"Harris" wrote in message
. net...

"Ken Bessler" wrote:

It's my first road bike, with 700x23 mm tires
rated for 115 psi (Yikes!!!). A local bike dealer suggested
running with 85-90 psi untill I lost more weight - he was
worried that I'd be breaking spokes.

He's insane. Heavier riders should rum higher pressure to avoid pinch
flats
from pot holes, etc. Run them at 115 psi. If you replace the tires,
consider
700x25 or 700x28 if they will fit the frame. Then you can run a little
less
pressure, and enjoy a more comfortable ride.

Herin lies the problem - I'm running out of gear - I mean
on a slight downhill or with a tailwind I top out at
about 23-25 mph and I feel like I need more gearing.
I'm in 10th gear and peddaling like mad and my legs
feel like I'm in 5th gear or so.

How fast are you pedaling? Most experienced cyclists can spin 100+ rpms.
Even with a 52x13 gear ratio, that should get you around 30 mph. That kind
of gearing was standard for years. Today, taller gears (53x12 or 53x11)
are
sometimes used. I'd recommend keeping what you've got. Work on developing
a
smooth spin.

Art Harris


Thanks, Art - developing a higher spin rate (around 95) seems to
be the general concensus. I'll work on that. At my current fitness
level I'm running about 60-70 but I didn't know about cadence
so I was selecting gears based on effort. This meant I was running
a faster gear selection and lower cadence. I'm going out today
to buy a Cateye Astrale 8 computer with cadence. I was planning
on using my high end ($339.00) GPS unit to tell me speed and
via a chart I made to tell me cadence based on MPH vs gear
selection but I figgured that might be a little distracting. I'll use
the Astrale for cadence and the GPS for speed, distance to
destination, mapping, points of interest and eta. BTW the GPS
unit is a Garmin Etrex Vista. I can look up my local bike shop
and get the range, eta, address, phone # and plot it on the map!

Also, my tube is a 700x23 but I just looked and my tire is a
700x25 - is that a problem?

Ken