Sixty Fiver

I continually find it odd that modern hybrid bicycles come geared as they do as the low gear is usually sufficient for harder climbs (but not always) while the upper ranges are pretty much a waste as they are far too steep for anything except high speed descents.

As such, I end up doing a lot of aftermarket refits to bring a bicycles gearing in line with a person's real needs to allow for a more optimal experience.

A normal rider should find that a range of 40-100 gear inches is sufficient for all their riding needs unless they do a lot of extreme climbing, do loaded touring, ride intense off road, or race competitively.

The typical hybrid seems to use a 28/38/48 with a 12-32 cassette and older hybrid type bicycles and a number of mountain bikes used the same crank set up with a 14-x freewheel or cassette with a 28 being pretty common for the lowest gearing.

The 23-118 gear inches found on most modern hybrids offers a really decent low but there is a lot of wasted gearing over 100 gear inches... older set ups with 14-28 cassettes / freewheels had a 27-93 gear inch range with nice steps and with a 34 tooth rear you could drop down to 22 gear inches.

With wider ranges you also have to deal with bigger jumps between gears and a tighter spaced cassette is always preferable if one likes more evenly spaced transitions to maintain cadence. Those 11-12 tooth cogs also wear out quickly and with less chain engagement do cause some efficiency loss.

I really like the hybrid set up on my XC bike as I run a 24/34/44 mtb crank with a closer spaced 11-30 road cassette which gives a 20-103 gear inch range with nice even steps between the 8 rear cogs. Had an 11-34 and some of bigger jumps were a pain in that the gear change was more than I wanted and required me to do some double shifting.

Might even go with an 11-25 in the rear to tighten things up a little more.

Now I can live in the big ring most of the time and engaging as many teeth for a given gear is always more efficient and the closer steps allow for tighter shifting and smoother transitions.

The 44/15 combination is a nice 75 gear inches which is a comfortable cruising gear for flat ground (for me) and even if I am idling along at 90 rpm I will be doing 30 kmh with relative ease and I don't get passed very often.

Any thoughts ?

Scooby214

I went the opposite direction on my hybrid's crankset, and almost regret it. Mine started with a 24/34/42t crankset, and I switched it to a 28/38/48t crankset. There are occasions when I can actually use the smaller rear cogs while on the 48t ring, but I usually end up using the middle cogs. In hindsight, the original crankset gave me a better gear range for faster paced commuting. What I have now works, though I do find I occasionally need to drop down to the 38t front ring when starting a stop on a slight incline (to avoid major cross chaining).

Ediblestarfish

I'm a weakling living at the top of a tall hill and frequently find most low gear ranges lacking, the internal hub woefully inadequate, and fixed gear bikes nonsensical.

And that's just for an unloaded, lightish bike.

Anything that's rigged for utility and carrying gear really needs the low gears that many bikes seem to lack. Plenty of high gears around, but it makes no sense when it's uphill that's the problem, not downhill. From my (uphill) perspective, I'm not even sure why hybrids come with doubles. Seems weird they tend to only put triples on the lower end models.

badger1

Good discussion topic. I think everyone's needs are different/optimal gearing is different.

For years (until last season) I used a conventional mtb triple (44/32/22) with a 12-25 road cassette on my roadified hardtail -- seemed to work well.

I now mainly ride a Sirrus Comp. This (a 2010) came with the typical road triple (50/39/30) and 12-25 cassette, which I didn't care for. I've now changed this out for a SRAM Apex/Rival mix: 50-34 rings/12-32 cassette.

I'm finding this just about perfect for my riding (mixed terrain, unloaded, mix of fast commuting and longer training rides: my Sirrus 'hybrid' doubles as my commuting and 'road' bike). The only change I can see wanting to make is to switch the big ring to a 48, so I use the smallest rear cog a little more ... but other than that suits me well. FWIW, I'm 59, reasonably fit but with bu___ered knees (a legacy of rugby and soccer), so I do tend to spin rather than mash.

nfmisso

Mine started with a 44T and 14-34 7 speed freewheel, now has 48-38-28 with a 13-28 7 spped freewheel. I use the 38T front ring most of the time, only down hill or with a nice tail wind on the flat do I get into the 48T ring. The 38T ring will comfortably access all 7 cogs at the back. I limit the 28 and 48 to the three cogs on thier side. The 28 has saved me on a couple of very steep hills, but is vey rarely used.

My commuter currently has 52/40 with a 14-34 7 speed freewheel. I have a 13-25 7 speed freewheel on order from an ebay merchant. The jump from 34 to 24 is murder on my knees, so I have been riding around as if it is a 14-24 6 speed freewheel, which works much better; thus I am very much looking forward to the 13-25.

I pedal a bit slower than most, thus the taller gears; and my commute is flat.

Burton

I guess it depends where you live and how you drive. I currently have a mtb with 2.5in urban assault tires and a 22/34/44 crank with a wide range 9 speed cassette and a hybrid with the same crank configuration, a wide range 7 speed cassette and 2in Schwalbes.

The tire sizes bump up the gearing, but not enough for my liking so I`ll probably move to a 48T large chainring. Not that I `ll be using the large /small extensively - simply because I don`t want to.

As per your post - it`ll be nice for spinning out on some of the downhill sweepers that are in the mountains, but when I normally drive - I want to be a couple cogs up from the smallest to extend cassette and chain life and at the momemt I`m in the smallest cog way too much.

My cruising speed on my commute runs from 30km/hr to 43km/hr depending on the terrain and headwind and I`d like more of a road style crank ring size. Would just make the swap to a full road crank but don`t have much crearance for any granny gear larger than the 22T already there.

bluefoxicy

I've got a 13-32 on the back with a 30-42-52 and I tend to spin above 100RPM; but in any case, my 90RPM speeds are:

6.8, 8.3, 9.4, 10.3
9.5, 11.7, 13.2, 14.5, 16.0, 17.9, 20.2, 23.4
19.8, 22.1, 25.1, 28.9

I rarely touch that high gear on the middle chain ring. In fact, I don't think I've ever been on the 13.

With an 11-30, and a 24-34-44, I get the following:

5.8, 6.7, 7.5, 8.7
8.2, 9.5, 10.7, 12.3, 14.5, 16.4, 18.9, 22.3
18.7, 21.2, 24.5, 28.9

That looks just about perfect, especially in that center gear range. Unfortunately, I can only find 22-32-42, which gives me the below:

5.3, 6.1, 6.9, 8.0
7.7, 8.9, 10.1, 11.6, 13.6, 15.4, 17.8, 21.0
17.9, 20.2, 23.4, 27.6

I'm winding out on the top middle gear here, and if my speed pops over about 23mph I'll have to shift off the chainring. I guess since it's about a 1 gear drop and I can wobble between 42-6 and 42-7 to cruise at those speeds it's not too bad.

My big chain ring basically only comes into play down hill on a 24-34-44, though; if I hit a series of small hills, I'll grope around on the top two or three gears on the middle chain ring. On 22-32-42, I worry that a series of short climbs (stand on your pedals and you can see over 'em) would have me winding out in top gear or switching to my big chain ring and then back down.

khutch

My Fuji came with a 30/39/50 triple chain ring and a 12-17, 10 speed cassette which gives 32 to 121 gear inches and I use it all. I don't use either the low or high end terribly much yet at the same time I occasionally wish it went higher or lower! I never have any trouble finding a comfortable cadence under normal conditions so personally I would rather have the range available when I want it than to have a gear setup optimized for running with the peloton, something I never do. I'd go as far as to say that gearing is one of the things that attracted me to a hybrid. I wanted a road like bike with wide range gearing and that is what I got. If it had come with drop bars I would not have changed a thing about it.

My true urban bike, my commuter, is a Dahon folder. It was a 33 to 96 gear inch 8 speed when I got it, I put a SRAM dual drive rear wheel/hub on it during the time I was contemplating using it as my do everything bike, and truth be told I could easily do my commute with a 65 gear inch single speed. I know because I ran it a few days that way just for grins. If I were going to buy another for that purpose I would most definitely get an internally geared hub model because they have plenty of speeds, plenty of gear inch range, and the extreme urban convenience of a drive train that can be shifted while stopped. At this point I would sell off the dual drive hub to someone that would use it more except that it is so darned handy to be able to shift while stopped in urban situations. I have run it as a 3 speed too using just the rear hub and while that certainly works I guess it is just a habit of long standing to use the derailleur most of the time. If the derailleur were to break though....

Ken

bluefoxicy

12-17 10 speed cassette? So 12-12.5-13-13.5-14-14.5-15-16-16.5-17? Half a tooth?

cranky velocist

I use my low gears off road, my high gears sprinting/holding speed, and my middle set most of the time. A roadies 18 gears or a mountain bike's compact set are both better suited to opposite ends of the spectrum but limit your 'ride anywhere anytime' potential.

I haven't wrapped my head around the math, but it would be nice if you could make about a double 40/50 in the front with about a couple more low gears on the cassette than my 24 speed has. Any more than the typical 7% ratio difference seems like it would split your shifters right in that split second when you really need it. I lived through the mid-ninties cheap grip-shift fad and have no desire to repeat it.

khutch

Yep, it is a special that Shimano made just for me. I hold the patent and you can't have one!

Or, maybe it was a typo and it is really 12-27. The simplest way to reconcile an apparent discrepancy is quite often the correct way.

Ken

bluefoxicy

I was cruising in that gear at 23mph today. Just chillin'. One day I need to figure out my nominal cadence...it is high.

Sixty Fiver

My happy cadence is 95-100m rpm and have always been a spinner... now find that lower cadences put too much stress on the one good leg I have so standing and mashing or low rpm efforts are far to stressful.

My folding touring bike tops out at just under 80 gear inches and I can cruise along quite comfortably in top gear at 30kmh for hours and hours on end and it has a closely spaced triple (to maximize chain line) and runs a 6 or 7 speed block (depends on the mission) so there are no abrupt transitions at either end.

djb

interesting topic. I have been replacing parts on my old Rockhopper hardtail mtn bike for a possible trip. I have used it for commuting and general bashing around town for years. It had a 11-27 (12-12-14-16-18-21-24-27) and a mtn crank 42/32/22.
Needed a new chain, new chain skipped on some of the rear cogs, so found a sram 11-28 for $25, same teethed cogs cept for 28.
The 42 chain ring was pretty pointy, but LBS offered an option so was going to buy an new Alivio crankset 42/32/22 for $45 but my axel is 107mm and new crank need 113. Ended up finding a $25 or $30 ramped 42 toother, so slapped that on. Granny got changed a few years ago, so all in good shape now.
Got some 40mm Marathons, which are more supple riding than the Nimbus Armadillos, which I was getting tired of with their harsh ride.

At first I thought of going the 48/38/28 route, but realized that with the gearing as is, its geared about 20-95 and this works perfectly fine for the 15-30kph that I am pretty much always riding at, and as I mentioned of hoping to use this bike for a 2-rear pannier trip (maybe 20lbs) the gearing works well and will be fine for any steep, long climbs I expect to encounter.
There are lots of 11-30 and higher cassettes, but I find I am usually on the 5 to 8 speeds, and in my case 11-12-14 and 16, with the majority on the 12, 14 and 16, and the wider range cassettes of 11-30 have 11-13-15 , which is a bit lower for me when in the middle chain ring.

If I had a choice, Id be a bit happier with a 44/34/24, but as it is the 42/32/22 works fine. I realize that on relatively flat roads, for the majority of time, I am usually going 20-30kph, and so this range of gearing just works, especially given that I usually have stuff in a pannier or two anyway.

I would agree that for utilitarian bikes, anything in the 20-100 g.i. range is great for all kinds of riding and a mtn crank, while initially seeming waaaaaay to low, works well for regular speeds unloaded, but especially is quite versatile for when more weight is put on the bike and encountering hills.

khutch

I once went through the effort to customize the rear cassette on my folder so that the dual drive gave me as close as possible to 24 evenly spaced gears. With any normal cassette you get a lot of overlap between the three ranges. The result was possibly worth doing if you were going to tour on the bike, the shifting pattern was a little funky but not beyond memorization. For day to day use as an urban assault vehicle there was no point to it though so I switched back to a more normal cassette after a few weeks. It's better to have 8 evenly spaced gears in three ranges than to be constantly double shifting to get to where you want to be for city riding. Except when I forget to downshift at a stop I only use 4 of the 8 anyway.

Last night I parked the derailleur in 5 and rode to the train station using the rear hub as a three speed. That works fine but then suburban Chicago is not San Francisco....

Ken