Originally Posted by
Ygduf
junior gears also purportedly for safety tho
I've had the coaching reasons given to me for junior gears, not anything I can verify for safety. USAC has no issue with up hill races for kids, or what they do the majority of the time on the bike not racing. The small % of the race time would only be a data point and not conclusive if there were injuries - I just can't find any in youth males due to big gears.
I have seen over use fatigue in local kids. Bigger gears help reduce fatugue, and are a way to recover a bit in training. It is the racing high cadence chasing adults down hills, and over/spinning too many miles in training rides I blame for that.
15-18 year old males jump off high things, leg press more than most free weight machines can hold. "Knocked kneed
Females have easy 5:1 the injuries, mainly ACL, as men, and don't need as big of a gear as speeds are lower. That would be the first place to look at gear restrictions.
It is done for coaching.
High cadence causes overuse more than lower cadence.
...the repetitive motion of pedalling can lead to a variety of overuse knee injuries. The majority of cycling injuries are indeed caused by overuse, which leads to cumulative tissue microtrauma and consequent symptoms. In overuse injuries the problem is often not acute tissue inflammation, but chronic degeneration.
http://www.kneeclinic.info/knee_spor...es_cycling.php