27speed - bonkers? discuss

swallow

Does anyone out there actually use the inner ring? no pun intended. I am now down to 2x8 having found a source of n.o.s. tioga titanium 8spd cassettes and in a way still feel overgeared. Really starting to like the look of the belt driven / shimano alfine type setups on the orange bikes at the bike show - very clean in all respects. So does anyone really use their granny ring? Even my girlfriend refers to it as 'chav-gear' (due to the inability of chavs to fix a slipped front der. cable on their ladies Raleighs)

nicklouse

you cant have many hills near you.

swallow

lived in the Cotswolds for 30 years now live in Bath - even my daily commute involves 1.5 miles of 1 in 10! There comes a point where pedalling like a lunatic to travel at 3 mph wastes more energy than pushing a sensible gear - may also help that I am only 65kg and fit!!
I will admit though that it is easier coming down in the morning than going up after work!

supersonic

Visit Wharncliffe, and be prepared to push!

No Yorkshiremen hehe ;-)

supersonic

1 in 10?! Thats flat! ;-)

What is your cadence?

Ciaran500

Thought the same as you untill I tried to cycle up a mountain (well, a really big hill), started off enthusiastically but at about halfway I was very glad for the inner chainring.

swallow

now thats getttinga bit technical, my lowest gear is 32x34, I have no idea at what cadence I pedal - when climbing, if I get down to that gear, I stand if I have to, anything I cant get up in that gear I would consider unridable and far quicker to push or carry anyhow - is that normal. I'm not trying to big myself up, but when road touring (on my mtb) in New Zealand where they really have hills, I pulled a full BOB trailer and still had no use for a 24 ring at the front. Again my girlfriend also never used the granny ring in that trip!
http://www.bestofbritishdeli.co.uk/cute ... ges/nz.JPG

supersonic

standing, while exerting more power, is actually less efficient. The best way is to sit and chose a gear you can spin at around 90rpm of the cranks. It may feel like your legs are going too fast, but it IS more efficient.

swallow

maybe the rides (off road) that I usually go for are not long enough to have got into that - I normally am lucky to get two hours in at any time, so I am full of energy and happy to be knackered afterwards!

nicklouse

there is also a big difference between tarmac and dirt. in terms of traction.

if you are on a good surface then yes i could understand you not wanting a lower cog. but where i ride it is needed.

swallow

so do you ever use the really lowest gear or do you use a few higher? balance would become an issue in the lowest of the low on even a slight incline off road?

nicklouse

lowest of the low. seated and spinning.

supersonic

Same here, quite often too. And there are hills on my route where I could do with even a lower gear

swallow

what speed would that have you doing? Would walking be quicker/more efficient at that point?

supersonic

No, spinning is always more effecient than walking as the action is smoother.

nicklouse

swallow wrote:

what speed would that have you doing? Would walking be quicker/more efficient at that point?

often there is not room to get off

milkywhite

You're not there to walk though, are you?

Part of the challenge, and therefore an integral part of enjoying the ride is those small victories, such as cleaning a difficult climb. At 6'5" and 110kg I'm by no means a good climber, but I get a great sense of satisfaction at hauling myself up a hard climb (not that I have to do it often in Norfolk).

Obviously, walking is inevitable sometimes, but I won't do it if I don't have to. So, I guess what I'm saying in answer to the original question is the granny ring is valuable for me. If only I was built like a whippet, eh?

benneally

Its not really the same, but on Gold D.of.E. i used the granny gear loads. Hardnock pass was gear 1:1 the whole way up and i was standing up leaning over the hanndle bars the whole way, over half hour of pure strain lol.

But now, i never drop out of the biggest (3rd) chain ring at the front, Im thinking of buying a bigger chain ring as my normal coasting gear along flat roads is 3:7 (max being 3:9).

milkywhite

benneally wrote:

Its not really the same, but on Gold D.of.E. i used the granny gear loads. Hardnock pass was gear 1:1 the whole way up and i was standing up leaning over the hanndle bars the whole way, over half hour of pure strain lol.

But now, i never drop out of the biggest (3rd) chain ring at the front, Im thinking of buying a bigger chain ring as my normal coasting gear along flat roads is 3:7 (max being 3:9).

You're just bragging about having thighs like a racehorse, aren't you?

mtb.boy

You can not be doing much MOUNTAINbiking to have never used the granny gear. Try getting up Skiddaw without it !!!

benneally

milkywhite wrote:

benneally wrote:

Its not really the same, but on Gold D.of.E. i used the granny gear loads. Hardnock pass was gear 1:1 the whole way up and i was standing up leaning over the hanndle bars the whole way, over half hour of pure strain lol.

But now, i never drop out of the biggest (3rd) chain ring at the front, Im thinking of buying a bigger chain ring as my normal coasting gear along flat roads is 3:7 (max being 3:9).

You're just bragging about having thighs like a racehorse, aren't you?

thats just it....i have the skinniest legs ever :S

clarkson

i spin rather than push the cranks. where i live i dont tend to use the granny ring. in fact never, cos its so flat. on holiday in the lake district tho, most of the climbin was done in the granny ring. they're too long to push a higher gear for me.

320DMsport

I often use the inner ring on a ride out, when your climbing a steep hill like you get in the lakes for 30 mins you need that inner ring.

Also on a ride yesterday i climbed a very steep grassy hill and it was the lowest gear sat forward on the seat and spinning like mad to get up the hill, balance in low gear doesn't really make any difference to me but if i had to stop, unclip myself get off push bike up which uses different muscles and climb back on, no i don't think it's quicker.

I did a race a few weeks ago where i was riding 5 hours and believe me that inner ring got hammered....could of done with a lower gear!

All IMHO.

milkywhite

benneally wrote:

thats just it....i have the skinniest legs ever :S

Easy there, joke.

I'm only jealous 'cause I'm a fat knacker who starts to die at the meerest sight of a hill.

rendo

swallow

i think you really need to go and look at gear ratio's in inches.
i use the inner ring all the time, but then i don't have a wide range cassette.

Your right that 27 gears is excessive, but your wording makes it sound like your bigging yourself up. a mtb on the road with a wide ranging cassette, i.e. something like a 12-34 gives a huge range.
offroad i rarely use the outer ring but thats only because the range i need is at the lower end of the scale. likewise on the road i only use one, but i don't brag about it

fumps

I'm still a relative beginner.

But i'm really pushing myself to do some steep climbs (even for yorkshire standard) and i am always on the lowest gears.
Even then i lose momentum on some of them.....but thats me biting off more than i can chew i think.

Amos

I found offroad I never really needed the big ring, so I dropped down to running two rings (22 & 36) which gives me all the range i need.

Hence i have 18 gears, so in my opinion, 27 was a bit excessive for my riding, but i think getting rid of the small ring for off roading is stupid. Unless your only riding Green graded trails.

GraemeT

you can never have too many gears.

Looking forward to the introduction of a 12 speed cassette

monkey_grip

Tried this for the first time the other weekend, if you can do this in middle ring then fair play to ya mate

http://www.yasiru.com/images/2007/NY%20Moors%20&%20Y%20Dales/DSCF2155.JPG

KILLER, My legs nearly fell off! haha

FSR_XC

Use granny ring about 1% of the time off road.

On road I'm rarely out of top ring. I could do with this being 2-4 teeth larger at times, but then again I could really do with getting a road bike.

I can see why some people only have one ring on the front as off road I use middle 90% of the time.

However I do use all of the gears.

XC bikes are designed to go up & down hills as well as on flat ground.

swallow

FSR_XC wrote:

Use granny ring about 1% of the time off road.

On road I'm rarely out of top ring. I could do with this being 2-4 teeth larger at times, but then again I could really do with getting a road bike.

I can see why some people only have one ring on the front as off road I use middle 90% of the time.

However I do use all of the gears.

XC bikes are designed to go up & down hills as well as on flat ground.

Seems like you and I are the oddities around here! that may however be due to not being surrounded by real mountains? I have however done quite a lot of mtb'ing in 16 years in the sport - completed Bristol Bikefest 12hour solo two years ago, again without a granny ring, but suppose that course was quite flat really. Leckhampton/Cleeve Hill in Cheltenham and around my new stomping ground of Bath there are no climbs that would exceed a couple of miles in distance, there is the odd steep bit, but nothing that you wouldn't just stomp up, and recover on the easier gradients. Afan has some climbs that I would consider good, but does anyone have any recommendations for a good long climb that would make me want to find that granny ring from the depths of the shed? preferably near Bath or at least south-west??