Roody

I'm talking about GEAR as in sprockets and chainrings--not jerseys and blinkies. Maybe you've changed your gearing preference for various reasons. Even if you ride a single speed, tell us about that.

Here's that other thread about gear as in equipment and clothing:
https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...using-why.html
Go there if you want to talk about your equipment. It's a good thread.

JReade

Road triples around here.

fietsbob

My touring bike and its Derailleur drivetrain , because my house is close in town .. and I'm not On Tours .

and for hauling my groceries back from the more distant shops, My Rohloff hub is soo nice..

Roody

When I was riding 10 or 20 miles every single day, I got to where I almost never used the two smaller rings of my mountain bike. I rarely used any back gears except for maybe the 5th or 6th.

When I resume riding after a long hiatus, I imagine I will be using the granny gears the most.

fietsbob

"5th or 6th" is technically vaporous, Count teeth front and back , that is the way you properly describe gear ratios

like 'I climb the Alps in my 42 : 26 on my road bike' ,,

andr0id

53 x anything.

Now I run 50/36 x 11-25 most of the time.

chewybrian 

I started out with a mountain triple, and rode around in 2nd gear, something like 24 by 31, because that was all I could manage at the time.

Now I use a road triple with a 38 middle ring, and I am down from the wall climbing cassette to 11-28 in the back. So, I'm usually around 38 by 21 now, but with much higher cadence. Spin to win.

edit--forgot the why: I was fat and out of shape, and now I am not. I went from losing weight goals to endurance event goals, and the equipment got better along the way as needed.

wolfchild

I only ride fixed gear and single speed bikes. Don't even own a multi geared bike.

bike #1- fixed gear 46x18 ratio
bike #2- fixed gear 36x17 ratio ( this one is for winter riding )
bike #3- single speed 38x14 gear ratio

B. Carfree

I do a lot of miles on both my touring bike that has a 24-tooth granny and a touring tandem that has a 26-tooth granny coupled to either a 30,32 or 34 tooth rear cog. However, since those low gears are so that I/we can get up very steep grades with full loads, the granny gears rarely see the chain during the 200-400 miles I ride each week.

It does make me think that if I ever decide to purchase a tandem with an eye more towards performance, I might just consider right-side drive and a double instead of a triple.

Machka 

I live in a hilly area. I use all my gears.

GamblerGORD53

Any tyre that doesn't have Schwalbe written on it. They never crack, seldom flat.

Any bike that has deraillers on it. What stupid excuse for technology. I now have both Rohloff 14 for hills and Sturmey Archer 5w for thrills. I can now go ride and ride and ride .... till the damn chain stretches. Quiet as a mouse. Klunkery is a fading memory.

Roody

I'm sure you're right, but it would be difficult to count the cogs on a bike I no longer have. And I doubt if I would do it anyways. My up-close eyesight is just not what it used to be!

Wait a minute..."vaporous"? Did you just call me a gas bag?

Roody

I was thinking I really could use a fixed gear, since most of my riding is only one or two closely related gears anyway. But what is the advantage of having three separate bikes with a different gear on each, as opposed to having only one bike with all three gears on it?

fietsbob

that gas keeps this site afloat

enigmaT120

I use all of my gears. 20 on the Fargo, I think 27 on the Rocky Mountain. As low as 18 gear inches Fargo and 16 on the Rocky Mountain. I don't care about the other end of the range, I'm probably just coasting down a hill by that point anyway.

wolfchild

No real advantage, it's just my personal preference. As a car-free person who relies on bikes everyday I like to have more then one, it's good to have a backup bike. Each of my bikes is different and set up differently, rides and handles differently, I like to have a bit of variety. I am a huge big fan of single speed bikes and I would rather have few single gear bikes then one with multiple gears.

chasm54

I have four bikes. One an out-and-out racing road bike, compact 50/36 crank and 12/25 10 speed cassette. One a steel road bike with a 50/39/30 triple crank, also a 12/25 10 speed cassette. I like the triple because it gives me a lower gear without my having to sacrifice the nice close ratios at the back. One a heavy-duty touring bike with a Rohloff IGH. Low gear about 18 gear inches, I could just about ride up a cliff face on the thing. And one FG/SS geared at 42/16. My go-to bike for poodling around town, running errands and so forth.

wipekitty

I ended up selling my gorgeous (to me) geared road bike in 2010 when there was a recession blah blah blah and I needed to pay rent. I had one other bike at that time - a fixed gear that I used for transportation - and continued road biking on that.

Eventually, I built a better fixed gear, and I still use it for (summer) commuting and longer rides with moderate climbs (500-600 feet over 2 miles). It's set up with 44x17 as the gear of choice. I have a bad weather fixed gear, with cyclocross tires, set up with 42x16. The only time I really use variable gears is on the hauling/winter bike.

I originally went SS/FG because 1) my derailleurs kept getting crushed by heavy bikes under the bus, and 2) I thought it was cool. Now that I am no longer cool and no longer ride the bus, I keep going FG because it is too much darn fun and I enjoy the looks of astonishment from "real" road cyclists.

catgita

Which I use less...

46-12 because if I am going down hill I am seldom pedaling anyway. My roads are flat or steep, not long shallow runs.
30-32 because I have short sharp climbs, then back to the middle of the cluster.

Actually, I don't use the 30 front much at all, because I sized the front rings to minimize front shifts, and the small one is more of a bailout.

bragi

I have a touring bike with a triple in front, and I almost never use the big cog; the bike and what I'm hauling are kind of heavy, and the entire city that I live in consists almost entirely of pretty steep hills. I'm thinking of switching to a compact double that's geared a bit lower, if there is such a thing. As it stands, I'm pretty much not ever using the upper 1/3 of my current gear range.

79pmooney

I don't use double chainrings or 39 tooth chainrings. I use 50 to 53 tooth outer chainrings, 38 or 42 middle, 42-44 fix gear, and 24 or 28 inners. All my bikes are either triples or fixed. Flip flop hubs are fixed on both sides.

No rear cogs are bigger than 28 teeth, 23 fixed (though I would buy an 1/8" 24 in a flash if I ever saw one).

Edit: I do use every 1/8" fix gear cog made (that I Have ever seen). 12 teeth through 23 teeth. 16 and 17 a lot. 15 if I am feeling really strong and want a real workout. 12 - 14 are great downhill gears. Feeling weak? 18 and 19. 20 - 23 for climbing. I have done some epic rides on the 17 and 23 with 12 tooth and cog wrench strapped to my bike (like up to, then around the Crater Lake rim then down to Prescott. Included in that ride was an oops! halfway to Diamond Lake.)

Ben

wahoonc

Sturmey-Archer makes a 3 speed fixed gear hub...

I have one fixed gear bike with a flip/flop hub on it. I also have a couple of single speed coaster brake bikes. There is something about just hopping on a bike and pedaling without having to worry about anything but steering and pedaling, maybe braking.

Aaron

wahoonc

I agree that being car-free you need more than one bike. When I was living that way I had a Raleigh 3 speed that was my daily rider and a Motobecane 10 speed that was used for longer rides, touring and a back up. In the 7 years I think the Raleigh only let me down a couple of times, and IIRC it was due to my running late and it having flat tires.

Aaron

Dahon.Steve

I found that I'm using less gears as I get older! Since I live in the city, the Sturmey Archer 3 speed is more than adequate. However, the SA3 is missing a lower gear and most of the time I wish 1st gear was lower. Someone should make a four speed bike with the following gear inches.

1st ------- 24 inches
2nd ------ 34 inches
3rd -------54 inches
4th -------60 inches

When I ride my derailluer bikes, I find that I'm only using 4 gears the most. I ride at 54 inches about 99% of the time. When I start climbing a hill, I'll go into it as fast as possible and downshift to the tripple and spin up the hill. All the shifting is unnecessary because the small tripple ring solves this problem.