miles along the Sustrans route to the pub 3 times a week.
Different horses, I would suggest that you do not buy anything that you feel is complicated, as this may be enough to put you off riding it.
iggibizzle
Senior Member
- Location
- blackpool
Because I'm used to going up in a higher gear compared to them. They are only used to low low gears. So I can go faster up the hills. Hurts tho!! But then where is the challenge if it doesn't 
Chainring up front, cassette at the back.
Your dropping from 7 to 5, as you say, is 2 gears surely?
On my Winter bike with 34-50 up front and 11-28 it's actually 3 gears if I wanted to naturally step up by only 1 gear, but I swap chainrings by judging the terrain ahead and only change 2 gears usually and therefore step up or down 2 gears. This is usually on the lead up to a steeper climb, so that I am already getting my cadence right for heart rate to adjust, before dropping further gears as the climb gets steeper. It certainly works better than leaving it until your desperate to get the lower gear ratios and putting loads of strain on body and bike.
It sounds complicated, but it is second nature. I flick the right shifter twice and the left shifter once shortly after. Other way round works too, it's that quick.
My 105 setup equates to:
34 front and 14 back is a ratio of 2.43. 59 front and 19 back is a ratio of 2.63. Hence 3 gears changed and 1 gear step up. I just go from 14 to 17 though and get a 2 gear step up.
I suspect that those who think it's overkill are looking at it wrong. It's not the total gears that matters, it's the range. By have a single chainring, you miss out on the highest and lowest gears.
Try going up the 20% hill we did yesterday in South Wales using 3 gears...
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
I could go up with 3 gears... but I'd pick a low 3! Have I mentioned I lived at the foot of a 25% for 6 years? You can do Ventoux on a London hire bike...
Searching is when you're convinced there's an ideal gear for the conditions lurking in there somewhere to keep you near a comfy 90 cadence and keep shifting up and down to find it, slowing yourself down as you ease off to shift, instead of just getting on with mashing or spinning as you would on a simpler bike.
Don't even need to be new: it's not unusual for me to forget I'm riding the 3x7 instead of the 1x6 or 3 speed (especially if I rode them last) and make a Horlicks of a gear change... that's what I meant by getting lost.
Searching is when you're convinced there's an ideal gear for the conditions lurking in there somewhere to keep you near a comfy 90 cadence and keep shifting up and down to find it, slowing yourself down as you ease off to shift, instead of just getting on with mashing or spinning as you would on a simpler bike.
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Nigelnaturist
Guru
- Location
- Pontefract
@Thursday guy just use them, you will get used to them, I have a triple 10sp, with plenty of range high to low gears, the way I have it set up, I changed the shifters in July from a 9sp rear to 10sp and done nearly 3,000 miles without any real hassle, other than making sure the cables are clean, I set it it all up myself and being a 10sp triple is supposedly the most trickiest to set, it's all B.S. aimed at making you buy the latest gear (which the compact double is favourite at the moment and it a dogs boll*** of a set up, well set up with a 34th ring it is), a 38-40th front ring and a good range on the back will give you plenty of scope on a single chainring
And Happy New Year.
And Happy New Year.
T.M.H.N.E.T
Rainbows aren't just for world champions
- Location
- Northern Ireland
To discover why, you would have to objectively ride a modern 20/22 or 30 speed road bike and try it without the prejudice of "why so many gears"
i pretty much went from a mtb with 18 to one with 27, i seem to have found my knack with the 27 now, preferred gears ect i think the biggest improvement over the 18 is the ability for having the smaller increments between gear changes.
saying that unless im knackered on the way back from a ride ill take the steepest hills at no lower than 5th gear, then 10 and 12 for basic cruising which goes up to 18 i think switching to the biggest ring on front then if i get speed going from there ill run through the rest of the gears on the rear derailuer till i slow down.
so not actually using all 27 but i never used all 18 on my old bike either, just found ones i like for different situations and go between them pretty much while mantaining the speed i want.
oh my old 18 gear bike topped out around 20 mph, new one with 27 is noticeably faster eg 32.4 mph on downhills and just had much thinner less grippy tires fitted so that should increase
saying that unless im knackered on the way back from a ride ill take the steepest hills at no lower than 5th gear, then 10 and 12 for basic cruising which goes up to 18 i think switching to the biggest ring on front then if i get speed going from there ill run through the rest of the gears on the rear derailuer till i slow down.
so not actually using all 27 but i never used all 18 on my old bike either, just found ones i like for different situations and go between them pretty much while mantaining the speed i want.
oh my old 18 gear bike topped out around 20 mph, new one with 27 is noticeably faster eg 32.4 mph on downhills and just had much thinner less grippy tires fitted so that should increase
