How many gears do I need? PLEASE help!

poolzey89

I am a novice when it comes to bikes and I wanted to know if 18 gears would be enough for touring through England and Scotland.

I have seen a few touring bikes, which have both triple and double chainsets. I have been advised to buy one with a triple chainset, which would be better for the steep hills, is this correct? However, I will be mainly riding on the roads, and I was thinking that 18 gears would be enough.

Can somebody give me some advice on what type of gears and how many would be the most appropriate? and please could you explain all the technical stuff in simple terms? (As I mentioned, i'm a complete novice).

I have seen a couple of bikes:-
.......dawes sportif comp
.......dawes horizon
.......ridgeback voyage

I was looking to spend between £500 and £800. Could you also give me some advice or experience with these bikes and others that you may recommend?


Thankyou ever so much everyone!!!!

cougie

What kind of touring ? Are you camping ? Or staying at B&Bs ? How strong a cyclist are you ?

Monty Dog

Yes, depends on whether you are carrying a heavy load or not - if so, then you'll need a wider range of gears to cope with inching your way uphill and whizzing down the other side. The number of sprockets on the rear is less important as long as you have a suitable range - a 30/42/52 triple combined with a 12-27 cassette is a popular combination

alfablue

Firstly, I would say, if in doubt get a triple. There is only a small weight penalty and you don't have to use all the gears, if you get a compact then changing to triple could cost a lot (depending on the shifter you have).

Secondly, whilst I am happy tackling most hills on my light road bike with a compact, once I have a touring load on a bike I want a triple. Whilst I have the strength to power up the hills even with a load, I have found my Achilles tendons are not up to it and I have had tendinitis on a tour (which is sometimes a precursor to tendon rupture - something that is not uncommon in 30 something plus people doing sports).

Thirdly, consider the actual use you will be putting the bike to, for example, I have a Dawes Audax (a "lightweight tourer"), its great with a fairly light pannier load but once fully loaded the rear is too flexy, I have a dedicated tourer for fully loaded touring. Now, all 3 of those bikes have 520 frames, the rear stays don't look too thin, so they may all be stable enough for full touring loads (and the Dawes Horizon is certainly a fully fledged tourer), but I have no experience of them. If you ever plan to do camping on tour, consider going for a "full" tourer.

I would also try and get a bike with Tiagra or better shifters (personally I dislike Sora, you may find them okay).

Note also, that some bikes have mtb chainsets (so lower rations, with often 46, 30, 26 rings) or road chainsets (52, 44,30). I have bikes with both, but the proper tourer has the lower ratios, I rarely find I spin out (racing down descents is not in keeping with my idea of touring).

A current bargain you may be interested in is the Claude Butler Dalesman at £699, with Tiagra and a Reynolds 631 frame, and is sold elsewhere for around £950 - it is a level above the three bikes you mention. Its got to be the best value tourer around!

willbevan

+ 1 for if in doubt buy a triple.

I bought my first bike 2 years ago, and just went for the cheapest road bike I could fine, 170 pounds from decathalon and it had a standard double on. Not knowing any better I didn't even think of getting a triple or a compact (mind you my only option would of been to spend an extra 100 pounds for the next model up with a triple, which I wish I had done now mind you)

I wasn't strong enough for the standard double on my local roads, as its far from flat and you can't avoid hills unless you just lap round the same area time and time again.

Cost me money in the long run, as I went to a compact, which was okay but my fitness at the time was such that I was constantly changing between the 50 and 34 and couldn't settle.

Add to the fact I put panniers on it sometimes the triple was very useful!

Used to use teh granny a lot, but as my strength has increased, I'm hardly off the 53 or 42 now, unless I'm loaded up, or a long 20% drag that I don't fancy powering up :S

My nice summer bike mind you is a compact (50/34) and a 11-23 cassette as its much lighter, and having only the 11-23 has helped me increase my climbing ability.


Anyway, as said, if in doubt, get a triple! you can always not use the gears, but you can always want for them if you dont have them.

Walking up a hill is no fun!