Road Bike Gear Ratios
Road bike gears offer something very different to off road bikes speed.
Road bike gear ratios. It can in fact be said that front chainrings provide a wider gear ratio range while rear sprockets provide differences in gear ratios of adjacent gears. Our complete guide to bike gears takes the mystery out and will have you joining in with all the other bores banging on about ratios in no time at all. Gear ratios on touring bikes depend on a number of factors. Say the chainrings on the bike are 48 38 28 and the cassette is a 9 speed one.
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. Gear ratios can make or break your ride so choosing the right ones for you is vital to getting the most out of cycling menu expert road bike reviews and the latest road bike news features and. 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. The granny gear is the smallest cog on the front crankset of your bike.
The gear ratios you want to use for a hilly cycling holiday in mallorca are not the same as the gears you want for a time trial criterium club ride or city riding. But you ll only really understand the difference after you ve done a few miles on tarmac. Having the correct gear ratios is a hugely important factor. With all of the options available to today s road cyclists it is possible to produce gear ratios that are as small as 1 0 and as large as 5 0 with increments of 0 15 0 40.
Even if you have a bike with a standard front chainset 53 39 and rear cassette of 25 which gives you a lowest gear ratio of 39 25 1 56 you could achieve a similar gear ratio to a bike with a compact chainset 50 34 with a rear cassette of 25 ratio of 1 36 by switching your rear cassette to a 29 tooth lowest gear ratio of 39 29 giving a ratio of 1 34. If you haven t already become best friends with it you may need to start. What does this show. Where you plan to travel the terrain your experience how strong you are as a rider and of.
Similarly if you are growing in strength it might be time to spec larger gears to your bike. 3 is green 2 3 blue and below 2 red.