Questions, Questions

Yesterday I did my hardest ride in ages.  A 75 mile (120km) haul over to to Rivington and Parbold, taking in around 4,600 feet of ascent (1400M), it was a great opportunity to test my fitness.  With only three weeks to go until the London to Paris ride, I had a few technical questions in my head about my bike set-up which I wanted to answer, namely: -

1. Should I ride a 53/39 front chain ring vs. a 50/34 (compact)?
2. Should I ride my 50mm deep section wheels?
3. Which handlebars give me the most comfort?

I'm lucky enough to have more than one bike, there are two that I use when riding events such as sportives depending on what the route profile looks like.  One runs a compact chainset, one runs a standard.  Over the past few months my strength has improved and I wanted to see whether I could climb with the 53/39 as I prefer it as a general set-up.

Yesterday was really windy too, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to take the deep section wheels out and see what happened.

So what happened?

1. Gear Ratios.  I climbed pretty well all day with the 53/39 (11/28 on the back) until a steep ramp near Blackrod towards the end of the ride, where I got a twinge in my knee of an old injury.  With the additional strain of being out the saddle and pushing hard up a 20% gradient, it just niggled my knee and that was that.  On the up side, I managed all day so with some further strength training, it should be OK in the future.  Conclusion = ride a compact 50/34 for increased gear ratios/cadence when climbing.
2. Deep Section Wheels.  Yes it was windy and there were times when the wind caught the wheels which made for a hairy moment, particularly as you hit a crosswind.  However, on descents and when turning the gas up on fast, flat straights, the wheels came into their own and were very fast.  Conclusion = I'm running the deep sections.
3. Which bars to use? I've got FSA bars on one of my bikes and 3T on the other.  By far and away, the FSA bars are more comfortable.  They have a flat profile and are very comfortable when riding long distances.  I found myself moving around far more than normal on the 3T bars yesterday.  Conclusion = FSA bars.

It's hugely important to consider things like this well before an event so that you can get your bike set up as it will be before you throw a leg over on day one of your challenge.  It's important that you put some miles in with the configuration that you know will allow you to ride comfortably and at your best.   Think marginal gains!

Road Bike Gear Ratio Table

Gear Ratios are Important for Climbing

One of the most common questions I get on the blog relates to gear ratios, most commonly framed around people struggling to get up hills. It can be demoralising when you see people flying up hills and you're panting away - I've been there.  Being 210Ibs in weight, physics tells me that I'll never be challenging for a Polka dot jersey!

What I did learn however is that  you can make it easier on yourself by having a review of the rear cassette on your bike.  It's one of the quickest and easiest things you can do to make things easier when hauling yourself up an incline.

First thing you need to do is establish what your current gear ratio set up is. There are are two ways to check this: -

1.  Look up your bike spec on the web and see what it comes with as standard (quickest way).
2.  Count the number of teeth on the front chainset and on your rear cassette (the teeth on the back wheel - count the largest and the smallest of the rings).

There are three different types of commonly used front chainsets: -

a) Standard - 53 teeth on the biggest ring/39 on the small (53/39).
b) Compact - 50 on the biggest ring/34 on on the small (50/34).
c) Triple - 50 teeth on the biggest ring/39 on the middle ring/30 on the smaller ring (50/39/30).

In terms of rear cassettes, there are a number of different cassettes you can buy and bikes are sold with a range of different cassettes on them, so have a quick look on the web and see if you can find yours.

Next Steps

Once you've established this, you can quickly figure out whether there is anything to be gained from a rear cassette change.  Basically, the higher the number on your rear cassette, the easier it will be to push the pedals when climbing up hills.  When you get stronger and fitter, you might want to change cassette again, it doesn't always have to stay the same as your gearing should match your capability/strength.

I've compiled this table below, showing the gear ratios for all three front chainsets, so you can quickly compare if a cassette change would be advantageous for you (if you click on the image, it will open in a new window).  I've highlighted the row in yellow as many road bikes are sold with a 12-25 cassette on from the showroom.
 

Road Bike Gear Ratio Chart - www.race-pace.net

 What does this show?

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).

How Low Should You Go?

Basically, the lower you get the ratio, the easier your pedals will be to push.  You have to remember that it's a balance as if you make things too easy, you may end up spinning like crazy and not going very far.

In my experience, a gear ratio of 1.1 or higher should get you up just about anything if you are new to cycling, overweight or just want the capacity to give yourself some breathing space on a bad day in the saddle.

When you are first starting out, you will need lower ratios whilst you build your fitness and stamina up.  My suggestion would always be - if buying your first road bike - to ask them to fit a 27T rear cassette, which will give you more capability. As you get fitter and stronger, then you can change your rear cassette to say a 25T if appropriate.  I run 34/27 on my climbing bike and my winter bike and 39/25 on my speed machine (I steer clear of hills on this one and ride it on flatter, faster routes).

Weight a Minute

One important point to note about gearing relative to hill climbing is your body weight, so it's worth a quick mention.  The lighter you are, the easier you should find it to go up hills on the principle that your weight + bike weight = total weight to haul up.  When combined with your output power (otherwise known as Power to Weight ratio or PWR per Kg) you will quickly realise that someone who is 126Ibs in weight and fit, will always beat you to the top of a hill.

If you are at the heavier end of the scale, selecting the right gear will give you more capacity to keep up.  We can't all be King of the Mountains, but getting your ratio right for your build will make it inherently more enjoyable.  See you at the top!

A Beginners Guide to Road Bike Gear Ratios

Gears.  They're just there aren't they?  You buy your bike, sit on it, give it the "do I look good on it" moment, wheel it out the shop and start your cycling career.

For a new road cyclist, whether to buy a bike with a compact or triple chainset is often a big question.  So, what are the differences?

A triple chain ring, give you more gears to choose from within it's low gear range, mostly to give you more flexibility on making the pedal turns easier, as you build you fitness or if going up a hill.

It has three front rings, one with 50 teeth, one with 39 teeth and one with 30 teeth.  Depending on what cassette sits on the rear wheel, dictates what gear ratio your bike will have.  Most bikes tend to come with a 12-25 rear cassette.

A compact chainset, has two rings on the front.  A 50 tooth and a 34 tooth.  So, you've quickly figured out that you have slightly less range in gears, with one less ring.  I went for a triple on my first bike as I was worried I'd need the low gear range for climbing hills. 

My first bike, had a 12-25 rear cassette.  If you look at the table below, this shows what gear ratios that delivers.  You get a gear ratio by dividing the front chainset number by the rear cassette number.  So, ratio for 50/12 would be 4.167.  So, the easiest gear on my triple using the 30 front ring and the 25 rear, is 1.2.

On my second road bike which has a compact chainset, I'm running a 12-27 rear cassette.  So, as you can see, the gear ratio for climbing (how easy it is) is 1.259 (lower the number, the easier it is to push the pedals, but your distance of travel is less).  I could make this a little easier by putting on a 12-28 cassette, which would give me a little more capacity to 1.214, which is very close to the 1.2 that I'm able to achieve in the lowest gear on my triple at present.

So, when choosing a road bike.  You don't always have to choose a triple front chainset, to get the desired gear ratio for making hills easier.  You could change your rear cassette instead.

With the forthcoming Fred Whitton challenge, I'm leaving nothing to chance.  I'm putting a 12-28 cassette on my triple, which means that my gear ratio will be 1.071, think I might need it!

If you want to get really fancy, you could always visit this Bicycle Gear Calculator.  This takes into account, things like crank lengths, which is another variable.  But for the average beginner, this should get you started.  There's also an excel chart here from the CTC which you can enter a couple of variables into, which gives you the gear ratios in inches.