How important is gear ratio to climbing?

So on my bike I recently discovered my back chain/cassette were shot. I
took them to the LBS and they swapped in a higher-end cassette with a
lower gear ratio, less teeth. I'm a little concerned, because I'd get into
that lowest gear possible on really brutal climbs. I'm wondering then (and
they said if I didn't like it I could take it back) how much of a
difference a couple teeth make. I've mostly not tinkered with this. Just
bought the bike, walked out with it. Haven't made many modifications
beyond fitting. So I have no idea how much of a difference the smaller BIG
gear is going to make when I hit a hard hill. Any idea? I know it's all
personal, but as I did a big ride yesterday I probably won't get on the
bike today so I thought I'd toss that question out there while waiting
until tomorrow to ride again.

Preston

On 2004-07-25, Tom Keats wrote:
In article ,
Preston Crawford writes:
So on my bike I recently discovered my back chain/cassette were shot. I
took them to the LBS and they swapped in a higher-end cassette with a
lower gear ratio, less teeth. I'm a little concerned, because I'd get into
that lowest gear possible on really brutal climbs. I'm wondering then (and
they said if I didn't like it I could take it back) how much of a
difference a couple teeth make. I've mostly not tinkered with this. Just
bought the bike, walked out with it. Haven't made many modifications
beyond fitting. So I have no idea how much of a difference the smaller BIG
gear is going to make when I hit a hard hill. Any idea? I know it's all
personal, but as I did a big ride yesterday I probably won't get on the
bike today so I thought I'd toss that question out there while waiting
until tomorrow to ride again.

I went from a whopping 34T to a somewhat less whopping 32T
big cog without noticing any difficulties. In fact I found
I could more easily track a straight line up steep grades.

If you've currently got a 26T granny ring (those things seem
pretty ubiquitous on stock MTBs), you could probably change
to a 24, if your new cogset feels too highly geared in the
low range. It takes a /lot/ of hill to get the better of a
24T granny. If you don't mind going pretty slowly.

Actually, in my case it's going from a stock cassette on a Trek 1000 to a
slighly smaller cassette.

Preston

In article ,
Preston Crawford writes:
So on my bike I recently discovered my back chain/cassette were shot. I
took them to the LBS and they swapped in a higher-end cassette with a
lower gear ratio, less teeth. I'm a little concerned, because I'd get into
that lowest gear possible on really brutal climbs. I'm wondering then (and
they said if I didn't like it I could take it back) how much of a
difference a couple teeth make. I've mostly not tinkered with this. Just
bought the bike, walked out with it. Haven't made many modifications
beyond fitting. So I have no idea how much of a difference the smaller BIG
gear is going to make when I hit a hard hill. Any idea? I know it's all
personal, but as I did a big ride yesterday I probably won't get on the
bike today so I thought I'd toss that question out there while waiting
until tomorrow to ride again.

I went from a whopping 34T to a somewhat less whopping 32T
big cog without noticing any difficulties. In fact I found
I could more easily track a straight line up steep grades.

If you've currently got a 26T granny ring (those things seem
pretty ubiquitous on stock MTBs), you could probably change
to a 24, if your new cogset feels too highly geared in the
low range. It takes a /lot/ of hill to get the better of a
24T granny. If you don't mind going pretty slowly.


cheers,
Tom

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"Preston Crawford" wrote (clip) I have no idea how much of a difference the
smaller BIG gear is going to make when I hit a hard hill. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I would go back and ask them to install a cassette with the largest low cog
they can. I have been going through the same thing., and I now have 34
teeth on both my mountain bikes. (I am 76 years old, and just returning to
biking after 10 years layoff due to an arthritic hip, so my experience
really exaggerates this problem.)

A typical ratio between adjacent gears on a mountain bike is about 12 to
15%. In my experience, when you are climbing steep hills, shifting down one
cog can give you significant relief. There will always be a hill that is
too long and steep to climb. Having a cog with a few more teeth is like
having one more available downshift.

I ride with people who are one or two decades younger than I am, and you can
tell on the hills which ones have the low gearing and whic ones wish they
did.

On the other hand, if you are young, in your prime, and like to race, low
gearing is no use to you, 'cause it makes you slow.

Preston wrote:

Actually, in my case it's going from a stock cassette on a Trek 1000 to a
slighly smaller cassette.

If you live in a hilly area and use the low gears on a
regular basis, you will notice the lack thereof; if you
ride only flats and rarely use the lowest gear, no
problem.

Robert
coulda used a few more teeth today

On 2004-07-26, R15757 wrote:
Preston wrote:

Actually, in my case it's going from a stock cassette on a Trek 1000 to a
slighly smaller cassette.

If you live in a hilly area and use the low gears on a
regular basis, you will notice the lack thereof; if you
ride only flats and rarely use the lowest gear, no
problem.

Robert
coulda used a few more teeth today

I do ride lots of hills. I think I should have thought more before I left
the LBS. I'm going to have to go back there tomorrow and get them to
replace it.

Preston

Leo Lichtman wrote:
:: "Preston Crawford" wrote (clip) I have no idea how much of a
:: difference the smaller BIG gear is going to make when I hit a hard
:: hill. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
:: I would go back and ask them to install a cassette with the largest
:: low cog they can. I have been going through the same thing., and I
:: now have 34 teeth on both my mountain bikes. (I am 76 years old,
:: and just returning to biking after 10 years layoff due to an
:: arthritic hip, so my experience really exaggerates this problem.)
::
:: A typical ratio between adjacent gears on a mountain bike is about
:: 12 to 15%. In my experience, when you are climbing steep hills,
:: shifting down one cog can give you significant relief. There will
:: always be a hill that is too long and steep to climb. Having a cog
:: with a few more teeth is like having one more available downshift.
::
:: I ride with people who are one or two decades younger than I am, and
:: you can tell on the hills which ones have the low gearing and whic
:: ones wish they did.
::
:: On the other hand, if you are young, in your prime, and like to
:: race, low gearing is no use to you, 'cause it makes you slow.

Compare Lance to Jan. Lance was faster.

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 01:35:33 -0500, Preston Crawford
wrote:

On 2004-07-26, R15757 wrote:
Preston wrote:

Actually, in my case it's going from a stock cassette on a Trek 1000 to a
slighly smaller cassette.

If you live in a hilly area and use the low gears on a
regular basis, you will notice the lack thereof; if you
ride only flats and rarely use the lowest gear, no
problem.

Robert
coulda used a few more teeth today

I do ride lots of hills. I think I should have thought more before I left
the LBS. I'm going to have to go back there tomorrow and get them to
replace it.

If you're saying you tend to ride hills, I do the same. I also go on group rides
and I have noticed that on the hard climbs, a lot of the riders are in their
biggest rear cog... and then sporadically get out of the saddle for that extra
oomph and then repeat. I've only been riding for a few years so I'm still
learning and observing, like you appear to be. I think a lot of these folks ride
on weekends and don't necessarily crave climbing. I ride every day, kinda like a
jogger, so I have a slightly different perspective: not a lot of time for
extended weekday rides, so I like to climb to compensate.

I use a 52-42 front chain ring and agonized when upgrading my 7sp rig to 9sp
this season because the largest available Ultegra cog was -24-27t. I had grown
accustomed to -24-28t and was unsure whether I would be comfortable less that
one tooth. I primarily climb in the next to last cog, reserving the last cog
for bailouts but I changed the way I climbed last year. I used to stand in the
24 but I changed to seated and could only manage the 28. I couldn't do many of
the area hills seated in 24 so the one tooth drop was a concern.

Looking back, the one tooth difference was managable. I climbed for awile
spinnig the 27 but now in mid season, it's rare that I use that cog. I spin in
the 24 and the 21 now. May consider a 26 last cog when I replace this cassette
but it's been a natural progression as time has passed and the training has
become more rigorous.

Provided that you're cycling is still improving you can reduce your largest cog
but to do this you have to know what you're in now and what you're doing with
it. If you're spinning that last cog pretty good, move up to the 2nd to last and
learn to spin that pretty good. When you're not using that last cog anymore,
consider reducing the range of the casette... but not before.

all the best-billie.

On 2004-07-26, William Holiday wrote:
Provided that you're cycling is still improving you can reduce your largest cog
but to do this you have to know what you're in now and what you're doing with
it. If you're spinning that last cog pretty good, move up to the 2nd to last and
learn to spin that pretty good. When you're not using that last cog anymore,
consider reducing the range of the casette... but not before.

all the best-billie.

Thanks. I got it swapped this morning. It's a 28 now. The one they put on
yesterday was a 26. They had a 30, but that seems way big. I'm pretty sure
the one I had earlier was a 28 also.

Preston

"Preston Crawford" wrote in message
...
So on my bike I recently discovered my back chain/cassette were shot. I
took them to the LBS and they swapped in a higher-end cassette with a
lower gear ratio, less teeth. I'm a little concerned, because I'd get into
that lowest gear possible on really brutal climbs. I'm wondering then (and
they said if I didn't like it I could take it back) how much of a
difference a couple teeth make. Any idea?

For a steep hill, like Mt Washington, NH a 39 chainring, 29 low cassette
will do.