Drive train question
#1
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Drive train question
Hi, interested in getting a new hybrid bike and get more serious about riding. The bike I'm considering has a 1x9 setup. 40 tooth chainring and 11-36 cassette. How versatile will that gearing be for all around recreational riding on mainly flat paved trails. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
#2
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Here is a calculator that you can use to visualize different gearing choices. Fill in your tire size and gear teeth numbers and hit "calculate". https://kstoerz.com/gearcalc/compare...2,36&rings2=40
Drivetrain 2 is an approximation of what I think you are considering. I would probably gear it a little lower, like drivetrain 1, for just riding around but your taste may be different.
Drivetrain 2 is an approximation of what I think you are considering. I would probably gear it a little lower, like drivetrain 1, for just riding around but your taste may be different.
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Hi, interested in getting a new hybrid bike and get more serious about riding. The bike I'm considering has a 1x9 setup. 40 tooth chainring and 11-36 cassette. How versatile will that gearing be for all around recreational riding on mainly flat paved trails. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
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Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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If you are going to remain on flat trails and only modest grades, that gearing should be fine. For a new rider in hilly terrain, you would want lower gearing and a smaller chainring would be the cheapest way to get it.
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When I'm evaluating a drivetrain, I look at the range of gear inches, and compare that with a known quantity (like an existing bike). For example, I like and use a gear inch range of about 20 (low) to about 90 (high). In my riding environment, and my fitness level, and the speeds that I typically ride...that's the gear inch range that works for me. I figure that out based on the lowest gear that I use on my bikes on a regular basis and the highest gear I use on my bikes on a regular basis. Calculating gear inches is a good way to normalize values for different bikes (with different tire sizes, etc.). And then I'll use that to customize the drivetrain on a new bike I get, or to consider how one drivetrain might work for me compared with another drivetrain.
I realize that if you're coming from single speed bikes, it may be hard to know what range you like.
A 40-tooth ring with an 11-36 is a gear inch range of about 30" (low gear) to 100" (high gear). This is assuming 35-622 tires. That's probably reasonable for mostly flat areas.
I realize that if you're coming from single speed bikes, it may be hard to know what range you like.
A 40-tooth ring with an 11-36 is a gear inch range of about 30" (low gear) to 100" (high gear). This is assuming 35-622 tires. That's probably reasonable for mostly flat areas.
Last edited by hokiefyd; 10-08-20 at 09:31 AM.
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#6
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Hi, interested in getting a new hybrid bike and get more serious about riding. The bike I'm considering has a 1x9 setup. 40 tooth chainring and 11-36 cassette. How versatile will that gearing be for all around recreational riding on mainly flat paved trails. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
For recreational flat terrain riding I think you will find it more than adequate.
#7
Really Old Senior Member
I'm not a fan of 1X anything....
Swapping to something like a 12-27 cassette may give more useful & closer spaced gears to avoid the larger jumps between gears.
Ride it and see what gears you never use and go from there.
Swapping to something like a 12-27 cassette may give more useful & closer spaced gears to avoid the larger jumps between gears.
Ride it and see what gears you never use and go from there.
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#8
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Thanks for all the input and suggestions. Lots of time to think over things. The bike I'm strongly considering will not be available til the 25th week of next year I'm being told.
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Hi, interested in getting a new hybrid bike and get more serious about riding. The bike I'm considering has a 1x9 setup. 40 tooth chainring and 11-36 cassette. How versatile will that gearing be for all around recreational riding on mainly flat paved trails. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.