Newby needs help with Gears

Paulstar

Morning all,

Firstly, I'd like to apologies as I suspect this question has been asked a lot on this forum.

I'm currently on the look out for my first ever road bike and have a budget of up to £500. I've had a look and a few bikes take my fancy, Btwin 500 Se, Btwin 520, Specialized Allez and the Giant Defy, but the one thing that scares me most is the gear set ups.

I live in Caerphilly, South Wales so its quite a hilly part of the world and I'm worried I'm going to put myself in a corner where I'm always looking for the flattest route as the gears are not hill friendly.

Has anyone got any advise on what ratio's I should be looking for. A triple or a double. Should I get 16,18,20,24 gears? Its a newby nightmare :shock: .

Thanks in advance

Paulstar

dork_knight

I don't live far away and I would say a compact (50/34 chain rings at the front) with a cassette range of 11 or 12 through to 28 or 32 would be fine for the area.

t4tomo

A triple (Btwin do some I think) might not be a bad shout if it is very hilly and you are new to road cycling.

difficult to have to low a gear!

simon_masterson

It needs to be said that to a certain extent in order to climb hills you just need to get fit, and if you opt for a compact chainset and a cassette that goes down to 28t, that ought to be sufficient for typical British gradients. That said, there's a lot to be said for triples, particularly for recreational riders in hilly areas - the silly macho gearing culture is a great shame. The compact chainset has its uses, but with a triple you can have really low gears if you want them (and there's nothing wrong with wanting to be able to climb hills in relative comfort), with some big top gears for going downhill, and the full range of the middle ring.

gethinceri

I live very close to the OP, get a minimum if 28 on the back with a compact 50-34 on the front.
PM me and I can advise.

Paulstar

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19644456#p19644456]Simon Masterson[/url] wrote:

It needs to be said that to a certain extent in order to climb hills you just need to get fit, and if you opt for a compact chainset and a cassette that goes down to 28t, that ought to be sufficient for typical British gradients. That said, there's a lot to be said for triples, particularly for recreational riders in hilly areas - the silly macho gearing culture is a great shame. The compact chainset has its uses, but with a triple you can have really low gears if you want them (and there's nothing wrong with wanting to be able to climb hills in relative comfort), with some big top gears for going downhill, and the full range of the middle ring.

Cheers for all the advice so far guys, it's a great help. As for fitness I consider myself to have an ok level of fitness. I'm no iron man but try and go for 1-2 runs a week. Hence the main reason for getting the bike is to increase the fitness levels. Running gets very boring.

I'm guessing the little boy was coming out in me, wanting 2405038 gears so I can have more than my mates haha. Hopefully the correct ratio's mean that 16-18 gears will do for now.

Cheers folks. See you on the hills

Paulstar

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19644700#p19644700]Gethinceri[/url] wrote:

I live very close to the OP, get a minimum if 28 on the back with a compact 50-34 on the front.
PM me and I can advise.

Hi Gethin,

For some reason it won't let me PM you. The specialized Allez is currently my favourite this has a 50/34 compact on the front and a 11-32 on the rear. It's a 16 speed. Hopefully this would be good. I'm guessing the caerphilly mountain steep claim as used on the velothon is what I need to get up.

Any advise would be great.

chrisaonabike

I'm guessing the little boy was coming out in me, wanting 2405038 gears so I can have more than my mates haha.

Ah but this is the thing.

When you get overtaken by a guy on a bike with just one gear, on a hill you can barely struggle up in your lowest of many, you realise what's truly impressive.

That said, I'll still be able to walk long after he needs replacement knees. At least, that's how I rationalise it

oldwelshman

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19644708#p19644708]Paulstar[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19644700#p19644700]Gethinceri[/url] wrote:

I live very close to the OP, get a minimum if 28 on the back with a compact 50-34 on the front.
PM me and I can advise.

Hi Gethin,

For some reason it won't let me PM you. The specialized Allez is currently my favourite this has a 50/34 compact on the front and a 11-32 on the rear. It's a 16 speed. Hopefully this would be good. I'm guessing the caerphilly mountain steep claim as used on the velothon is what I need to get up.

Any advise would be great.

I am from abertridwr. For years I only had choice of 42/52 front and 13/21 5 speed rear lol I would go for compact on the spec but go for 12 or even 13 to 28 on rear. 11 to 32 has too many gaps. Also there are many routes where you can ride where you wont need 28 so ride them until you get fitter then go over the mountain on your 28 :-)

bob6397

More than just range of gears, I would also be looking at number of gears.

What you really want when road cycling are 2 things - a decent range of gears - and small jumps between the gears - so that you can keep your cadence up.

For that reason, I wouldn't consider anything less than 9 speed on the back (11 is the highest you can get at the minute) - which would require Shimano Sora or higher. Any less than 9 and the jumps get bigger and it gets harder to maintain cadence..

Debating between a double vs a triple, I would consider what gearing you think you need. If you want to go for a triple on account of having a lot of hills and you reckon you might struggle, go for it. It's about what is best for you.

Advanatages of each are as follows:

Double:
Less crossover between gears - IE less combinations which are equal when on different chainrings
Often easier to find on the bike you want
You can get up most hills with them if you try hard enough - with a 28 or a 32 on the back the gearing isn;t that low.
Less large changes in gear ratios - easier to maintain cadence when you only have to change at the back

Triple:
Wider gear range - lower low and higher high

Notably though - don't go for a really wide range cassette unless you have plenty of cogs on the back - I use 11 speed on the back on mine with an 11-28 and the jumps are about right.. I wouldn't want an 11-32 though..

I started my road biking with a 50-34 and a 12-26 9 Speed bike - 3 years ago now - and I struggled up the hills as I was used to Mountain Bike gearing, which is much lower.. I stuck with it though and now beat everyone up all the hills (that I ride with anyway - they are all similar age and fitness to me) on either bike.. Get the bike that is right for you. I didn't, but it wasn't far off. I have since bought another one... N+1 strikes again

Only you can really know... All I know is that you should ignore anyone who claims a triple "Isn't manly enough" or similar..

bob6397

markhewitt1978

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19643576#p19643576]Paulstar[/url] wrote:

Morning all,

Firstly, I'd like to apologies as I suspect this question has been asked a lot on this forum.

I'm currently on the look out for my first ever road bike and have a budget of up to £500. I've had a look and a few bikes take my fancy, Btwin 500 Se, Btwin 520, Specialized Allez and the Giant Defy, but the one thing that scares me most is the gear set ups.

I live in Caerphilly, South Wales so its quite a hilly part of the world and I'm worried I'm going to put myself in a corner where I'm always looking for the flattest route as the gears are not hill friendly.

Has anyone got any advise on what ratio's I should be looking for. A triple or a double. Should I get 16,18,20,24 gears? Its a newby nightmare :shock: .

Thanks in advance

Paulstar

The total number of gears doesn't really matter as much as the range when you consider hills. To a large extent what number you get depends on your budget, e.g. 8 with Claris, 9 with Sora, 10 with Tiagra, 11 with 105 (you always refer to it as the number of gears in the rear cassette, not the total).

The standard advice is that if you want to do reasonable climbs you want a maximum of 34T on the smallest front chainring and a minimum of 28T on the biggest cassette sprocket at the back.

That said, if you get a triple they often have a 30T smallest ring and you can also change the cassette to be 30T with most setups. 32T if you change the rear mech.

But for most majority what is almost the standard setup now of 50/34 11-28 will be fine.

Paulstar

Cheers for all the help guys. Hopefully going to purchase very soon so i'll be sure to come back on here with a nice shinny pic

OldWelshMan - I'm also from Abertridwr, so if you see someone on the stretch looking very tired and all over the place :oops: , please feel free to give me a push

oldwelshman

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19646203#p19646203]Paulstar[/url] wrote:

Cheers for all the help guys. Hopefully going to purchase very soon so i'll be sure to come back on here with a nice shinny pic

OldWelshMan - I'm also from Abertridwr, so if you see someone on the stretch looking very tired and all over the place :oops: , please feel free to give me a push

The stretch in winter has given me a worse ride than many climbs When I am down next you can jin me for a ride, pm me your address, my family live in sunny bank

ForumNewbie

I have a triple chainset on my steel Audax bike and the smallest gear is 30*27 which can get me up most climbs, albeit slowly.

My carbon bike has a compact chainset and my smallest gear was 34*28 until I recently swapped my 11-28 cassette for a 12-30. My lowest gear is now 34*30 on the carbon bike which is roughly the same ratio as the 30*27 low gear on my Audax. I just found that 34*28 wasn't enough for me on steep climbs.

Frank Wilson

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19645901#p19645901]bob6397[/url] wrote:

More than just range of gears, I would also be looking at number of gears.

What you really want when road cycling are 2 things - a decent range of gears - and small jumps between the gears - so that you can keep your cadence up.

bob6397

Apologies to bob 6397 for chopping down his post in this quote but from my personal experience of going from a nine rear sprocket to an eleven he is spot on with what he says re the small jumps. On hills on the nine when changing gear it was almost like re-starting to pedal where as with the eleven it feels more fluent with barely a transisition. I am sure other people, who will presumably be better, stronger riders than myself, may have a counter argument but from my personal experience it has helped me no end.