Efficient use of gears

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article ,
Simon wrote:

wrote in message
.. .

Nice site - thanks.

I'm curious, how many of you actually shift gears in order? For me, to
go up one gear, I'd have to go to the big ring and then go to two
larger cogs. To go to the next higher gear, I'd have to go to the
small ring and go to 3 smaller cogs.




I used ot shift like that, back in the 10-speed days. Today, with so many
more closely-spaced gears, I don't think there's much benefit in following
the exact order of gears by constantly shifting the front ring. I think of
the front rings more in terms of a gear range now.


_ Google "half-step gearing" and "alpine gearing" to learn way
more than you ever need to know about bike gear setups. With
the advent of 8,9,10 speed clusters most bikes are setup for
"alpine gearing" where you use a subset of the cluster with
each front chainring and only shift the front when you reach
the end of the subset. Even with 30 available gears, most bikes
have at most 14-15 distinct gears.

_ Booker C. Bense



-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBQ0VoWWTWTAjn5N/lAQGupAP7B1TG605NRJgO8QKahW2i2BaKWJnEkF5W
QHOCflmAQ6gH9HbL6751MP4GP/aUsVw+PrNIvwdtBoshY82REHAZXyYyWLFkQAE4
WeR6DmYGEVg2VNzS6qRxG9iDIfOM0MQOabdPsJkgnAFit689io mbDbjX85X4oeKX
80gWg0OoeTA=
=GKA6
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

wrote:
Nice site - thanks.

I'm curious, how many of you actually shift gears in order? For me, to
go up one gear, I'd have to go to the big ring and then go to two
larger cogs. To go to the next higher gear, I'd have to go to the
small ring and go to 3 smaller cogs.



On 20 Sep 2005 23:06:52 -0700, "John" wrote:


Antonio wrote:

hi, how should i use the gears ,for the most efficient power output,
Which to use , when 2 near overlap,
any rule of thumb,any scientific way,
t.i.a.

Well, if you want to get technical, and hey why not, this is
rec.bike.tech. It's good to know your exact shift pattern. Check out
this site. After you enter the info the first time you can recalculate
for cadence/MPH at the bottom of the page. The logical sequence of
gears is not what you might think especially if you have a triple
chainring. This is really usefull when your on the flats and your
looking for just that right gear.
Click Here http://www.panix.com/~jbarrm/cycal/cycal.30f.html


Maybe it's the techie in me but I put my gears into an Excel spreadsheet
to find the exact ratios and found a few that were within 2% of each
other. I usually use the big ring for all my flat riding but sometimes I
do shift both just to get that 2 to 5 percent change. The only science I
apply is to try to keep the chain from going around smaller gears and
wearing from the extra flexing.
Bill

jj wrote:
On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 06:55:15 -0600, Rich wrote:


wrote:


I'm curious, how many of you actually shift gears in order? For me, to
go up one gear, I'd have to go to the big ring and then go to two
larger cogs. To go to the next higher gear, I'd have to go to the
small ring and go to 3 smaller cogs.

I do not. I ride primarily in the middle sprocket (of three). I shift
only to the small one if climbing steep hills, and only to the upper one
if I'm going too fast for the middle one.


I train in the large sprocket, and get most hills in the 52x19, though my
cadence suffers. I'm trying to keep it at least 70 on the short hills
around here.

You must only have about 5% hills because on a 10% or better I don't
think I could pull that gear even in attack mode standing on it.

For longer rides that are near my limit, I'll go to the middle ring, same
gears in back. That nearly instantly gives me faster more favorable
cadence, though I try to maintain at least 80rpm when training, which
requires a lot of concentration, for me. I figure - make it harder in
training and then ease off when going for a longer ride, or a group ride or
event.

jj

Why is everybody training?? I thought bicycling was to be enjoyed for
the freedom from gas and just plain being away from a desk. I get into
training mode sometimes not even thinking about it, but then again at 57
what would I be training for? I'm training for a century, and not the
miles kind. I would like to think of myself as still riding and enjoying
the outdoors at 110 years old.
Bill Baka

wrote:
Nice site - thanks.

I'm curious, how many of you actually shift gears in order? For me, to
go up one gear, I'd have to go to the big ring and then go to two
larger cogs. To go to the next higher gear, I'd have to go to the
small ring and go to 3 smaller cogs.


Very few, because, as you have found, the gears are not in order, and
when there is more then one chain ring, your effectively shifting both
ends at the same time, which can cause chain issues. So most people use
ranges of gears, which is why I think it would make more sense to refer
to a bike as a 3x8 then a 24 speed.

For example take my bike, has a triple chain ring, a small ring for
climbing, a medium ring for the flats, and a large ring for downhill
especially when you building speed for a later climb, or giving it extra
umph on a flat section, but that would probably be Saskatchewan type
flat (I think if you discount the curvature of the earth, the entire
province would be level). Not Ontario type flat, where flat means
anything less then a 3% grade.

Of course each of those ranges, has a number of gears in it, in actual
number 8, but some of those are rarely used, because they give too much
of a chain angle.

W

In article ,
The Wogster wrote:

Very few, because, as you have found, the gears are not in order, and
when there is more then one chain ring,
***********
I know my ignorance is showing here, but having never ridden a bike the
gears just confuse me. My gears are in order but I only have 3 speeds on
my trike.

Violet Tigress wrote:
In article ,
The Wogster wrote:


Very few, because, as you have found, the gears are not in order, and
when there is more then one chain ring,

***********
I know my ignorance is showing here, but having never ridden a bike the
gears just confuse me. My gears are in order but I only have 3 speeds on
my trike.

Oops typo, that should have read -- the gears are not in order, when
there is more then one chain ring.

This is because with more then one chain ring, there is a bit of
overlap, so it might be (front/rear) 2/3 then 1/4 then 3/3 then 2/4....

W