More top end required but how?

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

Quoted message said:

Greetings

Only really started cycling in earnest this year, mainly
for commute but good fun aswell & I was wondering how I
could go faster.

I have a standard Marin Kentfield and use the full gear
range commuting but could do with more top speed. At times
I am not rotating my legs fast enough to keep up and want
to get round this.

I am innocently assuming I should look at getting a bigger
cog on the crankset (?). The top one now has 48 teeth and
I have seen racing bikes with 53.

As I said I need the lower gears for quite a fierce hill &
so don't want to change that but if I look for a 53 teeth
cog which fits is that the best thing to do and how much
would I gain.

Your thoughts & abuse are welcome.

The cheapest option is also the best : learn to pedal
faster!

Your question is a very common one for people new to cycling
- they start off, get some muscle then want higher gears.
But this isn't necessarily the most efficient way to pedal.

Pedal rpms is also known as cadence, so looking for posts
mentioning cadence will get you answers on how people
increased theirs.

What sort of cadence do you currently use? (choice is
calculate it from a speed and known gears, or count how many
revs you do in say 15 seconds - remember one rev is two
pedal strokes!)

Fwiw a 53 tooth front cog may not work very well - the gap
to the middle ring may be too much. This especially applies
if you've got indexed front shifting.

What's the smallest cog on the back?

cheers, clive

"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Fwiw a 53 tooth front cog may not work very well - the gap
to the middle ring may be too much. This especially
applies if you've got indexed front shifting.

What's the smallest cog on the back?

Clive is right. The cheapest way is to get a rear cassette
with an 11t smallest cog . You should find a big difference
after fitting it. My hybrid has a 34t-11t rear cog to give
a large range of gears.
--
Simon Mason Anlaby East Yorkshire. 53°44'N 0°26'W
simonmason.karoo.netsimonmason.karoo.netOpen ↗

Fat Lad said:

Greetings

Only really started cycling in earnest this year, mainly
for commute but good fun aswell & I was wondering how I
could go faster.

I have a standard Marin Kentfield and use the full gear
range commuting but could do with more top speed. At times
I am not rotating my legs fast enough to keep up and want
to get round this.

I am innocently assuming I should look at getting a bigger
cog on the crankset (?). The top one now has 48 teeth and
I have seen racing bikes with 53.

As I said I need the lower gears for quite a fierce hill &
so don't want to change that but if I look for a 53 teeth
cog which fits is that the best thing to do and how much
would I gain.

Your thoughts & abuse are welcome.

Are you cycling at the proper cadence (85-90rpm)? Or is
your commute all downhill? Are you sure you're really using
the top gear?

With your set-up, pedalling with a 90rpm cadence you should
have a speed exceeding 27mph. Isn't this enough? If not,
pedal faster!
--
Michael MacClancy Random putdown - "He has Van Gogh's ear
for music." - Billy Wilder www.macclancy.demon.co.uk
www.macclancy.co.uk

In "]news:[email hidden],
Fat Lad <[email hidden]> typed:

Quoted message said:

I have a standard Marin Kentfield and use the full gear
range commuting but could do with more top speed. At times
I am not rotating my legs fast enough to keep up and want
to get round this.

Sorry, I guess I have to be a naysayer here as well. In my
opinion, when you're cycling, almost none of your effort
should be going into pushing the pedals, and all of it
should be going into spinning your legs round. Unless you're
going well over 20mph on the flat, then you have high enough
gears already.

In fact, as practice, try going along in a middle gear
and just trying to spin out as fast as possible, and
you'll be able to go as fast as you do in top gear.
Eventually this will become a habit, and it'll make
things much easier. Don't worry about freewheeling on
steepish downhills: you only tire yourself out, and add
miniscule amounts to your speed.

If it's not easy to spin fast, then it's possible that your
saddle is too low. Your leg should be pretty much straight
at the bottom of your pedal stroke, with your toes pointing
slightly downward (and the pedal spindle under the ball of
your foot.)

Hope that's useful advice and not patronising. I find
it useful.

Ambrose.

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

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What's the smallest cog on the back?

Clive is right. The cheapest way is to get a rear cassette
with an 11t
smallest cog . You should find a big difference after
fitting it. My

hybrid

Quoted message said:

has a 34t-11t rear cog to give a large range of gears.
--

When I was looking to increase my gear inches, EBC suggested
that I don't go for the smaller rear option because you have
less chain wrapped round the cog, which increases the load,
and to look at the chainset rings. In the end, I got another
bike with gears for road, and kept my MTB for other uses (at
the moment, decorating my house, as I've dismantled it for
cleaning/repairs/upgrades)

Of course, simple changes are only possible if all the
bits on the bike are new enough to get away with replacing
only one bit - no matter how carefully I measure my chain,
it seems I always have to replace chain and cassette (and
with that potentially topping 80 notes on my 'bent, I'm
not too keen)

E

Fat Lad said:

I am innocently assuming I should look at getting a bigger cog on the crankset (?). The top one now has 48 teeth and I have seen racing bikes with 53.

I'll just echo what everyone else has said. I'm in a similar position to you and since I've come back to cycling in earnest I've been training myself to be a spinner rather than a pusher - so I can vouch for how easy it is to retrain yourself in this way, and for its effectiveness.

I would suggest not buying a larger chainwheel but spend the money instead on a cadence computer - takes the work out of trying to count it out in your head, though you'll soon get to know what it feels like pedalling at 90rpm - I now find it more useful to have the computer for extra motivation - it also helps stop you pedalling *too* fast, which just wears you out quicker.

Quoted message said:

As I said I need the lower gears for quite a fierce hill & so don't want to change that but if I look for a 53 teeth cog which fits is that the best thing to do and how much would I gain.

I find that spinning really comes into its own when climbing - focusing on keeping a steady pedalling rhythm also helps take your mind off all the other thoughts that run through your head when faced with big hills (eg "[censored], that looks scary!"😉

d.

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

Quoted message said:

Greetings

Only really started cycling in earnest this year, mainly
for commute but good fun aswell & I was wondering how I
could go faster.

I have a standard Marin Kentfield and use the full gear
range commuting but could do with more top speed. At times
I am not rotating my legs fast enough to keep up and want
to get round this.

I am innocently assuming I should look at getting a bigger
cog on the crankset (?). The top one now has 48 teeth and
I have seen racing bikes with 53.

As I said I need the lower gears for quite a fierce hill &
so don't want to change that but if I look for a 53 teeth
cog which fits is that the best thing to do and how much
would I gain.

If you want to increase the size of the largest chainring
you may find you need a new front der as well. You could
still have problems if this results in too large a
difference in numbers of teeth between the largest and
smallest rings, so you might be looking at changing all
three rings to have a reasonable gap and spread between
them. Then because of the larger smallest front ring, to
keep the same lowest ratio you might need to change the rear
cassette for something with a wider spread of ratios, which
won't be as favourable for maintaining a consistant cadence
on the flat - generally the narrower the difference between
cogs on the rear the better.

On the otherhand, you could, as others have pointed out,
just try pedalling faster. I find it hard to believe you are
spinning out on the flat with a 48t front chainring and a
high gear of (presumably) 11t or 12t on the rear. As others
have also pointed out this should give over 27mph at a
reasonable cadence - for someone who 'only started commuting
this year', to sustain that would be quite some going!

Rich

Clive George said:

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

Quoted message said:

Greetings

Only really started cycling in earnest this year, mainly
for commute but good fun aswell & I was wondering how I
could go faster.

[...]

Quoted message said:

The cheapest option is also the best : learn to
pedal faster!

Your question is a very common one for people new to
cycling - they start off, get some muscle then want higher
gears. But this isn't necessarily the most efficient way
to pedal.

I'm also finding it very hard to maintain a high cadence -
it feels very unstable. Dammit, enough whining about
clipless pedals, I'm just going to have to buy some.

Is it worth buying pedals on ebay? Or are they likely to be
a) shot or
b) over-priced?

--
Keith Willoughby flat222.orgkeithOpen ↗ "Individuals have
international duties which transcend the national
obligations of obedience" -- Justice Robert Jackson

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 13:02:11 GMT, Fat Lad
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Only really started cycling in earnest this year, mainly
for commute but good fun aswell & I was wondering how I
could go faster.

The Dark Side is calling! Wind resistance is futile...

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 13:39:07 +0000, Michael MacClancy
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Are you cycling at the proper cadence (85-90rpm)?

Blimey! I hardly ever drop down that low...

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University

Guy said:

Quoted message said:

Are you cycling at the proper cadence (85-90rpm)?

Blimey! I hardly ever drop down that low...

I recently read a discussion on cyclingforums.com in which
some nutter claimed his 'normal' pedalling speed was 220rpm.

d.

Keith Willoughby said:

Is it worth buying pedals on ebay? Or are they likely to
be a) shot or
b) over-priced?

For a first time buyer, I suggest buying new ones. Used ones
may be more shot that you realise, and may not come with
cleats (which can be hard to get hold of if pedal is a
obscure/old model) or cleats may be worn out. There are new
unused ones on eBay - prices can be ok.

Also see www.cyclexpress.co.uk , Settle Cycles, Chain
Reaction, Wiggle.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

Keith Willoughby said:

Is it worth buying pedals on ebay? Or are they likely to
be a) shot or b) over-priced?

For a first time buyer, I suggest buying new ones. Used
ones may be more shot that you realise, and may not come
with cleats (which can be hard to get hold of if pedal is
a obscure/old model) or cleats

may

Quoted message said:

be worn out. There are new unused ones on eBay - prices
can be ok.

Also see www.cyclexpress.co.uk , Settle Cycles, Chain
Reaction, Wiggle.

If they don't come with cleats they (the cleats) cost around
£10, whilst a new set of the basic Shimano SPD 515's can be
had for £20, which includes cleats. So, there's little point
in buying second hand.

--

Regards,

Mark Davies

in message <[email hidden]>, Frobnitz

('eddie_d@@@blueyonder.ocbackwards.uk') said:

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

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What's the smallest cog on the back?

Clive is right. The cheapest way is to get a rear
cassette with an 11t smallest cog . You should find a
big difference after fitting it. My

hybrid

Quoted message said:

has a 34t-11t rear cog to give a large range of gears.
--

When I was looking to increase my gear inches, EBC
suggested that I don't go for the smaller rear option
because you have less chain wrapped round the cog, which
increases the load, and to look at the chainset rings.

They're right in principle. You will get more chain wear
with an 11/48 setup than with a 14/53, because fewer rollers
are taking the load so more wear is imposed on each.
However, unless you spend a lot of time in your highest gear
this may not matter very much.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke)
jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

Morning had broken, and we had run out of gas for
the welding torch.

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

Quoted message said:

in message <UmX7c.4836$S61.87@news-
binary.blueyonder.co.uk>, Frobnitz
('eddie_d@@@blueyonder.ocbackwards.uk'😉 wrote:

Quoted message said:

They're right in principle. You will get more chain wear
with an 11/48 setup than with a 14/53, because fewer
rollers are taking the load so more wear is imposed on
each. However, unless you spend a lot of time in your
highest gear this may not matter very much.

do you mean 12/53?

cheers, clive

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

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Clive
George

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

in message <UmX7c.4836$S61.87@news-
binary.blueyonder.co.uk>, Frobnitz
('eddie_d@@@blueyonder.ocbackwards.uk'😉 wrote:

Quoted message said:

They're right in principle. You will get more chain
wear with an
11/48 setup than with a 14/53, because fewer rollers
are taking the load so more wear is imposed on each.
However, unless you spend a lot of time in your
highest gear this may not matter very much.

do you mean 12/53?

Well no. That would be nearer in ratio, I agree, but
the difference between eleven and twelve teeth isn't
very much, so the difference in chain wear would be
equally small.

I think we agree then - I just wanted to check that the
chain wear thing is not a real issue. (although going to
14/53 would have the effect of forcing the cadence up!)

cheers, clive

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

Quoted message said:

Guy said:

Quoted message said:

Are you cycling at the proper cadence (85-90rpm)?

Blimey! I hardly ever drop down that low...

I recently read a discussion on cyclingforums.com in
which some nutter claimed his 'normal' pedalling speed
was 220rpm.

d.

Crikey! That sounds more like a Heart Rate than rpm!

Reminds me of the way Roadrunner's legs look when he's
running away from Wile E. Coyote!

Pete White