Options to get higher gear ratios ?

Muahahaha

I've a Carrerra Subway with Shimano gears which I'm now finding are not in a high enough ratio for the power i can pedal at. It's quite frustrating that the bike can't seem to go any faster. Is there any easy options available to increase the ratio ? Would changing the rear cassette to have bigger cogs solve the problem ?

Zyzz

What's your current setup?

Ryath

You have mountain bike gearing and 26" wheels so you are undergeared compared to a road bike. It's smaller cogs on the rear cassette you would need but you already have a 11-32 and 11 is smallest you can get. The front crankset is your problem. You have a 42 chainring as your big ring road bikes usually have a 50 or 53. Your crankset does not have a standard size bcd so getting a bigger chainring would be hard/ uneconomical. You can get a shimano MTB crankset with a 48 ring a for probably less money. Would probably cost around €50 fitted in a bike shop.

Probably not worth it for the subway my advice save your money for a road bike in the future and learn to pedal faster for now. 42*11 pedalling at a cadence of 100 rpm is still 47.5kph.
My wife has a subway that I used a bit when I started back cycling 4 years ago it doesn't have the gearing for a sprint or a fast descent but I could still tip along at a nice pace on it. The seating position would be more limiting than the gearing. I still managed 20k in 45 minutes on it pretty soon after starting, a road bike was only 2 minutes faster first time I tried.

Lumen

That gearing is 7.6 with a 1.5in tyre.

Junior gearing in A3 is 7.93.

So you can only go 96% as fast as Eddie Dunbar. :-)

Muahahaha

Ryath wrote: »

You have mountain bike gearing and 26" wheels so you are undergeared compared to a road bike. It's smaller cogs on the rear cassette you would need but you already have a 11-32 and 11 is smallest you can get. The front crankset is your problem. You have a 42 chainring as your big ring road bikes usually have a 50 or 53. Your crankset does not have a standard size bcd so getting a bigger chainring would be hard/ uneconomical. You can get a shimano MTB crankset with a 48 ring a for probably less money. Would probably cost around €50 fitted in a bike shop.

Probably not worth it for the subway my advice save your money for a road bike in the future and learn to pedal faster for now. 42*11 pedalling at a cadence of 100 rpm is still 47.5kph.
My wife has a subway that I used a bit when I started back cycling 4 years ago it doesn't have the gearing for a sprint or a fast descent but I could still tip along at a nice pace on it. The seating position would be more limiting than the gearing. I still managed 20k in 45 minutes on it pretty soon after starting, a road bike was only 2 minutes faster first time I tried.

Thanks for that, explains it very well. In a nutshell I need an upgrade
I have been looking at road bikes recently but am keen to get one that had flat handlebars as drops aren't for me. However there are occasions where I do want to get low in a head wind so was thinking of adding clip on aero bars to for that purpose.
I was taking a look at the Giant Rapid range and also Cannondale too. Are there others that make flat bar road bikes too ?

Cee-Jay-Cee

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thanks for that, explains it very well. In a nutshell I need an upgrade
I have been looking at road bikes recently but am keen to get one that had flat handlebars as drops aren't for me. However there are occasions where I do want to get low in a head wind so was thinking of adding clip on aero bars to for that purpose.
I was taking a look at the Giant Rapid range and also Cannondale too. Are there others that make flat bar road bikes too ?

Most bike manufacturers make flat bar/hybrid bikes so you'll have plenty of choice.

Brian?

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thanks for that, explains it very well. In a nutshell I need an upgrade
I have been looking at road bikes recently but am keen to get one that had flat handlebars as drops aren't for me. However there are occasions where I do want to get low in a head wind so was thinking of adding clip on aero bars to for that purpose.
I was taking a look at the Giant Rapid range and also Cannondale too. Are there others that make flat bar road bikes too ?

Drops are for you, you just don't know it yet.

Why do you think you don't want drops?

Muahahaha

Brian? wrote: »

Drops are for you, you just don't know it yet.

Why do you think you don't want drops?

I think for two main reasons, I had lower back pain a few years back and still get it intermittently so prefer to keep a more upright position, even if it means I'm less aerodynamic.

The other is that the type of cycling routes I do is a kind of a mix between long stretches in the countryside where I want a road bike with good speed but then I get to more urban areas,cycle paths, parks, etc basically all types of different terrain where I just prefer the added control of flat handlebars over narrower drops.

Going forward in my cycling I think I'm ready for longer trips so I want to up the speeds I can achieve and the current bike I have isn't quite up to it. On top of that the frame size is slightly too small for me so I'm ready to upgrade when funds allow, though will likely be buying second hand.

I've done some research and came across the Boardman Comp which I think is everything I'm after, a hybrid that is mostly road bike but has flat handlebars.
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/hybrid/hybrid_comp.html

iamtony

What tyre pressure are you putting in the bike? I use a cheap mountain bike at the moment and I'm getting a road bike Monday week so all my questions of mtb vrs road will be answered.

The reason im asking about the tyre pressure is I used to run mine at about 40 psi and I weight mid 80kg's and I put the pressure up to 60psi-65psi and it made a Huge difference to my speed and time.
Well not only that loosing weight and gaining experience helped too.
I average 22kph including big hills but on flat surfaces I usually average about 28 and on inclines over 30kph and I've hit 60kph coming down big hills.
Hope this helped.

Brian?

Muahahaha wrote: »

I think for two main reasons, I had lower back pain a few years back and still get it intermittently so prefer to keep a more upright position, even if it means I'm less aerodynamic.

Your position on the bike has little to do with the types of bars, you can set a road bike up to be fairly upright and comfortable. You understand that most people rarely actually use the drops? I used the drops for control descending and sprinting, I'd say about 10% of any cycle.

If you get lower back pain, fixing that should be a priority anyway.

The other is that the type of cycling routes I do is a kind of a mix between long stretches in the countryside where I want a road bike with good speed but then I get to more urban areas,cycle paths, parks, etc basically all types of different terrain where I just prefer the added control of flat handlebars over narrower drops.

It's funny, I've heard this argument a few times and I don't buy it. Next time you see a bike courier, check out his bars. I'd put money on it he has flat bars about 12 inches wide.

Plenty of people cycle in the city with drops. It's no reason to sacrifice the benefits.

Going forward in my cycling I think I'm ready for longer trips so I want to up the speeds I can achieve and the current bike I have isn't quite up to it. On top of that the frame size is slightly too small for me so I'm ready to upgrade when funds allow, though will likely be buying second hand.

I've done some research and came across the Boardman Comp which I think is everything I'm after, a hybrid that is mostly road bike but has flat handlebars.
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/hybrid/hybrid_comp.html

This board is full of people who bought hybrids and regretted it. If you're cycling on the road, a road bike is the optimal setup. A hybrid is never a better option for road cycling, it's a compromise.

Edit: funny that the hybrid you linked is set up like a road bike. Bars lower than the saddle.

Muahahaha

Brian? wrote: »

It's funny, I've heard this argument a few times and I don't buy it. Next time you see a bike courier, check out his bars. I'd put money on it he has flat bars about 12 inches wide.

Plenty of people cycle in the city with drops. It's no reason to sacrifice the benefits.



This board is full of people who bought hybrids and regretted it. If you're cycling on the road, a road bike is the optimal setup. A hybrid is never a better option for road cycling, it's a compromise.

Edit: funny that the hybrid you linked is set up like a road bike. Bars lower than the saddle.

I don't think it is about 'buying the argument' about which type of handlebar is better because it's just that for some people, including myself, the width offered by a flat handlebar will feel more stable and comfortable for riding and is therefore better for some people. I just prefer wider handlebars than the profile of drops- my motorbike is a cruiser with 3ft wide bars which also suits me over a sports bike with much narrower handlebars. When choosing a motorbike I did so for similar reasons, I prefer wider handlebars.

Also some of the riding I do is slightly off road, unsealed forest paths with tree roots popping up out of the ground, etc It's not a majorly long section of my route but I love hurtling through it at speed but knowing I'm in 100% control as I'm battling with the front wheel to keep it straight when it bounces up off the bumps. A wide flat handlebar lets me maintain control over rough terrain at speed whereas if I was using drops I know there's a good chance I'd lose control of the bike -I'm sure many others would be able to do it and hold control but I'll be in that 10% who'd come flying off. Another section of my route I cycle up a set of three steps, again I'm sure others could manage this using drops but again I wouldn't feel stable doing so using narrower handlebars.

So I guess there's all types of reasons why I prefer wider flat bars. I do take on what you're saying about people only using the actual drops 10% of the time when they can be very handy for cycling into a head wind. To that end I'd probably consider installing clip on Aerobars later if I feel the need. But for now I don't feel it, maybe I will when the summer passes and winds get stronger.

Brian?

Muahahaha wrote: »

I don't think it is about 'buying the argument' about which type of handlebar is better because it's just that for some people, including myself, the width offered by a flat handlebar will feel more stable and comfortable for riding and is therefore better for some people. I just prefer wider handlebars than the profile of drops- my motorbike is a cruiser with 3ft wide bars which also suits me over a sports bike with much narrower handlebars. When choosing a motorbike I did so for similar reasons, I prefer wider handlebars.

Also some of the riding I do is slightly off road, unsealed forest paths with tree roots popping up out of the ground, etc It's not a majorly long section of my route but I love hurtling through it at speed but knowing I'm in 100% control as I'm battling with the front wheel to keep it straight when it bounces up off the bumps. A wide flat handlebar lets me maintain control over rough terrain at speed whereas if I was using drops I know there's a good chance I'd lose control of the bike -I'm sure many others would be able to do it and hold control but I'll be in that 10% who'd come flying off. Another section of my route I cycle up a set of three steps, again I'm sure others could manage this using drops but again I wouldn't feel stable doing so using narrower handlebars.

So I guess there's all types of reasons why I prefer wider flat bars. I do take on what you're saying about people only using the actual drops 10% of the time when they can be very handy for cycling into a head wind. To that end I'd probably consider installing clip on Aerobars later if I feel the need. But for now I don't feel it, maybe I will when the summer passes and winds get stronger.

I can see what you're saying. Subjectively you think flat bars are better. Objectively a drop bar road bike is better. There's a reason drops have been on racing bikes for so long.

Fair enough, you want to do a bit of off road. But you have a mountain bike you can use for that.

Basically to me, I really don't see why you'd pick a compromise set up, as in a hybrid, when there's nothing to stop you picking the right bike.

Raam

How wide do you want your handlebars? You can get drops which are 46cm wide and possibly you can get wider. They kinda look a little like this lad, but the other way around.



This hand position is probably by far the most comfortable on a bike.



As said, most people don't actually use the drops save for a few bits of a cycle. I hardly ever use them

Brian?

Raam wrote: »

This hand position is probably by far the most comfortable on a bike.



As said, most people don't actually use the drops save for a few bits of a cycle. I hardly ever use them

This position is most ergonomic as well, wrist in a fairly neutral position.