Homebrew01

I cruise in whatever gear enables me to pedal about 90 rpm.

Mtracer

This is similar for me. I run a GRX setup with a 48T in the front, and even with that I'm not using the 11 on flat ground short of a hurricane strength tailwind. A fast cruise speed for me on the flat is 20 MPH, at 85 RPM I would be in 48/17 (8th gear in the back). And while on a good day, I can hold this for an extended time (2+ hours with some breaks), it would not be "easy to moderate" for me. Certainly a moderate+ effort.

For me to run 85 RPM in 48/11 I'd be going about 31 MPH and needing to push about 500-600 W. I could maybe sprint for 10 seconds at that power. So, no cruising in big-little for me.

mschwett 

my tempo cruising speed on flat ground with no wind is around 20mph.

i like 80rpm or so, which equates to somewhere between my 16 and 17t in the 52t up front.

the 52-11 combo is used for downhill or big tailwinds, which are of course lots of fun. basically 30mph and up.

rollagain

Beat me to it.

KerryIrons

Yup. The OP is definitely doing it wrong. For well over 100 years, cadence in the range of 80-100 rpm has been shown to be optimal. 40 rpm is not.

terrymorse 

40 rpm is reserved for those moments when the road pitches up to ludicrous grades. Hopefully, for very short distances.

At 40 rpm in my lowest gear (34/28), I am going 4 mph. On a 20% grade, that's 4.2 watts/kg for me. Absolutely brutal--I can't last long at that pace.

There are roads that pitch up to 20% or higher, but not for very long. A few I can think of: Sonora Pass (26%), Pacific Grade (24%), Santa Rosa Creek Rd. (20%), and a bunch of little roads in the local area. All brutal.

79pmooney

In my racing days long ago I did my weekly long ride once as an out and back with a turn around 50 miles from the highway belt around Boston I used as a start/finish. 5 hours flat. (Wasn't monitoring either time or speed. No computer, just an ordinary wrist watch. Fun when I looked at my watch and saw the exact 5 hours.) And I doubt I ever got off the inside chainiring. (42 teeth)


The local velodrome (the sadly closed Alpenrose) has 48 degree banking. Flat?

GhostRider62

I never cruise in my top gear. It is like 120 inches. I cruise in an 84 incher at 80 rpm or a tad less.

1989Pre 

About 24mph for a minute or two, then I get tired and stop pedaling for about 15 seconds and let it drift back down to 21-22, then speed up again. Consistency is over-rated. 39-13 gearing

nomadmax 

Where do they come from?

What do they get out of it?

livedarklions

You may very well find a different gear ratio and cadence that works better for you. I'm an outlier who finds 53x11 with a cadence in the 50s really good for me on level ground. I have met some other older guys who ride like I do, and we are really pretty fast.

Experimentation is your friend, avoid taking the word of anyone who wants to dictate the right cadence for you. There's no substitute for individualized knowledge.

livedarklions

Just so you know, there's no standardization as to how big those gears are. Generally, cogs are referred to by the number of teeth. So your biggest one up front might be a 48t ring or a 52t or a 50t. The rear ones vary as well. The smallest could be as small as 11t or maybe as big as 14t.

What matters is the ratio--if you are running a 48x12 combination, for example, every time you pedal the crank over once, you are turning the rear wheel 4 times. Thus you can go faster with a low cadence than you can with, say 48x16, where the rear wheel will turn over 3 times for every turn of the crank. The catch is, of course, that it takes a lot more torque to turn over a 4:1 combo than it does a 3:1, so most people find that drop-off in cadence outweighs the increase in "gear inches", and they also fatigue much faster in the higher ratio..

Don't overthink this, just try different combinations and have fun with it.

livedarklions

If things are going too slow, he'll find a producer to slap.

mschwett 

i have a 36/34 on my main bike, so 40 rpm gives me 3.4mph. exactly 300 watts required for that speed at 20%.

i’m not sure how often i’ve encountered a 20% + that i couldn’t go around, but our cross street at home is a bit over 20% and i can do it only for a block or two, maybe 1/4 mile, which is interesting because at high speeds, level or slight grades, in the higher gears at higher cadence i can sustain 300w for much longer! something about going that slow…

caloso

This makes my knees hurt just reading it.

urbanknight

LOL If you stay on the black line, it’s flat.

tomato coupe

15 mph would only require about 100 W on flat ground, so the knee strain wouldn't be any worse than 200 W at double the cadence (80 RPM?).

Leisesturm

Questions for the ages ... sigh.

79pmooney

But if you go slower than 12 mph you fall off that flat surface.

retswerb

...Cotton eyed Joe?

RChung

eljayski 

I put a cadence sensor on my bike yesterday. Will try it out as soon as the weather permits.

grantelmwood

34mph max

Fredo76

As an older, slower cyclist these days, my average speed on flattish ground will be between 10-13 mph according to my CatEye speedometer, depending on what shape I'm in and what I'm riding. In a 38/18, that's about 60-80 rpm cadence, according to that nifty calculator that shelbyfv posted above. I don't even get into the big chainring unless I'm on a long, steep downhill.

In my glorious youth, on a challenge, I rode up the back side of Gate's Pass in Tucson, supposedly a Dangerous Road(!), in a 52/15, remaining seated the entire way, never out of the saddle.

Was I doing that wrong?

alcjphil

Just took a look at a couple of my bikes. The smallest cog on both of them are perfectly clean while the middle cogs show signs of having been in contact with the chains. Long story short is that I very seldom ride in my highest gear. Never on level ground, even when I am sprinting. Fastest sprint I ever did on flat ground was at about 70 kph and even then I wasn't in my highest gear