GearChoice/Ratio - Need to know, embarassed to ask!!!

ROK ON

Folks,
I have been cycling since I was 5, and have never really understood gear choice. It almost seems embarassing to ask.

There would seem to be an optimum set of gears used by the average cyclist on the avergage road trip. I have checked all over the web, but many articles on bicycle gear choice are highly complicated for my simple brain. I have always used just what felt comfortable, but feel there must be more to it than this?


Can someone explain, what the basics of gear choice are. I presume all the numbers referred to in the various web articles refer to the teeth on the front and read cog???
If anyone has a weblink to an easy to understand article, then this would suffice instead of an explanation.

If its any help, I have a triple chain ring with 9 rear cogs.

Gavin

As I understand it the general idea is you pick a cadence you are comfortable with. That is, you turn the cranks at a certain rate. As you encounter different terrain, you change the gearing so as you can maintain that particular cadence.

AndyP

ROK ON wrote: »

Folks,
I have been cycling since I was 5, and have never really understood gear choice. It almost seems embarassing to ask.

There would seem to be an optimum set of gears used by the average cyclist on the avergage road trip. I have checked all over the web, but many articles on bicycle gear choice are highly complicated for my simple brain. I have always used just what felt comfortable, but feel there must be more to it than this?


Can someone explain, what the basics of gear choice are. I presume all the numbers referred to in the various web articles refer to the teeth on the front and read cog???
If anyone has a weblink to an easy to understand article, then this would suffice instead of an explanation.

If its any help, I have a triple chain ring with 9 rear cogs.

Nope, not really much to it, all about where you feel comfortable. Some people are twiddlers and some are grinders and more are somewhere in between.

blorg

There is a lot of contradictory information about this but many beginning cyclists probably do cycle at too low a cadence. Here's one take on it but there are also studies that suggest lower cadences are most efficient. Finally there is this, suggesting that yes, it does depend on the person but that 80-100 RPM would be seen as typical. Personally I tend to do 80 RPM when on my own but around 90 RPM with a group.

omri

I for example go 100-110. 70-90 would be on harder gear or while climbing.

irishmotorist

I wouldn't have a particularly technical approach, but I would just say to go with what feels comfortable to yourself.

I think I read once (Lance Armstrong training?) that if you spin at a higher cadence and lower gear then it will work your heart harder. I would guess then that if you're pushing a harder gear the balance would be more towards the muscles.

In order to help your chain, avoid the dredded crossover gear - big front/back or small front/back. There'll be a combination in the middle ground that will give you similar resistance/cadence.

I've got a triple ring on the front and 8 on teh back and I try to keep my chain as straight as possible, so will typically use combinations something like the following. It makes sense to me from a cadence/resistance point of view to group them like this.
Big chain wheel with the 4 smallest on the back.
Middle chain wheel with the middle 4 and perhaps stretching to middle 6 occasionally.
Small chain wheel with the biggest 3 on the back.