shifting gears

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by bigringkr
I struggle on hills mosly due to my gear selection. I dont know the proper gear to be in when riding hills. I typically have enough power but struggled to keep up the cadence as i climb. Any help out there?

IMO this is a personal preference thing. "Having enough pwer" doesn't mean that you still shouldn't be in a lower gear and cranking a little faster. You might also try the downshift a little earlier so you're pedalling faster, and then have to pedal harder, gradually, to keep up the cadence.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by bigringkr
I struggle on hills mosly due to my gear selection. I dont know the proper gear to be in when riding hills. I typically have enough power but struggled to keep up the cadence as i climb. Any help out there?

I've just recently started to pay attention to cadence. Over the years I've gotten sloppy and drifted up into gears that are too big. My cadence dropped and I jammed too much. Now I have a look-up table taped to my stem that has the speed for each gear combination at a 90 rpm cadence. I also recalibrated my speedo after carefully measuring the circumference of my front wheel. I measured ten revolutions a couple of times and took the average. After a few rides I've commited the most common combinations to memory. Some of the bike computers with cadence meters are pricey. Avocet makes a US $90 version. My "look up table" version was a homemade upgrade on a US $35 model Avocet.

Just out of curiosity when does everyone shift in relation to the position of the pedal? On the top, bottom, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock...etc?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by chuy
Just out of curiosity when does everyone shift in relation to the position of the pedal? On the top, bottom, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock...etc?

I've never heard of such a thing. Why would it matter? Anyone?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by chuy
Just out of curiosity when does everyone shift in relation to the position of the pedal? On the top, bottom, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock...etc?

I don't think this matters now on new gear systems, although I can imagine it being a factor a long long time ago! With your legs going around at least 80 times a minute it would be very hard to time a change anyway.