tangerineowl

- sealed roads to walking tracks in the bush
- gravel dropbar
- Usually some 15%+ grades on the ride
- 40/23 with 12-27. Suits perfect.
- If I could get a 10sp 28t cassette which still has that 16t I'd get it.

Maelochs

And we all forgive you for hating us for suggesting that you might want to try this.

I usually rode flat pedals with BioPace---I am a big fan of flat pedals for survival in urban situations. I could see, though how it would be hard to spin casually because of the oval profile.

FlMTNdude

Road, 50-34/13-28 7 speed, not a lot of hills; I suck at hills, so this is about right for me. If I had serious hills I might want different gearing or end up with some huge legs.

Moisture

You will have to excuse my seemingly ignorant approach at first, as I was stuck in my large chainring for some time and was forced to pedal at lower cadences as such. And guess what? My friction shifter keeps automatically shifting all the way up for me no matter what I do. It seems like this bike wants me to not follow your advice xD

Any suggestions on how I can fix that? Seems to happen after riding in wet conditions. Do I need to pull the line out and oil it?

After I oriented the small chainring correctly, I was like, hey.. this feels pretty nice! But those clip in pedals were the real game changer for me in terms of pedaling cadence.

now, should I try to reorient my biopace rings? If so, how would you recommend I go about doing that? I'm also eying a nice looking double road crankset with 175mm arms at the local hub which I will likely try out as well. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, my dear friend .

Maelochs

I have no idea what is up with your bike shifting to the large ring---that is the high-tension position on the cable---when the cable is slack the FD drops to the lower ring---

I prefer 175 mm cranks, having tired 165 and 170 as well ... even though the difference is so slight, and I can and do ride shorter cranks---the 175s just feel a tiny bit better. So possibly round rings with longer cranks would be easier for you.

As for reorienting the rings ... i forget which is which, one way fills in the power hole at the bottom of the stroke and the other adds to the top? I would have to google it ... but as I recall ZI liked the BioPace normal set-up for a smoother stroke ... I wouldn't mess witht hem personally, but you can google the different orientations ... let us know what you decide and if it works, please.

Moisture

The right shifter (which controls the rear derailer) goes straight up to the top and shifts into the smallest cog no matter what I do. Not sure how to fix this..

The biopace normal setting doesn't work so well with the clip ins, im guessing because since you can lift the pedal up with your foot inside the strap youre still applying good power at the stage where bio is trying to compensate.

Will let you know what I do.

Maelochs

Neither do I. The rear derailleur is sprung to move outward (to the smallest (highest ratio)0 cog when not under tension. The cable would have to be ridiculously over-tightened to be stuck there.

Does the RD Always stay in the lowest ratio (most teeth, biggest, closest to the hub)?

Or .... is this a communication error, and I am not understanding you? Does the RD always go to the physically smallest---farthest from the hub---fewest teeth cog?

if that is the case, the cable is probably too loose.

You should be able to make the RD stop at any gear you want using the limit screws.

Moisture

I fixed the problem. The sides of the shifter has a screw which you can tighten. This makes the shifter feel stiff when you pull the lever. This screw was too loose which was causing the shifter to move on its own. Other types of friction shifters use a little triangle handle which you can tighten or loosen in this circumstance, like so:

Miele Man

I have different bikes with different gear combinations to match various terrain or loads when riding. One of my MTB bikes converted to a dropbar bike has a 9-speed corncob 11-19 cluster with 26-38-48 chainrings. It's a fantastic ride on the gently rolling hills I sometimes frequent.

On my long-distance road bike I have a 30-42-52 triple. I forget what's on the back. I like the triple for those times when I'm pedaling into a strong wind on an uphill grade.

Cheers

Moisture

Maelochs



34/50 crankset with 175mm arms.

I like them because I needed to use a shorter spindle to get these to fit. The arm sits close inside so it feels better.

Not fully convinced for the sake of circular ring. But these feel pretty nice.

I'll be testing out these rings a bit more, but I like having the 34 ring so far. Will eventually switch back to biopace and convert to a single speed.

Moisture

It could just be due to a better quality crankset, but seems like the circular chainrings do work well with the clip in pedals. Otherwise I would have never gotten rid of my biopace stuff.

In the future I will be trying biopace again, except I will orient the chainrings 180 degrees so that the powerful part of the stroke is met with an increase in chainring diameter rather than the other way around.

I like having the 34t reserved for hills windy gravel etc but not so sure about the jump between a 34 and 50t while shifting.

Reflector Guy

How often are you doing that shift?

Moisture

Not as often as I would be when I had a 40/52 up front. The chain seems to bend a lot when shifting to either side of the freewheel regardless whether i am in 34 or 50. So I try to alleviate that by playing around with the ratios as I ride. This is the main reason why I am debating a single speed swap in the near future. I'll switch between the two front chainrings depending on how windy it is or what sort of terrain I'm riding on and how hilly it is etc.

WinterCommuter

I have 2 road bikes:

- 36/52 11x28 11 speed
- 34/50 11x28 11 speed

if i could have only one bike, i’d go 36/52,

rubiksoval

I want a 55/39. Not sure it'd work that well. May need a 55/42 instead.

I hate the 53/11, and don't even like being in the 12 that much. A 55 would allow me to avoid that a bit more with an improved chain line.

A 39/25 is sufficient for anything at speed around my area of short, sharp 1-3 minute climbs, and 39/28 is sufficient for adequate spinning when speed isn't a focus.

A 55 isn't something I'd ever necessarily need, but in the pursuit of maximum marginal gains, it's something I'd like.

burnthesheep

I have an aversion to the 11 also. It may be totally internet junk, but have seen the efficiency ratings of an 11 versus even a 12. Makes me shudder knowing I'm tossing watts like that in a TT.

I already own a 54 on the TT bike and run 12/25 for flat stuff. But with downhill a 54/12 isn't enough. The cadence gets higher than ideal. Even if for 30 seconds. It's time lost to the clock.

I have seen on Ebay a few times the used Dura Ace cranksets with the 55/42. Just not sure if the ramps would do great on 55/39 versus the normal 55/42. It may be worth a try for you.

I may buy a 56 for the TT bike so I can run the 12t cog downhill also. Just may screw up the chainline a bit if I have to space the ring away from the chainstay. It's close with even a 54. I may have something wrong there.

Moisture

I do agree that a cassette with 12t as the smallest cog might work best versus 11t, but feeling the need for more than 52t on the front chainring is just completely absurd.

Personally, id go for 38/48 oval rings up front because I prefer a smaller drop in ratio changes and 48/12 as my highest gear would be totally sufficient considering that I can spin faster with my strap in pedals.

Maelochs

Whatever .... every rider is different, every bike is different, every route is different.

if i were doing a pedaled land speed record behind a fully-faired tow auto I might want 80-11. If I were doing fully loaded touring in the Alps I'd want a 42-32-22 with 11-36, probably. So what?

It's sort of like asking, "What tool do you use." A hammer but wow, does it do a number on pipes. Maybe I should try a pipe wrench?

Moisture

If my daily commute involves barreling down a 50% decline for 30km straight, I'd reckon a 55/12 (or more) could be quite useful. Hell, make it a single speed and don't worry about getting back up the hill. We are only concerned with how the bike performs 1% of the time going down an absurdly steep hill, right?

Phil_gretz

Talking in terms of number of teeth on the chainrings/cogs is inefficient. This entire conversation should be in gear-inches, which is how reasonable persons may compare gearing between their bicycles. Modern bikes are way over-geared, in my experience. I'm perfectly happy running between 36 and 96 gear inches on any bike. A little lower for MTB or touring use, though. Anything over 100 gear inches is not necessary. I'm okay with coasting down hills when I've spun out my highest gear.

For general purpose fixed gear riding, 72 gear inches is about right.

Gear inches.

CAT7RDR

Since I do not care about top end speed, and 30 mph is plenty fast, I find switching to the GRX 10 speed 46-30 crankset highly advantageous with a 12-27 cassette. I have more useful cogs in both the large and small chainrings for climbing. Gearing is as personal as saddle choice.

Phil_gretz

^ which calculates from 29 to 101 gear inches.

Maelochs

The great thing about gear inches is that even with bikes with the same sized wheels, different tires and different pressures could result in different "gear inches" with the same gears. But ... whatever. ...

I ride my bikes, no one else does. I adjust the gearing to suit me and what i want that bike to do. i couldn't care much what other people do ..... unless they all give me their bikes .... it just doesn't affect me.

Moisture

I think you have a good understanding of what works best according to your needs.

How does the size of the rim change the gearing? A smaller rim makes the gear feel a bit "shorter" and result in faster acceleration, right?

Carverbiker

I ride on the flats mostly with some steep rollers thrown in. 50/34 chainrings with either 14--28 or 14 -32 cassettes. I take a 14-28 and 11-32 to make the 14-32. I really like the one tooth jumps in the cruising range of the cassette and the larger jumps in the lower range for the rollers.

Cassette is 14-15-16-17-18-19-20-22-25-28-32