Proper shifting of chainrings?

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

Quoted message said:

I can't help feeling that I should be shifting the front more often,
but I can't figure what the strategy should be. Anyone have an idea or
a web resource about this?

I've also got a triple up front (52/42/30), and 8 (12-26) in back. I
have a shift pattern that goes something like this (I'm numbering 1-3
from inside to out in front, 1-8 inside to out in back):

1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4
2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6
3-5, 3-6, 3-7, 3-8

I arrived at this combination both by experience (chain stays
straightest if I avoid other combinations), and using a gear chart to
see what wheel equivalent size each of my gears was [1]. Once I had
that, it was pretty easy to map out an optimal shifting pattern.

As for which chainring I spend my time on? I use the smallest ring for
some hill climbs (mostly when tired, or when climbing the steepest
streets out of the Fox River valley), but almost all of my time is spent
on the middle ring, in 2-3 or 2-4 (42/22 or 42/20). I've probably used
my largest chainring a half dozen times in the last few months, max.

[1] I used the table in Effective Cycling for this. Much easier than
doing the math by hand.

--

__o Kristian Zoerhoff
_'\(,_ [email hidden]
(_)/ (_)

"Paul" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

This is for the other road bikers out there: I'm trying to figure out
what the "proper" shifting strategy should be. I've got a triple up
front (no, I'm not weak - I live in a VERY hilly area) and 9 in back.
Never mind the teeth - it's a standard road bike. The issue is that I
find myself in the middle chainring 95% of the time on the flats and
even uphill except on the worst and longest hills. I only seem to get
into the top chainring if I'm going at least slightly downhill, and
then it's *only* when I'm in the smallest cog in back. Afterwards, I
dump the chainring to the middle again without downshifting the back.

I can't help feeling that I should be shifting the front more often,
but I can't figure what the strategy should be. Anyone have an idea
or a web resource about this?

The idea of multiple gears is to assist you in keeping your cadence in
your most efficient power range throughout various terrain conditions.

I find that for flat crusing I spend most of my time on the middle
chainring and on one lower cog (smaller) than the center.

About the only time I use my small chainring is for fairly steep climbs.
I usually use my large chainring going downhill but sometimes on the
flats I can find a more confortable cadence by shifting to to the big
chainring and a lower (larger) cog.

Check these links:
http://sheldonbrown.com/gears.html
This is a general article about the function of gears.

http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/
This is an on-lone gear calculator.

Rich B.

Paul said:

This is for the other road bikers out there: I'm trying to figure out
what the "proper" shifting strategy should be. I've got a triple up
front (no, I'm not weak - I live in a VERY hilly area) and 9 in back.
Never mind the teeth - it's a standard road bike. The issue is that I
find myself in the middle chainring 95% of the time on the flats and
even uphill except on the worst and longest hills. I only seem to get
into the top chainring if I'm going at least slightly downhill, and
then it's *only* when I'm in the smallest cog in back. Afterwards, I
dump the chainring to the middle again without downshifting the back.

I can't help feeling that I should be shifting the front more often,
but I can't figure what the strategy should be. Anyone have an idea
or a web resource about this?

Best way to start shifting the front more often is to start shifting the
front more often. Seriously.

I was doing pretty similarly -- still do, really -- but started consciously
trying to use my front rings more often. (If for no other reason than the
middle ring MUST wear out eventually.)

One thing I do -- say if I'm coming to a downhill -- is shift up the
cassette ("downshifting" of course) a few cogs before going to the big ring.
Then I can move back down the cassette as my speed increases.

Similarly, I've started shifting /down/ the cassette (upshifting) and going
to the small ring up front approaching some hills -- even ones I can pretty
easily make in middle ring if I want. (Ego be damned! 🙂 )

I realize that I'm probably a perfect candidate for a compact double and
will likely go to that some day, but in the meantime I've invested too much
money in my triples (two road bikes) not to keep using them.

For me, it's all about keeping a comfortable cadence -- determined by feel,
not hard numbers. I call it "riding my bike".

Seriously.

Bill S.

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

Quoted message said:

This is for the other road bikers out there: I'm trying to figure out
what the "proper" shifting strategy should be. I've got a triple up
front (no, I'm not weak - I live in a VERY hilly area) and 9 in back.
Never mind the teeth - it's a standard road bike. The issue is that I
find myself in the middle chainring 95% of the time on the flats and
even uphill except on the worst and longest hills. I only seem to get
into the top chainring if I'm going at least slightly downhill, and
then it's *only* when I'm in the smallest cog in back. Afterwards, I
dump the chainring to the middle again without downshifting the back.

I can't help feeling that I should be shifting the front more often,
but I can't figure what the strategy should be. Anyone have an idea or
a web resource about this?

You are a victim of the racer mentality which has dominated road bike design
in the past few years. I live in a flat area but I still really don't use my
52T chainring on the bike which has the "racing triple". I have another bike
with a Sugino XD which is 46/36/24, and I use the 46T all the time. I find
myself shifting the rear derailleur more.

Sorni said:

I realize that I'm probably a perfect candidate for a compact double and
will likely go to that some day, but in the meantime I've invested too much
money in my triples (two road bikes) not to keep using them.

I'm riding a 48x36 with an 11-28 cassette. Not quite the range of a
triple with an 12-25 (32 - 116 gear inches), but awfully close (34-117).
The shifting on a double is also better than my triple used to be.

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
"Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by
education." -Bertrand Russell

Gooserider said:

Quoted message said:

You are a victim of the racer mentality which has dominated road bike design

in the past few years. I live in a flat area but I still really don't use my
52T chainring on the bike which has the "racing triple". I have another bike
with a Sugino XD which is 46/36/24, and I use the 46T all the time. I find
myself shifting the rear derailleur more.

I don't see any victom of anything here.

As another poster above stated the idea is to use the gears so that
your pedaling is comfortable in terms of both pressure and rpms. That
will vary from rider to rider- and even from time to time for the same
rider.

Among the folks I regularly ride with I tend to spin at a higher rpm
than most. However, we all ride the same routes at the same speed so it
seems that the gears are doing precisely what they are supposed to do.

I also live in a pretty hilly area and I find that I regularly use the
entire range of gears that I have available. Long mountain climbs see
me in my 39x26 for long periods of time but coming back down the same
road I stay in my 52x12. Since few of the roads here are truly flat and
we generally have wind I find that having the full range of gear
options is what enables me to stay in my comfort zone of rpm and pedal
pressure.

Even on retty flat roads roads I'll use a pretty broad range of gears
depending on what sort of riding I'm doing. For example if I just feel
like riding hard I may ride for miles in a 52x15 or so. On the same
road in the same conditions with a recreational group I'm more likely
be in a 52x19. When riding with my wife on the same road I'll more than
likely be in my 39x15.

Bottom line, I wouldn't worry about it but use the gear that "feels"
good at the time.

Dane Buson said:

Sorni said:

I realize that I'm probably a perfect candidate for a compact double
and will likely go to that some day, but in the meantime I've
invested too much money in my triples (two road bikes) not to keep
using them.

I'm riding a 48x36 with an 11-28 cassette. Not quite the range of a
triple with an 12-25 (32 - 116 gear inches), but awfully close
(34-117). The shifting on a double is also better than my triple used
to be.

Yeah, more "ego" in play: unless you're a racer boy, there's not much
reason to stick with 12-23 or even -25.

Paul said:

This is for the other road bikers out there: I'm trying to figure out
what the "proper" shifting strategy should be. I've got a triple up
front (no, I'm not weak - I live in a VERY hilly area) and 9 in back.
Never mind the teeth - it's a standard road bike. The issue is that I
find myself in the middle chainring 95% of the time on the flats and
even uphill except on the worst and longest hills. I only seem to get
into the top chainring if I'm going at least slightly downhill, and
then it's *only* when I'm in the smallest cog in back. Afterwards, I
dump the chainring to the middle again without downshifting the back.

I can't help feeling that I should be shifting the front more often,
but I can't figure what the strategy should be. Anyone have an idea or
a web resource about this?

FWIW, I'm beginning to wonder if we ***really*** need all those gears.

Most of my time in saddle is spent using two or three gears. Mostly I
deal with wind rather than incline (Winnipeg is flat and windy). With
a really bad headwind (say 60kmh) I need a much smaller ratio than
normal. For the occassional incline (say off an overpass), I want a
much larger ratio than normal. That's about it. 4 or 5 gears, rather
than the 18 I have.

I've no doubt the fixed riders will consider me a sissy for wanting 5
gears.

As far as shifting goes, if you're comfortable now and you're getting
good output, why worry about which gears you're using?

Jeff

Paul said:

This is for the other road bikers out there: I'm trying to figure out
what the "proper" shifting strategy should be. I've got a triple up
front (no, I'm not weak - I live in a VERY hilly area) and 9 in back.
Never mind the teeth - it's a standard road bike. The issue is that I
find myself in the middle chainring 95% of the time on the flats and
even uphill except on the worst and longest hills. I only seem to get
into the top chainring if I'm going at least slightly downhill, and
then it's *only* when I'm in the smallest cog in back. Afterwards, I
dump the chainring to the middle again without downshifting the back.

I can't help feeling that I should be shifting the front more often,
but I can't figure what the strategy should be. Anyone have an idea or
a web resource about this?

Here's a couple of ideas. First, match the thirds: lowest (biggest)
third of the cassette, shift to the lowest (smallest) chainring in
front; middle third, use the middle chainring, top (smallest) third of
the cassette, use the big ring.

Second, run your bike's gears through Sheldon's gear calculator
(http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/), or a similar calculator elsewhere.
You'll probably notice a pattern, like the middle ring gears are
duplicated by the big ring gearing two cogs down. Then as you're riding
in the hills, try to keep your cadence roughly constant, and when you
need to shift two gears, do it with the front. So as you come to the
bottom of one hill and start up the next, you'll shift to a lower gear
in back, the next lower gear, wow-this-hill-is-really-getting-steep-I
need-to-shift-more-than-one-shift-it-in-the-front, that's-almost-low-
enough-shift-in-the-back, etc. Reverse the process at the top of the
hill, pedal until you're spun out, and you're ready to do it all over
again at the bottom.

Pat

Quoted message said:

Most of my time in saddle is spent using two or three gears. Mostly I
deal with wind rather than incline (Winnipeg is flat and windy). With
a really bad headwind (say 60kmh) I need a much smaller ratio than
normal. For the occassional incline (say off an overpass), I want a
much larger ratio than normal. That's about it. 4 or 5 gears, rather
than the 18 I have.

Whew -- I use the extreme ranges of the gears on my triple on many
rides, especially if I hit the steep hills. I'll use the small
chainring when the gradient gets much above 10% (18% is about the max
around here). Flat sections find me in the middle or large chainring
and middle cogs on the rear. Going down one of these 10% hills, of
course, gets me up to top gear.

I avoid combinations such as small chainring/smallest rear cog or large
chainring/biggest rear cog, so I never actually use all 27 possible
gear combinations. But I use the whole range.

Having said that, I think I still use the middle chainring about 70-90%
of the time. If I lived in a flat area, I don't think I'd see any need
for a triple.

-JR

Sorni says...

Quoted message said:

Yeah, more "ego" in play: unless you're a racer boy, there's not much
reason to stick with 12-23 or even -25.

You can get a 12-27 in Dura-Ace, so that keeps us Freds happy.

Barnard Frederick said:

Sorni says...

Quoted message said:

Yeah, more "ego" in play: unless you're a racer boy, there's not
much reason to stick with 12-23 or even -25.

Quoted message said:

You can get a 12-27 in Dura-Ace, so that keeps us Freds happy.

Yeahbutt... With a /triple/ and a 12-27 you might as well put on a skirt,
too.

Bill "not that there's anything..." S.

Sounds to me like either:

1. your front range is too spread out. Try narrowing the tooth
difference between rings

OR

2. you're not trying to keep a constant cadence. This is what gearing is
for.

- -
Comments and opinions compliments of,
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

My web Site:
http://geocities.com/czcorner

To E-mail me:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

From: [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

FWIW, I'm beginning to wonder if we
***really*** need all those gears.

Quoted message said:

Jeff

I know I don't. I designed my tourer to allow me to carry a full load of
camping gear up the steepest Sierra slopes and still maintain cadence,
yet still have the ratios close enough to allow comfortable group
riding.

It consists of a 25-44-48 on the front and a 12-34 7-cog cassette on the
rear. This gives me fourteen different evenly spaced ratios (9%
difference) and a set of grannies (18% spacing) for the really nasty
stuff.

5=good
6=better
7=perfect
8=overkill
9=insanity
10=a crime against nature
JMHO

- -
Comments and opinions compliments of,
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

My web Site:
http://geocities.com/czcorner

To E-mail me:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

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

Quoted message said:

This is for the other road bikers out there: I'm trying to figure out
what the "proper" shifting strategy should be. I've got a triple up
front (no, I'm not weak - I live in a VERY hilly area) and 9 in back.
Never mind the teeth - it's a standard road bike. The issue is that I
find myself in the middle chainring 95% of the time on the flats and
even uphill except on the worst and longest hills. I only seem to get
into the top chainring if I'm going at least slightly downhill, and
then it's *only* when I'm in the smallest cog in back. Afterwards, I
dump the chainring to the middle again without downshifting the back.

I can't help feeling that I should be shifting the front more often,
but I can't figure what the strategy should be. Anyone have an idea

or

Quoted message said:

a web resource about this?

As another poster mentioned, the idea behind changing gears for the most
part is to maintain a smooth rapid cadence. Lower gearing is designed to
help you climb hills (without worrying about cadence).

A long time ago during the time of 10 and 15 speed bikes with 5 tooth
freewheels and 1/2" chains using 27" wheels, the ideal setup was to be
able to have 5% changes between gear ratios.

Here's how I set up my bikes:

10 speed 49/45 Front, 13 to 24, 26, 28 rear

15 speed 49/45/32 (or smaller) Front, 13 to 28, 32 or 34 rear

During the bike boom days 52/40 or 42 Front 14/28 Rear was the standard.
The highest gear, 52-14 created a ratio equivalent to a 100" wheel on a
penny farthing high wheel bike; I used 49-13 which equaled 101" and was
easier shifting.

I found that most of my riding was in the 50" to 80" ratio equivalent
range. By using the 3 inner sprockets on the freewheel and shifting
between the 49 and 45 tooth chainring allows for easy shifting and the
chainline remains fairly straight. This requires an occasional double
shift to maintain the 5% ratio change but shifts are smooth and easy.

For time trials and some races I would use a 53/49 chain ring combo.

Modern 15, 18 or greater speed bikes have a lot of overlap in gear
ratios. With a close ratio freewheel, say 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and so on,
you can just shift the rear sprockets for minor changes in ratio to
adjust to wind or road conditions. When you come to a hill, you can drop
to the smallest chain wheel and then start shifting the rear sprockets
as needed.

Here's a link to a web page with a gear ratio chart. It has both 27"
(700C) and 26".\

http://home.i1.net/~dwolfe/gerz/index.html

I recommend that you use a pattern that's comfortable and easy for you
to work with. You may end up with premature sprocket wear because you'll
only be using maybe 30% of the gears.

Chas.