marimorimo

I went on a metric century (100 km) ride on a mostly flat terrain with a few short hills yesterday and found myself on the middle ring of my triple chainring 99.9% of the time. I had swapped out the crankset on my hybrid and now the mtb gearing is much lower than it was originally, so for all but one of the climbs I didn't need to use my granny gear. I never touched my outer ring once.

I'm planning to buy a road bike one of these days, but I'm concerned whether the gearing would be too tall for me even on a compact? I'm a spinner and prefer to keep a 90-100 rpm cadence.

My current setup:

22-32-44
Rear cogs: 11-32

I've only started cycling last January and my average speed is only 21 kph in good conditions and if I'm not tired out. I used my granny gear on the tail end of the ride where I was absolutely sapped of energy and my legs felt like lead. It felt like a life saver.

trainsktg

I'm not the best of climbers. There are some local hills I can fairly easily climb with my 45-pound 3x9 cargo bike (lowest gear 22-34) that I absolutely explode on with my 25ish-pound 2x8 road bike (lowest gear 34-32...which is about 5th gear on my cargo bike).

Keith

hueyhoolihan

if you like the gearing you now have, learn something about gear inches, use wiki or sheldon brown's site, and then try to find a road bike with similar gearing.

BTW, your current gearing has an approximate range of 19-108 GI. a typical compact crank with two chainrings (48t and 34t) will give you a range of about 29-118 GI with your 11-32 cassette.

it may prove difficult to find a two chainring compact crank that will give you a low gear nearly as low as the one you now have.

fietsbob

44:11 is the same Gear ratio as 52:13 dont over think this ..

Just put on smooth tread tires, and start early so you dont have to be fast.


Math is useful .. Tooth counts ratios X the wheel diameter, or X the circumference of the wheel

gives you data for Comparison..

bikemig 

You could look for a compact that has 46-30 chainrings. They're not easy to find but they exist and this will do a nice job of reproducing your current set-up. Sugino makes cranks that can be used with this kind of set-up.

pdlamb

It's probably worth looking at a gearing chart (such as the Sheldon Brown chart referenced above). If you do, you'll see that instead of 3x9=27 speeds, you really only have about 13; there's two gears higher on the big ring and two gears smaller on the little ring than your middle ring can reach.

Armed with that knowledge, you may decide to change into the big ring sooner, or you might just stay in the middle ring and only drop down to the granny gear when you need to. I wouldn't go swapping out cranks willy-nilly, though (unless you want to do that!). If you continue riding, you may progress into riding with groups going a bit faster that you're riding now. If you do get into a faster group, you'll be glad you've still got the taller gears on your bike.

marimorimo

Thanks for the replies! I am now trying to educate myself about the math in gears (and I'm pretty bad at math too!).

I'm just wondering how do people know exactly the number of teeth per cog in their cassette? Like in my case 11-32, I know I have 11t and 32t and the rest are somewhere in the middle, but is there a way to know exactly? Aside from manually counting?

Drew Eckhardt 

Look on the cassette manufacturer's web site. While there are sometimes variations between manufacturers, each one sticks with the same combinations.

fietsbob

by counting.

Sheldon Brown [Married a Professor of Maths] .. left us websites to help.. Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Gear Calculator

rm -rf

The cassette cogs usually have their teeth size stamped on the side of each cog. You might need a flashlight and a rag or paper towel to see the marks clearly.

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A typical road bike has chainrings of 34 and 50, and something like a 12-27 in 10-speed or 11-28 in 11-speed. You can get road bikes that have a 11-32 for steeper climbing, but then they have larger gaps between gears in between.

I like Mike Sherman's Gear Calculator. I can make changes in gears or rpm, and the charts instantly update. It has a popup box that tells you that you can save the current URL to bookmark/favorite those settings.

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Links to the two bike pages:

Here's your current bike, 22-32-44 and 11-32 (is it 9 speed?) in kms instead of miles.

From the link, the Speed at RPM chart. This makes it easier to visualize where each gear combination works. Each chainring is a different color.

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And a typical road bike in 34-50 and 11-28 in 11 speed. (Some bikes are 10 speed or even 9 speed.)

Speed at RPM. The 34 chainring is in red. It should work fine for you. You would lose those really low gears that your current bike has. But if your steep hills aren't "too" long, it should work.


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I think "spinner" riders that like a faster cadence like to have closely spaced shifts. I have one up shift that goes from 99 rpm down to 88. If it went from 99 to 92 or 94, that would be perfect. So look for gears that are closely spaced in the speed ranges that you normally ride.

Some riders complain about 34-50 cranks. They are often riding at 18-20 mph, 28-32 kph, and hit the top end of the 34 chainring pretty often, requiring a front shift.

But if you typically stay below 20-30 kph, the 34 ring will be fine. And if you get a tailwind / slight downhill, the 50 ring will be good. And you may find that your speed increases due to less wind resistance, or just riding more often.

Most riders do fine on shorter steep hills, up to maybe 12% grade, by standing up in their lowest gear. That requires some practice on less steep hills, and good balance at the low speeds and low rpms.

Bill Fold

I have a triple crankset (30-39-50) with a 11-28 cassette, and I stay in the middle ring most of the time I am on flat terrain with minor hills - which is a lot in Florida.

As discussed above, get to know gear inches. There are a few different online calculators.

andr0id

Mfg site will list the between cogs.

Gear charts are nice, but don't try to gear your road bike like a mountain bike.
They are completely different with different resistance from tires, terrain and your riding position.

A good range for almost everyone starting out unless you live in the mountains is a 50/34 on the front and and something with a 25 or 28 as the biggest cog in the back. It won't matter if the small is 11 or 12, either will be fine for starters.

MRT2

True enough, but if you actually need something as low as 20 gear inches for steep climbs and most road bikes with compact doubles give you, maybe 33 or 35 gear inches as a lowest gear, you will struggle. I don't care how skinny the tires are, or how light the bike is. That is a huge difference.

None of this matters if you live someplace flat. But it might if you live in an area with long, steep climbs.

martianone

[QUOTE=marimorimo;17713997]I went on a metric century (100 km) ride on a mostly flat terrain with a few short hills yesterday and found myself on the middle ring of my triple chainring 99.9% of the time and now the mtb gearing is much lower than it was originally, so for all but one of the climbs I didn't need to use my granny gear. I never touched my outer ring once.


My current setup:

22-32-44
Rear cogs: 11-32

/QUOTE]

Explore the data you provided. from above, during the 100 km ride you "never touched the outer ring".
also, "didn't need to use the granny, except once" primarily you rode with the 32 chainring and 11-32 cassette. presume your hydrid has 32 mm x 700 tires, the 32/11-32 would have given a gear in range of approx 27 to 78. When you used the granny gear, you would have needed to be in a cassette cog bigger than 21 to have a lower ratio than 27. 27 is a pretty low ratio on a road bike.
Given your info, I would consider a single chain ring set up. My commuter/utility & gravel road bike is a 1x9 with 36 t and 12-36 cassette, gives me a gear in range of approx 27-83 and covers the gears I really need and use. I live in a pretty hilly area, I've also done a few light load multi day tours with this set up - it is pragmatic and reliable.

marimorimo

WOW! This graph explained gears to me more than any other explanation I've read before. It's very informative to see it all visualized. I realize now that I never even needed to use my granny gear at that one climb. I could have dropped 3 gears at the back but instead went for the easier to click option of shifting the front derailleur. I also realize now that I get a LOT of overlap and that I should be using my outer gear more.

On a related note, is it OK to shift multiple gears at once or should I shift one at a time? I have 9-speed Deore derailleur and Acera front.

I think I want gear inches as close to 30 as possible for my lowest gear. But it seems impossible to find a road chain ring that low??

Another useful tip! Thanks!

You've given me a great idea-if I ever need a commuter/beater bike, a single chain ring setup would probably be practical. I don't know when that will be, though!

Drew Eckhardt 

I wouldn't.

I don't ride road cassettes which don't have one tooth jumps through the 19 cog.

12-23, 13-25/26, 14-28 10 cogs
11-23, 12-25 11 cogs

I don't ride cranks without a usable (eschewing the fully cross-chained combinations) range of at least 39x14 through 39x23 on one ring.

Needing a 32x32 low gear would dictate 26x25 or 28x28 or maybe 30x28 with some wiggle room.

A 46-30x14-28 super compact would work allowing no room for improved fitness with higher speeds.

Super compacts of 46-30 x 14-28 10 cogs, or 42-26 x 12-25 11 would work.

With that low gear requirement a triple would provide more room for growth - 50-39-28 or 48-38-28 x 14-28 10 cogs, 50-39-26 x 13-25 10 cogs; 50-39-26 or 46-36-26 x 12-25 11 cogs; etc.

I rode 50-40-30 x 13-21 8 cogs and 50-40-30x13-23 9 which worked great for everything.

50-34 x 13-23 9 didn't work well due to the excessive front shifting.

I moved on to 50-39-30 x 13-26 10 cogs which works great for everything. 14-23 10 cogs didn't work as well with a lot of rear shifting changing rings, the 22 was superfluous, and the 20 wasn't as nice as having another gear on one end.

rm -rf

Yeah, the overlap between cogs at different rpms and between the chainrings is very clear on the chart. It's the only gear calculator I've seen that makes that chart.

It's okay to shift more than one cog at a time. If you are pedaling at a normal rpm, the chain will move smoothly. My older bike had Campagnolo shifters, and they can shift 3 or more cogs at a time. To match a similar mph speed when shifting between my 34 and 50 chainrings, I need to shift 3 or 4 cogs in the back. For instance, a 34-13 is almost exactly the same as a 50-19.

If I'm riding at 16mph / 26 kph, and expect to be going faster on the road ahead, I'll shift from the 34 to the 50, and shift 3 in the back, then see if I need to shift one more cog either way. But if I'll likely stay below 18mph / 29 kph for a while, or a hill is approaching, I'll stay in the 34 chainring.

The gear calculator that I linked have a gear inch chart. A 34-28 is 32 gear inches, close to your goal of 30.

I ride with a few riders that don't climb very well, and they've changed to an inexpensive mountain bike rear derailleur and a 11-32 or 11-34 10-speed cassette. The tradeoff of very low gears, but with a downside of larger gaps between gears in the middle, was good for them.

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I'd do a test ride with a non-modified road bike with a 34-28 low gear. Go climb some hills and see how it does.

You've only been riding for about 3 months? I think a lot of riders that ride regularly, at least two rides a week of an hour or more, will see fairly quick improvement in the first couple of months. Then it's at least another full year of a steady increase in the distance, speed, and time they can ride.

You've already done a 100k ride on a flat bar bike? Very good. That's a big ride.

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1 by 11 gearing:
This is starting to be popular with cyclocross racers, that ride "road bikes" on grass and dirt courses. They often get mud clogging up everything, and so a setup that avoids front derailleur jamming or chain dropping is a good tradeoff for them. And they have to carry their bike over obstacles, so weight savings helps, too.

I don't see much of an advantage for road bikes on the road, though.

MRT2

I use a Sugino triple crankset similar to this one.https://www.amazon.com/Sugino-XD2-600.../dp/B00IGR2SZE

I pair that with a 12 - 27 9 speed road cassette. Lowest gear 26 x 27 = 26 gear inches. Highest gear of 48 x 12 = 108 gear inches. And the gear ratios are fairly closely spaced.