Gear Information ??

Beverly said:

I've always been a recreation rider and rode hybrid bikes. In the past
couple years I've become more serious about biking and just bought my
first
road bike earlier this year. Now that I'm comfortable with the new bike
and
the clipless pedals I want to learn more about my bike and maintenance of
it.

I often notice reference to gear sizes in the posts and want to know how
I
determine mine. I have a Trek 1800C. The brochure on it has the
following
info - Drivetrain Crank Shimano Ultegra 52/42/30. I think this refers to
the front chain rings. I'm not even familiar with the correct
terminology
so please tell me if I'm using the wrong terms. How do I determine the
sizes for the rear gears (sprockets?)?

Count. Most of them are 14.....28, but you can get down to 11 teeth and up
to 34 on a megarange. Rear gears can be changed as a set.
I have 39 on an old Suntour gear and it is a super granny gear.
52/42/30 sounds about right for the front on a road/travel bike.
Mountain bikes go down to 20 teeth on the front, I have one and you
spin but barely move. Handy for crawling up a hill after riding 60 miles
or so. So here is what the gears do, my version. Use the 52 up front when
you have a tailwind or are going down hill, the 42 for around town, and
the 30 when you have to climb or pedal next to someone who is just walking.
On the rear it is just the opposite 14 teeth or 11 is high gear for speed
and the 28 or above is like low gear in a car for climbing. Front gears
go from 60 teeth (really big, I have a 58) down to a 20 tooth but I have
never seen a derailuer that could handle that big a spread. Road bikes
normally only have two gears, like a 39 and a 52, so it sounds like you
have a multipurpose bike. Mountain bikes usually top out at about 42 to
46 teeth and can go down to 20. My Mongoose has 42/32/20 courtesy of
an Ebay auction. 42/11 is good for around 30 MPH as long as you don't
pass out from the exertion, and the 20/28 you will run out of RPM at a
fast walking speed, but hills will be nothing. Sort of works like that,
but everyone has their own style. I like that you can change both the front
and the rear gears with a little investment in tools or a trip to a
good little bike shop.

Quoted message said:

I've been reading the Sheldon Brown website and it's been helpful but I
still have several questions.

If you download all the PDF files you will have almost all you ever
need to know about a bike.

Quoted message said:

Any hints on the best way to shift to lower gears when climbing hills?

Shift with minimum push on the pedal or you could get a gear skip and
that is not fun. Build up a little speed so you can shift easier.

Quoted message said:

Most
hills in this area are rather short - not too many long gradual climbs.
Is
it best to shift the front chain ring as I approach the hill or while
climbing the hill?

Plan ahead and shift the front before you get to the hill. If it is a
short one you can try to take it in a higher gear by standing on it,
literally, attacking the hill in a bigger gear than you could pull
sitting down. You may not make it the first few times but your
legs will adapt and you may soon find it is fun to conquer the hill
instead of just grinding up. Not recommended if you don't want to
work up a sweat going to work, but OK on the way home.

I don't seem to have a problem with shifting the rear

Quoted message said:

gears until I hit the smallest one and then if sometimes wants to skip.
I'll be taking the bike back to the LBS for some adjustments in a couple
weeks and I'll ask them about this problem. It hasn't been adjusted
since I
purchased it and it now has 600 miles on it.

Thanks for any suggestions and info.

Beverly
(who's father was a carpenter and taught her to build things and nothing
about her bikes)

Bad daddy, girls need to know too. Of course my daughter is 25 and
doesn't know which end of a screwdriver is which, but she is a
genius at languages and will be teaching English soon.
It must be genetic, boys want hammers and tools, and girls want...well
you get the picture.

--
Bill (not always politically correct) Baka

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:37:25 GMT, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've always been a recreation rider and rode hybrid bikes. In the past
couple years I've become more serious about biking and just bought my first
road bike earlier this year. Now that I'm comfortable with the new bike and
the clipless pedals I want to learn more about my bike and maintenance of
it.

I often notice reference to gear sizes in the posts and want to know how I
determine mine. I have a Trek 1800C. The brochure on it has the following
info - Drivetrain Crank Shimano Ultegra 52/42/30. I think this refers to
the front chain rings. I'm not even familiar with the correct terminology
so please tell me if I'm using the wrong terms. How do I determine the
sizes for the rear gears (sprockets?)?
I've been reading the Sheldon Brown website and it's been helpful but I
still have several questions.

Any hints on the best way to shift to lower gears when climbing hills? Most
hills in this area are rather short - not too many long gradual climbs. Is
it best to shift the front chain ring as I approach the hill or while
climbing the hill? I don't seem to have a problem with shifting the rear
gears until I hit the smallest one and then if sometimes wants to skip.
I'll be taking the bike back to the LBS for some adjustments in a couple
weeks and I'll ask them about this problem. It hasn't been adjusted since I
purchased it and it now has 600 miles on it.

Thanks for any suggestions and info.

Beverly
(who's father was a carpenter and taught her to build things and nothing
about her bikes)

Hi Beverly, hopefully someone will answer your questions. I don't have
the time now, but I wanted to warn you that a lot of what Bill has
written is inaccurate or worse. So be warned, take it for what it's
worth.

Life is Good!
Jeff

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:37:25 GMT, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've always been a recreation rider and rode hybrid bikes. In the past
couple years I've become more serious about biking and just bought my first
road bike earlier this year. Now that I'm comfortable with the new bike and
the clipless pedals I want to learn more about my bike and maintenance of
it.

I often notice reference to gear sizes in the posts and want to know how I
determine mine. I have a Trek 1800C. The brochure on it has the following
info - Drivetrain Crank Shimano Ultegra 52/42/30. I think this refers to
the front chain rings. I'm not even familiar with the correct terminology
so please tell me if I'm using the wrong terms. How do I determine the
sizes for the rear gears (sprockets?)?

Count the teeth. Really. The size is often stamped into the cog itself
on the edge but it can be hard to see this. Since you have a stock
cassette, I assume, you can count smallest cog and the largest, and
assume that those in between are standard. If you use Sheldon Brown's
gear calculator, you'll find most cassettes in the dropdown menu.

His calculator defaults to his 'Gain Ratio' system. I'd suggest
selecting 'Gear Inches' instead as this is an established way of
looking at gearing. Or simply talk about the front-rear combination.
42/24 or 52/14 gives a perfectly good ballpark.

Quoted message said:

I've been reading the Sheldon Brown website and it's been helpful but I
still have several questions.

Not the gospel despite some people's thinking, but still a great
collection. Especially section 8-

http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/FAQ/index.html

Another nice source-

http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQindex.shtml

Quoted message said:

Any hints on the best way to shift to lower gears when climbing hills? Most
hills in this area are rather short - not too many long gradual climbs. Is
it best to shift the front chain ring as I approach the hill or while
climbing the hill?

Shifting the front is harder to do under load than shifting the rear.
I would shift to the smaller chainring on approach, downshifting in
back if needed to keep up speed. Then shifting the rear up as needed
during the climb. Also- *anticipate* when you will need to shift and
do it sooner rather than later when climbing. Easier to spin a bit
faster for a bit than to lose momentum from being in too high a gear.

If the hill isn't long and I'm not up for more shifts, I'll just stand
up for the last bit- that's worth a gear or two.

Quoted message said:

I don't seem to have a problem with shifting the rear
gears until I hit the smallest one and then if sometimes wants to skip.

This is an adjustment problem, most likely the stop on the derailleur.
For the first adjustment, best to have someone show you what is
involved rather than misadjusting it. When you take it in (soon I
hope!), ask the mechanic what is going on.

Quoted message said:

I'll be taking the bike back to the LBS for some adjustments in a couple
weeks and I'll ask them about this problem. It hasn't been adjusted since I
purchased it and it now has 600 miles on it.

Thanks for any suggestions and info.

Beverly
(who's father was a carpenter and taught her to build things and nothing
about her bikes)

All in all bikes are very simple devices. Just a few distinct systems
with minimal adjustments and basic setups. If you get messing around
with one, the most important thing is to *make certain* that the
brakes are functional and that the handlebars are tight; the rest is
primarily adjustments and tweaks, but you need to live through test
rides to be able to make them 🙂

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:37:25 GMT, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've always been a recreation rider and rode hybrid bikes. In the past
couple years I've become more serious about biking and just bought my first
road bike earlier this year. Now that I'm comfortable with the new bike and
the clipless pedals I want to learn more about my bike and maintenance of
it.

I often notice reference to gear sizes in the posts and want to know how I
determine mine. I have a Trek 1800C. The brochure on it has the following
info - Drivetrain Crank Shimano Ultegra 52/42/30. I think this refers to
the front chain rings. I'm not even familiar with the correct terminology
so please tell me if I'm using the wrong terms. How do I determine the
sizes for the rear gears (sprockets?)?

Hi Bev, first of all, as I'm sure that you know, your bike is
classified as a"road comfort" bike, not multipurpose. It is not
uncommon for road bikes to have a triple crankset. That is what you
have, the chainwheels have 30/42/52 teeth. I went to Terk's website
and found the full specs on your bike. The sprockets on the rear are
known collectively as a cassette. Your bike came with a 12-25, which
I believe is the most commonly supplied cassette on road bikes that
come with a triple crank. Ok, your rear cogs include
12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25. In the future if you find that you seldom
or never use the 12 and/or the 13, there are cassettes availble with
14-25. That leaves out the 12 & 13, but adds the 16 & 18. That is what
I use.
There are a couple of different ways to determine how many teeth are
on a sprocket[cog], you can count them, or if apart, there are numbers
stamped on most of them. Or you can do what I did, locate the specs on
your bike. The closest that I can get you, is to the archive page -
http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/bike_archive.php

Quoted message said:

I've been reading the Sheldon Brown website and it's been helpful but I
still have several questions.

Great info, I wouldn't download all of it, there is a lot of things
that will never apply to you or I. Pages I find invaluable are the one
for new cyclists, there is info there for the experienced too.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/beginners/index.html
And here is an index page with links to many excellent articles, I
should mention that on the beginners page is the Glossary, ideal for
learning correct termonology.
http://sheldonbrown.com/articles.html

Quoted message said:

Any hints on the best way to shift to lower gears when climbing hills? Most
hills in this area are rather short - not too many long gradual climbs. Is
it best to shift the front chain ring as I approach the hill or while
climbing the hill? I don't seem to have a problem with shifting the rear
gears until I hit the smallest one and then if sometimes wants to skip.
I'll be taking the bike back to the LBS for some adjustments in a couple
weeks and I'll ask them about this problem. It hasn't been adjusted since I
purchased it and it now has 600 miles on it.

Most LBS include a free checkup/tuneup, so take it in and they can
resolve the skipping. Have them show you, how they make those
adjustments. They are not hard to do.
If you haven't already read it, read Sheldon's article on "Gear
Shifting". It explains it better than I can.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears.html

I have found that riders each seem to have different but similar
styles of gear use. Each of us seem to find a cadence or two, that we
like and work best for us. When you have established these cadences,
you then want to maintain them while riding. You shift your gears, to
do this. The info below is general in nature and not everyone here,
does it this way. I am speaking about how I do things and what I
perceive is the most common and logical.
The 30 tooth chainring, is generally only used for climbing hills,
seldom for any other riding.
The 42 and 52[in your case] are used for all other riding. Things to
remember are that you don't want to have the chain crossed at extreme
angles. So avoid 30 with 12,13,14,15 and 52 with 25,23,21. The 42 can
usually be used with all the rear cogs. Although it make more sense to
shift to the 52, rather than use the 42- 14,13,12.
A while back someone posted a link to a program that shows good info
on gear use, including ratios, inches, and uses cadence to give you
helpful info. It will show you what gear combinations are the same.
For example 42-17 and 52-21 are basically the same. This free or $10
donation program is called Gear Calc, here is the website
http://www.income-software.com/index.htm?GearCalc/gc_index.asp

When I ride, I tend to start out in 39-25[my 39 is your 42], shift
through the gears until 39-19 and then if I want more speed or am
starting to descend, I shift to 53[52] and go from there , 53-19 on up
to a top end of 53-14. For hills I generally start most hills in 39-25
and then drop down to the 30 ring. With one leg, my ability to climb
is limited. Hopefully some of our hill climbers like Mike or Terry
will cover this area. You don't want to be shifting too late or under
a heavy load, meaning that you want to back off a little while
shifting. The only downside to shifting on the hill, is if your chain
comes off to the inside, with clipless, you may have an Arte Johnson
moment. I solved that with a N-Gear Jump Stop. Basically plan ahead on
the hills.
When you mentioned a problem shifting the smallest one, do you mean
the smallest cog[12] or the lowest or easiest gear[25]?

When you are ready to do some of your own work, besides Sheldon, Park
Tools is very helpful.
http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/index.shtml

I have shared what I have learned, and I am certainly no expert. I
object to posts that give info as fact, when the poster is only giving
there limited view on the subject, filled with so-so info. I had hoped
that someone much more knowledgable than I would answer your post.
When no one had, I decided I would address, what I could.

Life is Good!
Jeff

Quoted message said:

Thanks for any suggestions and info.

Beverly
(who's father was a carpenter and taught her to build things and nothing
about her bikes)

Gears are kind of a mystery to the female
: gender but I have managed to get kids down to about 7 up to speed on
: their use.
: Bill

Really, Bill, that was sexist. Had the OP signed the name as Ben instead of
Beverly, would you have written that "gears are kind of a mystery to the
male gender"? That kind of attitude went out in the last century.

Pat in TX

Beverly said:

I often notice reference to gear sizes in the posts and want to know how I
determine mine. I have a Trek 1800C. The brochure on it has the
following info - Drivetrain Crank Shimano Ultegra 52/42/30. I think this
refers to the front chain rings. I'm not even familiar with the correct
terminology so please tell me if I'm using the wrong terms.

Terminology is fine. This is a "triple", which will probably give you
plenty of gears no matter what your local terrain.

Quoted message said:

How do I
determine the sizes for the rear gears (sprockets?)?

Count teeth.

Quoted message said:

Any hints on the best way to shift to lower gears when climbing hills?
Most hills in this area are rather short - not too many long gradual
climbs. Is it best to shift the front chain ring as I approach the hill
or while climbing the hill?

IMO, shift before you get to the hill. Climbing puts a lot of tension on
the chain, and while modern shifters can still shift under those
conditions, it is not a great idea. It can cause damage if the chain
misses its mark. The chain can drop off the inner ring, and can also get
snarled up in various ways. Since you will rapidly lose momentum, at the
very least you'll stop, maybe fall, maybe break something in the gears.
Also, you do have to back off the climbing force to shift, and if nothing
else that will slow you down.

In my day, way back when, you basically could not shift while climbing
hard. For one, if you were out of the saddle you could not reach down to
the shifters, and for another, they really did not work when there was a
lot of chain tension. So we learned to glance at the hill, choose our
gear (and live with it if we guessed wrong). I am still amused at being
able to shift out of the saddle, but I don't do it much.

Quoted message said:

I don't seem to have a problem with
shifting the rear gears

The rear will usually shift more easily than the front. If you have to
shift while climbing, better to use the rear than the front.

Quoted message said:

It hasn't been adjusted since I purchased it and it now has 600 miles
on it.

Definitely time. Maladjustments can cause a lot of trouble, and things
settle in for the first few hundred miles. Usually shops offer a deal on
a tune-up after this amount of time to make sure things are re-adjusted.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember
_`\(,_ | that your initial objective was to drain the swamp. -- LBJ
(_)/ (_) |

Jeff Starr said:

Hi Bev, first of all, as I'm sure that you know, your bike is
classified as a"road comfort" bike, not multipurpose. It is not
uncommon for road bikes to have a triple crankset. That is what you
have, the chainwheels have 30/42/52 teeth. I went to Terk's website
and found the full specs on your bike. The sprockets on the rear are
known collectively as a cassette. Your bike came with a 12-25, which
I believe is the most commonly supplied cassette on road bikes that
come with a triple crank. Ok, your rear cogs include
12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25. In the future if you find that you seldom
or never use the 12 and/or the 13, there are cassettes availble with
14-25. That leaves out the 12 & 13, but adds the 16 & 18. That is what
I use.

What I did was copy my cogs on a spreadsheet next to my training log and
then put the number of the gear above it, then start referring to the set
that I ride in various locations/hills, etc., and then thinking about it in
those terms. You can even put the number on a piece of tape on your
shifter, I'd guess:

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25

....like the above.

Then when you're riding and can remember "I did that hill in 4th gear,
front chainring in the middle". When you get home you record it as 42x19.

Soon you'll start to think of the 'gear' in terms of that number instead of
4th gear.

YMMV, but it's one way to get familiar with your gears if that's your aim.

-B

Jeff Starr said:

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:37:25 GMT, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've always been a recreation rider and rode hybrid bikes. In the past
couple years I've become more serious about biking and just bought my
first
road bike earlier this year. Now that I'm comfortable with the new
bike and
the clipless pedals I want to learn more about my bike and maintenance
of
it.

I often notice reference to gear sizes in the posts and want to know
how I
determine mine. I have a Trek 1800C. The brochure on it has the
following
info - Drivetrain Crank Shimano Ultegra 52/42/30. I think this refers
to
the front chain rings. I'm not even familiar with the correct
terminology
so please tell me if I'm using the wrong terms. How do I determine the
sizes for the rear gears (sprockets?)?

Hi Bev, first of all, as I'm sure that you know, your bike is
classified as a"road comfort" bike, not multipurpose. It is not
uncommon for road bikes to have a triple crankset. That is what you
have, the chainwheels have 30/42/52 teeth. I went to Terk's website
and found the full specs on your bike. The sprockets on the rear are
known collectively as a cassette. Your bike came with a 12-25, which
I believe is the most commonly supplied cassette on road bikes that
come with a triple crank. Ok, your rear cogs include
12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25. In the future if you find that you seldom
or never use the 12 and/or the 13, there are cassettes availble with
14-25. That leaves out the 12 & 13, but adds the 16 & 18.

While I don't want to argue over this, it is a little silly to go
14-25 and not 14-32 or 14-34 with a 9 speed set. My legs can
barely tell the difference between a 23-25 shift and on some hills
the 28 that is so common is more welcome than a 25 would be. For
a "road comfort" bike the extra ratio might come in handy for
someone who is not a career rider.

That is what

Quoted message said:

I use.
There are a couple of different ways to determine how many teeth are
on a sprocket[cog], you can count them, or if apart, there are numbers
stamped on most of them. Or you can do what I did, locate the specs on
your bike. The closest that I can get you, is to the archive page -
http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/bike_archive.php

Quoted message said:

I've been reading the Sheldon Brown website and it's been helpful but I
still have several questions.

Great info, I wouldn't download all of it, there is a lot of things
that will never apply to you or I. Pages I find invaluable are the one
for new cyclists, there is info there for the experienced too.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/beginners/index.html
And here is an index page with links to many excellent articles, I
should mention that on the beginners page is the Glossary, ideal for
learning correct termonology.
http://sheldonbrown.com/articles.html

Quoted message said:

Any hints on the best way to shift to lower gears when climbing hills?
Most
hills in this area are rather short - not too many long gradual
climbs. Is
it best to shift the front chain ring as I approach the hill or while
climbing the hill? I don't seem to have a problem with shifting the
rear
gears until I hit the smallest one and then if sometimes wants to skip.
I'll be taking the bike back to the LBS for some adjustments in a couple
weeks and I'll ask them about this problem. It hasn't been adjusted
since I
purchased it and it now has 600 miles on it.

Most LBS include a free checkup/tuneup, so take it in and they can
resolve the skipping. Have them show you, how they make those
adjustments. They are not hard to do.
If you haven't already read it, read Sheldon's article on "Gear
Shifting". It explains it better than I can.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears.html

I have found that riders each seem to have different but similar
styles of gear use. Each of us seem to find a cadence or two, that we
like and work best for us. When you have established these cadences,
you then want to maintain them while riding. You shift your gears, to
do this. The info below is general in nature and not everyone here,
does it this way. I am speaking about how I do things and what I
perceive is the most common and logical.
The 30 tooth chainring, is generally only used for climbing hills,
seldom for any other riding.
The 42 and 52[in your case] are used for all other riding. Things to
remember are that you don't want to have the chain crossed at extreme
angles. So avoid 30 with 12,13,14,15 and 52 with 25,23,21. The 42 can
usually be used with all the rear cogs. Although it make more sense to
shift to the 52, rather than use the 42- 14,13,12.

If she can pull a 52/12 then she is no beginner or pedals really slow.
Even 60 RPM would put her in the 20 MPH area, which is not casual speed.

Quoted message said:

A while back someone posted a link to a program that shows good info
on gear use, including ratios, inches, and uses cadence to give you
helpful info. It will show you what gear combinations are the same.
For example 42-17 and 52-21 are basically the same. This free or $10
donation program is called Gear Calc, here is the website
http://www.income-software.com/index.htm?GearCalc/gc_index.asp

Got a computer? Just enter all the gears into a spreadsheet, easy, free,
and you write it yourself. No rocket science involved.

Quoted message said:

When I ride, I tend to start out in 39-25[my 39 is your 42], shift
through the gears until 39-19 and then if I want more speed or am
starting to descend, I shift to 53[52] and go from there , 53-19 on up
to a top end of 53-14. For hills I generally start most hills in 39-25
and then drop down to the 30 ring. With one leg, my ability to climb
is limited. Hopefully some of our hill climbers like Mike or Terry
will cover this area. You don't want to be shifting too late or under
a heavy load, meaning that you want to back off a little while
shifting. The only downside to shifting on the hill, is if your chain
comes off to the inside, with clipless, you may have an Arte Johnson
moment. I solved that with a N-Gear Jump Stop. Basically plan ahead on
the hills.
When you mentioned a problem shifting the smallest one, do you mean
the smallest cog[12] or the lowest or easiest gear[25]?

Either can be a problem if the chain goes to far and slips off.

Quoted message said:

When you are ready to do some of your own work, besides Sheldon, Park
Tools is very helpful.
http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/index.shtml

I have shared what I have learned, and I am certainly no expert. I
object to posts that give info as fact, when the poster is only giving
there limited view on the subject, filled with so-so info. I had hoped
that someone much more knowledgable than I would answer your post.
When no one had, I decided I would address, what I could.

Life is Good!
Jeff

Quoted message said:

Thanks for any suggestions and info.

Beverly
(who's father was a carpenter and taught her to build things and nothing
about her bikes)

--
Bill (not always politically correct) Baka

"Beverly" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Any hints on the best way to shift to lower gears when climbing hills?

Most

Quoted message said:

hills in this area are rather short - not too many long gradual climbs.

Is

Quoted message said:

it best to shift the front chain ring as I approach the hill or while
climbing the hill?

I like to shift the front early, before my cadence drops too much, but it's
really a matter of personal preference, I don't think there's any "right"
way. For short hills, I'll stand to get over the top rather than shifting
lower. Standing is usually best 2 shifts higher than seated (at least for
me).

Quoted message said:

I don't seem to have a problem with shifting the rear
gears until I hit the smallest one and then if sometimes wants to skip.
I'll be taking the bike back to the LBS for some adjustments in a couple
weeks and I'll ask them about this problem. It hasn't been adjusted

since I

Quoted message said:

purchased it and it now has 600 miles on it.

There are only 2 derailer adjustments. The first is the "barrel"
adjuster -- usually at the rear derailer. This "centers" the gear selection
on the sprocket. The other adjustment is the high/low limit, which sets the
limits to how far the derailer can move at the highest and lowest gears --
this is a screwdriver adjustment on the body of the derailer.

When a bike is new, the cable & housings settle in, so the barrel adjuster
usually need a tweak. The limit screws usually don't need any adjustment.
It's not a bad idea to learn to tweak the derailer adjustments, although
newer bikes rarely need it. If you hang your bike off the ground, it's easy
to turn the cranks by hand as you run through the gears and see the effects
of adjustments. I just hook the saddle nose of my bikes over a rope
suspended from my garage ceiling or use the rack on the back of my car.

One thing to watch out for, if your bike suddenly stops shifting well, is
that the derailer may have been bumped and bent slightly. Derailers can run
very close to the spokes in the innermost sprocket, and a bent derailer can
actually cause contact, with potentially serious consequences. It can also
cause a chain to fall off and damage the spokes.

"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:37:25 GMT, Beverly <[email hidden]> wrote:

Road bikes

Quoted message said:

normally only have two gears, like a 39 and a 52, so it sounds like you
have a multipurpose bike.

Trek labels it a "comfort" road bike. All the bikes in this category have 3
gears on the front. I believe they market this one to people who want a
road bike but are more casual riders. It really was a little more
comfortable than some of their regular road bikes I tried.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Beverly
(who's father was a carpenter and taught her to build things and nothing
about her bikes)

Bad daddy, girls need to know too. Of course my daughter is 25 and
doesn't know which end of a screwdriver is which, but she is a
genius at languages and will be teaching English soon.
It must be genetic, boys want hammers and tools, and girls want...well
you get the picture.

Daddy didn't have any boys so he taught my sister and I to use tools. We
rode bikes, swam and played ball instead of playing with dolls<g>

Beverly (who owns her own power tools including a chain saw)

"Jeff Starr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:37:25 GMT, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>
wrote:
When you mentioned a problem shifting the smallest one, do you mean
the smallest cog[12] or the lowest or easiest gear[25]?

Life is Good!
Jeff

I was referring to the smallest cog (12). This usually happens when I'm
climbing a hill and have chosen the 30 front gear and shift down to the 12.
It often starts slipping and I lose my momentum. It will quit if I shift
back to the next rear cog but by this time I usually have to stop or stand
up and climb. I'm hoping this is just an adjustment problem and the bike
shop can fix it.

Thanks for all the info.

Beverly

"Badger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What I did was copy my cogs on a spreadsheet next to my training log and
then put the number of the gear above it, then start referring to the set
that I ride in various locations/hills, etc., and then thinking about it

in

Quoted message said:

those terms. You can even put the number on a piece of tape on your
shifter, I'd guess:

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25

...like the above.

Then when you're riding and can remember "I did that hill in 4th gear,
front chainring in the middle". When you get home you record it as 42x19.

Soon you'll start to think of the 'gear' in terms of that number instead

of

Quoted message said:

4th gear.

YMMV, but it's one way to get familiar with your gears if that's your aim.

-B

The bike has STI shifters. I really do miss being able to read the numbers
on the grip shifters I had on the other bikes. There are so many things to
try and remember while riding this thing<g> The most important thing for me
is to remember to unclip when I stop! I've only had that problem a couple
times since I bought the bike in March. Thankfully only one was witnessed
by others.

That bug to be a better rider must have bit me also as I purchased some
software to track my progress 🙂

Beverly

"Peter Cole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:OyNmd.43964$V41.5132@attbi_s52...

Quoted message said:

"Beverly" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Any hints on the best way to shift to lower gears when climbing hills?

Most

Quoted message said:

hills in this area are rather short - not too many long gradual climbs.

Is

Quoted message said:

it best to shift the front chain ring as I approach the hill or while
climbing the hill?

I like to shift the front early, before my cadence drops too much, but

it's

Quoted message said:

really a matter of personal preference, I don't think there's any "right"
way. For short hills, I'll stand to get over the top rather than shifting
lower. Standing is usually best 2 shifts higher than seated (at least for
me).

Quoted message said:

I don't seem to have a problem with shifting the rear
gears until I hit the smallest one and then if sometimes wants to skip.
I'll be taking the bike back to the LBS for some adjustments in a couple
weeks and I'll ask them about this problem. It hasn't been adjusted

since I

Quoted message said:

purchased it and it now has 600 miles on it.

There are only 2 derailer adjustments. The first is the "barrel"
adjuster -- usually at the rear derailer. This "centers" the gear

selection

Quoted message said:

on the sprocket. The other adjustment is the high/low limit, which sets

the

Quoted message said:

limits to how far the derailer can move at the highest and lowest gears --
this is a screwdriver adjustment on the body of the derailer.

When a bike is new, the cable & housings settle in, so the barrel adjuster
usually need a tweak. The limit screws usually don't need any adjustment.
It's not a bad idea to learn to tweak the derailer adjustments, although
newer bikes rarely need it. If you hang your bike off the ground, it's

easy

Quoted message said:

to turn the cranks by hand as you run through the gears and see the

effects

Quoted message said:

of adjustments. I just hook the saddle nose of my bikes over a rope
suspended from my garage ceiling or use the rack on the back of my car.

One thing to watch out for, if your bike suddenly stops shifting well, is
that the derailer may have been bumped and bent slightly. Derailers can

run

Quoted message said:

very close to the spokes in the innermost sprocket, and a bent derailer

can

Quoted message said:

actually cause contact, with potentially serious consequences. It can

also

Quoted message said:

cause a chain to fall off and damage the spokes.

Thanks to everyone for all the great information.

I was glad to see that I've been on the right track as I have been shifting
to the lowest front gear before starting to climb hills. I'll just have to
get out there and do more climbing. I'll be taking the bike to the shop
within the next couple weeks for adjustments.

I'm taking a maintenance class this winter. One of the fellow bike
patrolmen is going to teach the newbies tire changing, chain repair, brake
adjustments, etc. I could change the tires on the hybrids but I haven't
been able to change them on the new bike. I can get the tire off and the
new tube in but I've found it impossible to get the tire back on the rim.

Again...thanks and I'm sure there will be other questions.

Beverly

Beverly said:

I've always been a recreation rider and rode hybrid bikes. In the past
couple years I've become more serious about biking and just bought my first
road bike earlier this year. Now that I'm comfortable with the new bike and
the clipless pedals I want to learn more about my bike and maintenance of
it.

I often notice reference to gear sizes in the posts and want to know how I
determine mine. I have a Trek 1800C. The brochure on it has the following
info - Drivetrain Crank Shimano Ultegra 52/42/30. I think this refers to
the front chain rings. I'm not even familiar with the correct terminology
so please tell me if I'm using the wrong terms. How do I determine the
sizes for the rear gears (sprockets?)?
I've been reading the Sheldon Brown website and it's been helpful but I
still have several questions.

Google leads to Trek (who doesn't want you looking at last years bikes,
apparently). Your crankset if 52/42/30, you have a 9-speed cassette,
12-25. You can plug these numbers into Sheldon's gear calculator, and
find out you have a high of 116 and a low of 32 gear inches (try it
yourself for another 25 numbers). I don't know any other sources
besides Sheldon that talk about development or gain ratios, rational as
they may be, so that's the way to compare your gears to everybody else's.

Pat

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 08:00:17 -0500, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"Jeff Starr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:37:25 GMT, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>
wrote:
When you mentioned a problem shifting the smallest one, do you mean
the smallest cog[12] or the lowest or easiest gear[25]?

Life is Good!
Jeff

I was referring to the smallest cog (12). This usually happens when I'm
climbing a hill and have chosen the 30 front gear and shift down to the 12.
It often starts slipping and I lose my momentum. It will quit if I shift
back to the next rear cog but by this time I usually have to stop or stand
up and climb. I'm hoping this is just an adjustment problem and the bike
shop can fix it.

Thanks for all the info.

Beverly

Hi Bev, you really shouldn't be using 30-12, as that is the worst
cross chain angle, that there is.
Somehow, I doubt that you are really in 12, as that is the hardest
combination, for each chainring.

On the front, the smaller the number of teeth, the easier it is to
pedal, on the back, it is the opposite. So your easiest, to pedal,
combination is 30-25 and the hardest to pedal, is 52-12.
My guess is that you are having a problem with the 25t cog.

I think if you download and install that simple program, Gear Calc, it
will help you see what each combination does. It is far superior to
making your own spreadsheet. I have a couple of spreadsheets that have
the basic info, but you can't make cadence changes as easily or
benefit from the graphs, that Gear Calc has. It took me about a minute
to put in your gear info and save it. It allows me to have both my
bikes entered and any other groupings of cranksets with various
cassettes.

Your old bike had the numbers on the shifters. If you had numbers on
this one, they would correspond to the following -
1=30, 2=42, 3=52.
Now on the back, the numbers would go like this -
1=25, 2=23, 3=21, 4=19, 5=17, 6=15, 7=14, 8=13, 9=12.

Life is Good!
Jeff

"Jeff Starr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 08:00:17 -0500, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"Jeff Starr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:37:25 GMT, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>
wrote:
When you mentioned a problem shifting the smallest one, do you mean
the smallest cog[12] or the lowest or easiest gear[25]?

Life is Good!
Jeff

I was referring to the smallest cog (12). This usually happens when I'm
climbing a hill and have chosen the 30 front gear and shift down to the

12.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It often starts slipping and I lose my momentum. It will quit if I shift
back to the next rear cog but by this time I usually have to stop or

stand

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

up and climb. I'm hoping this is just an adjustment problem and the bike
shop can fix it.

Thanks for all the info.

Beverly

Hi Bev, you really shouldn't be using 30-12, as that is the worst
cross chain angle, that there is.
Somehow, I doubt that you are really in 12, as that is the hardest
combination, for each chainring.

On the front, the smaller the number of teeth, the easier it is to
pedal, on the back, it is the opposite. So your easiest, to pedal,
combination is 30-25 and the hardest to pedal, is 52-12.
My guess is that you are having a problem with the 25t cog.

I think if you download and install that simple program, Gear Calc, it
will help you see what each combination does. It is far superior to
making your own spreadsheet. I have a couple of spreadsheets that have
the basic info, but you can't make cadence changes as easily or
benefit from the graphs, that Gear Calc has. It took me about a minute
to put in your gear info and save it. It allows me to have both my
bikes entered and any other groupings of cranksets with various
cassettes.

Your old bike had the numbers on the shifters. If you had numbers on
this one, they would correspond to the following -
1=30, 2=42, 3=52.
Now on the back, the numbers would go like this -
1=25, 2=23, 3=21, 4=19, 5=17, 6=15, 7=14, 8=13, 9=12.

Life is Good!
Jeff

You're right, it is the 30/25. Your comparison of my current shifters to
the old ones really helps.

I bookmarked the Gear Calc site and will be checking it out.

Thanks
Beverly

Beverly said:

"Jeff Starr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 02:37:25 GMT, "Beverly" <[email hidden]>
wrote:
When you mentioned a problem shifting the smallest one, do you mean
the smallest cog[12] or the lowest or easiest gear[25]?

Life is Good!
Jeff

I was referring to the smallest cog (12). This usually happens when I'm
climbing a hill and have chosen the 30 front gear and shift down to the
12.
It often starts slipping and I lose my momentum. It will quit if I shift
back to the next rear cog but by this time I usually have to stop or
stand
up and climb. I'm hoping this is just an adjustment problem and the bike
shop can fix it.

Thanks for all the info.

Beverly

Sounds like loss of chain tension by using a non-ideal set of gears.

--
Bill (not always politically correct) Baka