Have I got the right gearing?

geomickb

I'm not sure my gear ratios are quite what I want. I have a 42 tooth chainring and 11-42 cassette.

What do other people run?

I really want a bike that is geared towards climbing and am used to quite a high cadence on my MTB. Should I wait a while and see if I get used to it or should I swap the chainring?

Cheers,

Mick

imposter2.0

TBH, only you can answer that question really. Other people's gearing preferences are not really relevant to you.

lesfirth

geomickb wrote:

I'm not sure my gear ratios are quite what I want. I have a 42 tooth chainring and 11-42 cassette.

What do other people run?

I really want a bike that is geared towards climbing and am used to quite a high cadence on my MTB. Should I wait a while and see if I get used to it or should I swap the chainring?

Cheers,

Mick

The gearing you have IS geared towards climbing. A ratio of 42 to 42 i.e. 1 to 1 is as low as road bikes generally go. I am a really old git and live in a hilly area. I use similar gearing to what you have now.
My advice is to see if you get used to it.

Edit. Do you want to use the bike on or off road?

geomickb

"Edit. Do you want to use the bike on or off road?"

Both :-)

My ultimate plan is to do the Three Peaks.

It is steep road sections that I struggle on, I don't really like getting out of the saddle.

I think a big part of it is being used to MTB gearing and having a preference towards a high cadence. I'm off to Whinlatter this weekend, so will see how that goes.

I understand that a lot of this is personal preference, I'm just wondering what other people use.

Cheers,

Mick

tgotb

geomickb wrote:

My ultimate plan is to do the Three Peaks.

Are we talking 3 Peaks Cyclocross Race, or something involving Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon?

Gearing for 3 Peaks Cyclocross is a bit of a specialist subject, and conventional wisdom suggests that you want much lower gearing than you'd normally use, specifically for the ascent of Pen-y-ghent. For instance I normally race CX on 38 x 12-32, which already goes lower than most, but switched to 34 x 12-36 for 3 Peaks.

geomickb

3 Peaks Cyclocross because carrying a bike up 3 mountains actually sounds much more enjoyable than any kind of national 3 peaks challenge. :-)

Thanks TGOTB , great to get advice from someone who has done the race. It sounds like I could go for a smaller chainring then.

Cheers,

Mick