In other words, smaller cogs (fewer teeth) on the rear correspond to you harder pedaling, and bigger cogs (more teeth) correspond to the easier pedaling. That’s a gear ratio of 4.17:1, so a highest gear ratio of around 4:1 should be sufficient for ultra-distance cycling. The gearing set up of a touring bike is different to that of a road bike. With multi-gear bikes, the total number of gears is not as important as many people suppose. So my thought that I might lower to the ratio to 1.0x is entirely out of order and maybe I need more conditioning. Road bikes around me seem to have standardized on 50/34 compact front gears and 11/28 on the rear, giving a ratio of 34/28 or about 1.21. My old road bike has a standard 52/39 chainset and 11-25 cassette, which is hard work on big hills. If your geared bike is also a 29er, you can just do direct comparisons. You're the only one that will know if you need a bigger cassette. Mountain bike technology has come a long way since its invention in the late 1980s. So with the same chainrings ratio, gearing on a road bike will be higher than on a MTB. I can pedal up to 25 mph and rarely even use the top gear. Climb it in your head. Here's a simple way to think about gear-inch combinations: For one revolution of the pedal, your bike will travel a certain number of inches. A road bike with a 34-tooth inner chainring and 30-tooth bottom sprocket will provide this. 0. Choosing lower gear ratios will help you learn the ways of the roadie, and it won’t be too long before you’re regularly using the highest gears on the flat. With bicycle gearing it is important to have two things: wide range between the lowest and highest gear ratios (low enough for the steepest climbs and high enough for the fastest downhill descents). Calculators. How to calculate bicycle gear ratio? Luckily, having a geared bike makes it easy. The touring bike gearing has a greater range than that of a road set-up as it includes a much lower set of gears to cope with the variety of terrain on a tour. James Hayden, the winner of the 2017 TCR, came to the same conclusion and chose to put a highest gear of 46-12 on the bike that he ended up winning the race with, a ratio of 3.83:1. On my second road bike which has a compact chainset, I'm running a 12-27 rear cassette. Road bike gears offer something very different to off-road bikes – speed. That makes a ton of sense. I recommend a road bike if the roads are good, or a mountain bike if the roads are rougher. They did their best to convince me that this will be low enough for me to climb the Cycle Oregon hills. I have a 52-42-30 front chain ring system and 12-25 on the rear hub. The best climbing bikes in 2021, as rated by our team of expert testers. Go ride and stay in one gear that feels right, and that's your gear. Using a gear-inch chart is one way to compare gear ratios without riding the bike. I find that ok on hills, but that's me and you're you. Conclusion. The Best Mountain Bike Gear Ratio for Climbing and Descending Explained. Also take a look at our complete bicycle gear ratio chart below to see … Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images . Stronger, fitter bikers can climb a hill in a higher gear while keeping their cadence up. April 6, 2020. in Adventure. Therefore there is a low end to cope with the hills but still with a high end to give you a high cruising speed on the flat should you wish. Published: 08 July, 2011 . Road bike gears may seem complicated at first, but use them properly and you'll soon by riding much more efficiently . (I use slick tires for those rides). The 2:1 ratio came about in large part because it is a good middle-of-the-road (no pun intended) gearing for a 26” wheeled off-road bike, and remains a good starting point for figuring out what will work best for you. TO JANICE NELSON: In your latest diary you said: "After talking gear ratios with the men at [name deleted] Bicycles, I decided to ride with the gears that came standard on the bike to see how well they work for me. 12-speed drivetrains are also available for MTBs. 7. Learn to find the best gears for your type of riding, either in the hills, on the flat or for your commute to work, this article should help explain all you need to know about bike gears and how to use them best. Shimano makes an 11/32 cassette, which would reduce the ratio to 34/32 or 1.06. Researching manuf websites suggests the typical road bike low gear ratio is about 1.5x (my "difficult" Bianchi is at 1.70x) although I did spot a Cannondale Synapse at 1.26x. They’re very easy to calculate: it’s the diameter of the wheel, times the size of the front chainring, divided by the size of the rear cog. When climbing hills with a bicycle, it can be difficult to maintain an adequate amount of power, speed and cycling cadence. This will rule out some road bikes and many bikes with three or fewer gears. That's enough for me even on road rides, even when riding in a group where everyone else is on road bikes. Simple, just divide your rear cog size from your front chainring size. Gear Inches & Understanding Your Gear Ratios. A bike with 30 or more gears is not an indication of a machine designed to break the land speed record any more than a bike with only a single gear, assuming similar ratios. Wiggle's best-selling 11-speed mountain bike cassette is the Shimano Deore XT M8000 Cassette (11-46). With this information you can compare bikes with different wheel sizes and drivetrain setups. The gears on your bike are your friends when the gradient goes up and using them effectively will make all the difference to your climbing. The wide range between the high and the low gear ratios translates to being able to go fast and climb the steep stuff all on the same bike. The only way is to experiment and ride. If it's a 26er, those have slightly lower overall ratios because of the smaller wheel. This means there are twice as many teeth on the chainring as there are on the rear cog. If you can't climb steep hills, it isn't necessarily that you need more gears, more that you need a lower low gear. spturton Posts: 10. The Generalist . Unlike the wide ratios of many compacts, your 34/46 is almost exactly the same ratio as the standard 39/53, making for a very rational and useable shift pattern. The steepness of your commute and the types of road surfaces will also impact the best ratio for your bike, since a hilly commute demands a lower gear ratio for conquering tough inclines. If you find yourself running out of low gears on the uphills, take your bike to a good shop and have them swap out the gears. Know that this value does depend on wheel size. By: Jeremy Hoefs . We had to change the rear derailleur as well to get enough range. The best way to compare chainring and cassette combinations between bikes is to check their gear inches. Fixie If you know their numbers, just input them below and we’ll calculate it automatically for you! However, you could just forget about gears altogether and go for a fixie. For hill climbing and mountainous terrain, a road cassette such as the 11-32T Shimano Ultegra 6800 or the 11-28T SRAM XG-1190-A2 is recommended. We'll see!" To keep things simple, let's look at just 29ers. For most riders, the best gear ratio is a 2:1 ratio. Cassette Ratio - Hill Climbing. HERD 6.0 road bike by SAVADECK provides a very good option for a hill climbing bicycle and is one of the better bikes for this purpose. But you’ll only really understand the difference after you’ve done a few miles on tarmac. We did the changeout on my wife's bike and she loves it. I got into road cycling about 5 years ago and bought a Boardman Pro Carbon 105, which I believe has a 11-22 cassette. A dummies guide to bicycle gears and understanding how gears work on your bicycle. More important is the actual ratios of the gears. Hi, I appreciate this has been covered numerous times before and there are 100s of articles all over the internet on it, but I still don't have the first clue about ratios. The 11-23 is worse. For sportier commuter bikes and/or sportier riders, a bottom gear of around 30 inches is probably sufficient in hillier areas. Either way, the key is to get the proper gear ratio. Avoid cross-chaining: Whatever gear combination you use, make sure the chain isn't being stretched diagonally. If you think that it will benefit your riding by doing so, then go for it. And your high gear of 46x11 is plenty high for most riders (it's higher than 53x13, and would get … Sometimes climbing a hill is as much a mental battle as a physical one. The gear clusters can be changed on any bicycle. Meanwhile, 11-speed mountain bike cassettes come in even larger sprocket ranges, providing an even greater gear ratio choice, such as 11-40, 10-42 and even 11-46. May 2020 in Road buying advice. by Scott Lee. Colors group similar values. Higher ratios make pedaling harder going up hills, but increase your cruising speed with less spinning of the crank. Single-chainring systems are now very common on mountain bikes, where they're known as 1X (say "one by", as in 1X10, 1X11 and even 1X12). What Road Bicycle Gear Ratio Should I Use in the Hills? 3+ is green, 2-3, blue, and below 2, red. The bicycles mentioned here in this publication are some of the best for hill climbing. On your rear wheel, the gear ratios work out the opposite of on your chainrings. Range vs. Gradation. My Sunday best bike has a compact chainset and, I think, 11-28 cassette. 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