Gear Question Mountain Bike

•In article said:

On my Giant ATX Mountain Bike, when I put the gear in the max
position, ie Big ring to little ring, the chain scrapes.

Big front ring to little rear ring, or the other way round?

Quoted message said:

I told the shop I bought it at, and he said you should never use the
max gear rings ?

Is this true ?

If this guy is telling not to use the largest front gear with the smallest
rear gear go to a different shop.

How old is the bike? if its fairly new its a good change the gears just
need indexing which would take all of 5-10 minutes for a shop to do,
or if your even the slightest bit mechanical can be done yourself
very easily.

On MTB with three rings on the cranks using the littlest front
gear with the largest rear gear is not always a good idea (that
gearing would be duplicated on the middle ring any way.

--
| Joel Mayes | /~\ ASCII Ribbon campaign
| Accordionist | \_/ stop HTML mail and news
| Musician | / \
| Music Teacher |

salvatore said:

On my Giant ATX Mountain Bike, when I put the gear in the max position, ie
Big ring to little ring, the chain scrapes.

Scrapes on what? I'm assuming biggest in the front, smallest in the
rear. If it scrapes on the front derailleur tighten the front cable
(you can use the barrells at either end).

Quoted message said:

I told the shop I bought it at, and he said you should never use the max
gear rings ?

Different issue. You shouldn't use biggest on the front and biggest on
the rear *or* smallest on the front and smallest on the rear. The
reason for this is because doing so can put a nasty angle on the chain,
and depending on the width of your sprokets, can speed wear on the
teeth and chain. Also, biggest and biggest can stretch your chain if it
is too short. In any case, these gear ratios will most likely
duplicated by some combination with the middle chain ring, so I'd stay
out of them.

That said, a bloke I ride with always uses the biggest front ring,
often going biggest and biggest, and doesn't notice too much bother.
Take the risk if you must!

As for using the "max position" of biggest to smallest or vice versa -
that is exactly what they are there for - to use! They'll give you the
highest and lowest gear ratios and you can use them all day long.
Although, the small rings on the rear cluster are often the first ones
to wear out, so if you are *really* trying hard to make your components
last, you'll probably use the small rings on the rear sparingly, or not
with the biggest ring on the front.

HTH!
--
*--------------------------------------------------------*
| ^Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool^ |
| Heath Raftery, HRSoftWorks _\|/_ |
*______________________________________m_('.'😉_m_________*

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

On MTB with three rings on the cranks using the littlest front
gear with the largest rear gear is not always a good idea (that
gearing would be duplicated on the middle ring any way.

Ummm, no, that would give you the lowest gearing possible. After you run
out of legs in that gear it's get off and walk time 🙂

Smallest front, smallest rear, yes that would be duplicated (or damn
close) on the middle front.

Cheers Ray

salvatore said:

On my Giant ATX Mountain Bike, when I put the gear in the max position, ie
Big ring to little ring, the chain scrapes.

I told the shop I bought it at, and he said you should never use the max
gear rings ?

Is this true ?

You'll get more/better answers to these types of questions on
rec.bicycles.tech (no offence intended to those who did answer on
aus.bicycle).

HTH,

&roo

•In article said:

• said:

On MTB with three rings on the cranks using the littlest front
gear with the largest rear gear is not always a good idea (that
gearing would be duplicated on the middle ring any way.

Ummm, no, that would give you the lowest gearing possible. After you run
out of legs in that gear it's get off and walk time 🙂

Smallest front, smallest rear, yes that would be duplicated (or damn
close) on the middle front.

Cheers Ray

Oops 🙂

I know that, maybe this'll teach me to proof read before I post.

--
| Joel Mayes | /~\ ASCII Ribbon campaign
| Accordionist | \_/ stop HTML mail and news
| Musician | / \
| Music Teacher |

Heath Raftery <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Different issue. You shouldn't use biggest on the front and biggest on
the rear *or* smallest on the front and smallest on the rear.

To clarify Heath's point - those *combinations* should be avoided.
There's nothing inherently wrong with those sprockets, otherwise
they'd be a bit pointless.

Quoted message said:

Also, biggest and biggest can stretch your chain if it is too short.

No it can't. Stretching a chain would take considerably more power
than any cyclist can generate. The apparent stretch in an old chain is
caused by roller wear, and high tension / low velocity riding isn't
going to cause much.

Quoted message said:

As for using the "max position" of biggest to smallest or vice versa -
that is exactly what they are there for - to use! They'll give you the
highest and lowest gear ratios and you can use them all day long.

You've obviously got either very strong legs and can spin very fast,
or you ride some very strange roads!

Dave - who consistently used big/big by accident at one spot in the
24Hr last year.

--
Dave Hughes
[email hidden]
"When you need a helpline for breakfast cereals, it's time to start
thinking
about tearing down civilisation and giving the ants a go" -- Chris
King