MTB v Road Bike

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

Quoted message said:

Hi I own a MTB and I also recently bought a mid range Road bike.
When I climb steep hills with my MTB, its not so hard in the lowest gear,
but with the Road bike, I seem to struggle.
Is this the norm, do MTB's have higer gearing than Road bikes ?

Thankyou,
Len

Yes. No "granny gear" on a road bike. You can't just "sit and spin" up
steep climbs. You need to get out of the saddle....

"Len" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Hi I own a MTB and I also recently bought a mid range Road bike.

Great stuff. Always good to have a variety of bikes to ride for different
conditions.

Quoted message said:

When I climb steep hills with my MTB, its not so hard in the lowest gear,
but with the Road bike, I seem to struggle.
Is this the norm,

Yes, but it depends on the gearing that you have on the bike. This can be
varied (subject to $$$)

Quoted message said:

do MTB's have higer gearing than Road bikes ?

Usually the other way around. 'Not so hard' to pedal is described as lower
gearing - less power needed to turn each pedal stroke, but you don't travel
as far with that stroke.

I take it that all of this is not a troll, in which case you need to get a
little understanding of gears, the principles behind them and the options
available in setting up your bike. Have a look around Sheldon Brown's site:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/articles.html

Especially the glossary to look up gears, the articles on gear shifting and
the gear calculator. There's also masses of useful and interesting material
on lots of other aspects of cycling.

Cheers
Peter

Len said:

Hi I own a MTB and I also recently bought a mid range Road bike.
When I climb steep hills with my MTB, its not so hard in the lowest gear,
but with the Road bike, I seem to struggle.
Is this the norm, do MTB's have higer gearing than Road bikes ?

Thankyou,
Len

i think you meant do mtb's have 'lower' gearing than roadies.
Yep. you'll find dialling the front shocks up as stiff as possible will make climbing easier too as you waste less effort when standing. makes the downy-bumpy bits more 'interesting' too 🙂

road bikes are only made to ride the flats, explains the gearing - says the troll....

With road bikes, triple chainrings up front compared to double chainrings, do the triple offer a lower range of gear ratios (with the smaller chainring) or is the ratio range the same with triple & double, but the triple offer a greater number of ratios?

if so, or even if not, what is the advantage of a double chainring on a roadbike over triple, as the higher spec bikes seem to have more of the double?

I would have thought more is better.

Marx SS said:

road bikes are only made to ride the flats, explains the gearing - says the troll....

With road bikes, triple chainrings up front compared to double chainrings, do the triple offer a lower range of gear ratios (with the smaller chainring) or is the ratio range the same with triple & double, but the triple offer a greater number of ratios?

if so, or even if not, what is the advantage of a double chainring on a roadbike over triple, as the higher spec bikes seem to have more of the double?

I would have thought more is better.

A road triple will have something like a 30t granny with the same other chainwheels as doubles. On my bike, I'd have a 30/23 instead of a 39/23 as my low gear. I don't live in the alps, so I can live without the 30.

Ritch.

PS. Fabrizzio Mazzoleni would probably deny that a triple is in fact a roadbike - anything less than a 42/21 is for tourists and old women 😉

Len said:

Hi I own a MTB and I also recently bought a mid range Road bike.
When I climb steep hills with my MTB, its not so hard in the lowest gear,
but with the Road bike, I seem to struggle.
Is this the norm, do MTB's have higer gearing than Road bikes ?

Thankyou,
Len

Mountain bikes are geared down more than road bikes as they're designed for taking on extremely hilly terrain (duh) while the road bike doesn't have to deal with anything like that steep. Having said that, I've never used the smallest chain ring on either my MTB or my road bike. At the risk of sounding harsh, the solution to your woes would be to ride further/harder. It shouldn't take too long before you wonder why you were ever in such a low gear. Also, check your saddle height. Again, I risk making assumptions about someone I've never seen ride, but virtually everyone I ever see riding on the granny chain ring has their saddle waaay too low. Set the bike up properly, and, again, you'll pick up speed and naturally ride taller gears. Enjoy!

"Resound" <[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Mountain bikes are geared down more than road bikes as they're designed
for taking on extremely hilly terrain (duh) while the road bike doesn't
have to deal with anything like that steep. Having said that, I've
never used the smallest chain ring on either my MTB or my road bike. At
the risk of sounding harsh, the solution to your woes would be to ride
further/harder. It shouldn't take too long before you wonder why you
were ever in such a low gear. Also, check your saddle height. Again, I
risk making assumptions about someone I've never seen ride, but
virtually everyone I ever see riding on the granny chain ring has their
saddle waaay too low. Set the bike up properly, and, again, you'll pick
up speed and naturally ride taller gears. Enjoy!

It's not just the gradient.. lack of traction on the side of
some wet, slippery mountain trail mean you need to be
smooth with your pedaling - this is where low gears
help. Grinding a massive gear up a steep muddy hill
generally doesn't work..

hippy

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

Quoted message said:

"Resound" <[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Having said that, I've
never used the smallest chain ring on either my MTB or my road bike. At
the risk of sounding harsh, the solution to your woes would be to ride
further/harder. It shouldn't take too long before you wonder why you
were ever in such a low gear.!

It's not just the gradient.. lack of traction on the side of
some wet, slippery mountain trail mean you need to be
smooth with your pedaling - this is where low gears
help. Grinding a massive gear up a steep muddy hill
generally doesn't work..

And from a touring/road perspective the point at which you would be wise to
use your lowest gear will depend on a range of factors, even if you are
tremendously fit. Most people will come face to face with the 'low gear
blues' ("You mean I'm already in bottom gear!"😉 at some stage. If not either
you're not riding hard enough, not riding steep enough roads, or not
carrying enough of a load.

With a 30kg camping load on tour, most tourers (and MTBers) will be in
bottom gear (sub 26 inches) after 15kms on a 1 in 20, or 2kms up a 1 in 7.
The same may apply for road cyclists unloaded with a 50 inch bottom gear.

Cheers
Peter

"Peter Signorini" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

[...]

Quoted message said:

With a 30kg camping load on tour, most tourers (and MTBers) will be in
bottom gear (sub 26 inches) after 15kms on a 1 in 20, or 2kms up a 1
in 7. The same may apply for road cyclists unloaded with a 50 inch
bottom gear.

Which is why you should always restrict your touring to Beach Road.

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