Gearing/RPM

blablablacksheep

So i have noticed with my new bike the gearing is quite differant to what i have used before on other bikes.

The gearing on the Canyon SLX is 11-28 cassette.

I have noticed that at times i dont seem to have a low enough gear, could this just be my fitness on the climbs or actually just the gears(im sure 11-28 is quite able to push through hills)

Also on this my candance is quite low compared to what it should be around 90 im looking for, and i wondering can i stick it on the larger chainring and big cassette ring to get this higher candance or is this a no no ie( shouldnt have big big ect)
i only ask as i cycled with others who seem to do this on thier gears and wondered if this fine to do on a compact.

Cleat Eastwood

11-28 is quite low but your but how easy you find it depends on the gradient of the climb. Even if its a 8-10% climb and you find it tough don't do the macho thing and think you have to power your way up it in a higher gear. Like all things in bikeling getting better takes time, if you need to go slow in 11-28 then go slow, in time you'll get stronger and move up the cassette.

Every one is different - so do whats best for you.

Theres no harm doing big-big, the length of time you'll probably be in it wont do much damage - i'm guessing you wont be spending 4-5 hours each time in that combination.

blablablacksheep

no not ofc i wouldnt spend that long in big big, its just that im trying to maintain a high candance, and doing so requires me to stick the big chanring on with the larger cassstte section.

tbh i think your right though i just need to practice more with my long distance cycling as atm i can do 19/20 mph for 20 miles but keeping it up for 40 miles is quite hard and dropping to around 18/19mph.

John.T

If you are needing to use big/big to keep your cadence up then you should be on the small ring. the ratios overlap between the two rings. Assuming a 50/34 compact the 50/28 is duplicated at the 34/19. If on 53/39 then 53/28 is at the 39/21. Try putting your rings and cassette into here and see where they all sit.
http://www.gear-calculator.com/#

jgsi

Going Big Big has its place - usually when racing a lumpy road race circuit where you dont want to lose momentum by going onto the inner ring or risk the chance of shipping the chain under stress.
The race bike is prepped to make sure that shifting to extremes is doable and is again a short term solution.
Shifting to the inner ring to keep up a brisk hill climbing cadence is what I do out riding in 'bike ride' mode.
As a sidenote I will do a fair number of miles leaving it on the 39, just to chill... I tend not to use the road for training rides.

Pross

Don't take the 90 rpm cadence thing too much to heart. Ride what you find comfortable. I think the majority of cyclists don't ride at 90 but for some reason it seems to have been turned into the 'correct' cadence. Also, people talk about spinning up climbs, again very few actually do this and most of those that do look undergeared.

StillGoing

Pross wrote:

Don't take the 90 rpm cadence thing too much to heart. Ride what you find comfortable. I think the majority of cyclists don't ride at 90 but for some reason it seems to have been turned into the 'correct' cadence. Also, people talk about spinning up climbs, again very few actually do this and most of those that do look undergeared.

Most people I see do spin up hills rather than grinding it out.

To the OP; using the big ring to try and keep up your cadence doesn't make sense. It will be more difficult for you to peddle using the big ring than the small ring so if high cadence is your way of getting up hills, use the small ring.

Pross

philthy3 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Don't take the 90 rpm cadence thing too much to heart. Ride what you find comfortable. I think the majority of cyclists don't ride at 90 but for some reason it seems to have been turned into the 'correct' cadence. Also, people talk about spinning up climbs, again very few actually do this and most of those that do look undergeared.

Most people I see do spin up hills rather than grinding it out.

To the OP; using the big ring to try and keep up your cadence doesn't make sense. It will be more difficult for you to peddle using the big ring than the small ring so if high cadence is your way of getting up hills, use the small ring.

most people don't spin or grind. Spinning suggests a very high cadence. Armstrong span up climbs, most pros just pedal up smoothly and a few will grind.