stultiloquy

Like the title states, I'm something of a noobie when it comes to bike tech - I've been riding for years and years, but I'm not exactly well-versed on the technical side of things.

Anyway, I've been having a problem with my bike.
Essentially, I'm getting no resistance to my pedaling on any of my gears but my 3 highest; on any gear lower than that I can pedal at a breakneck pace and make no forward progress at all unless I'm going downhill.

I can't cite a bike name or model number, as my bike was built piecemeal by Performance Bike way back around 2000.
Though the labels and decals are pretty much worn away, I know it has Shimano derailleurs front-and-back, with 7 gears in the back and 3 up front.

That issue aside, the bike as a whole is brilliant; everything works fine, no gear slippage, grinding, catching or anything like that at all - it shifts smoothly and effortlessly.
Maybe I'm just in such awesome shape the top 3 gears are the only ones that a capable of giving me resistance, lol. /wishful thinking

I can try to provide more info if needed, what I've described here is the best I can manage with my limited bike knowledge.

Any help is appreciated.

fietsbob

hard to guess , without seeing it perform, as you described, in person..

a walk in to a bike shop is highly recommended .

pdlamb

Have you taken it to a mechanic or bike shop?

It almost sounds like the freehub has been stripped on the low end, but that's almost impossible and pure speculation.

Andrew R Stewart 

Well, there could be failures of only how the claimed cogs are attached to the hub but not the other cogs so somehow when the chain is on only them will they spin freely and not be connected to the rest of the wheel. But I doubt that's going on.

Instead I suspect that the OP isn't well trained to spin his legs around at anything but fairly slow cadences. Many people's nervous and muscular systems don't have the "training" to fire at more then 50 times a minute. I see strong and enthusiastic riders all the time riding in their highest gear at slow leg speeds. There is a difference between strength and speed. Good racers train their leg speed as well as their strength.

So, OP, how fast can you spin your legs? Andy.

Homebrew01

If your bike is in one of these "no resistance" gears, I assume that means that if you are not moving, when you start pedaling, the bicycle does not move at all ?? Same as if you are pedaling backwards ??

Nour

That is what im experiencing for me too, i pedal, no resistance and the bike isn't moving, its like the chain fell off feeling, but the chain is on the cogs, 21 speeds is what i have, and i just bought the bike yesterday i don't know what happened. I pedal but there is 0 resistance and bike isn't moving like if im pedaling backwards

JoeTBM 

OP, So your three highest gears are the only ones that work? Do you mean that your front DER is on the largest chain ring and your rear is on one of the three smallest?

or are you saying it doesn't matter what front chain ring you are on but the problem is with the 4 largest on the rear.

You also don't say what type of bike this is, mountain or road, not that it would make a big difference.

Ratio of cogs on the cranks to the cassette or freewheel gears could definitely be a factor, especially if the bike was built for one purpose and now you are using it for another.
Can you provide some details on what you have?
Has anything recently been changed or replaced?

JoeTBM 

On all gears? Sounds like you freewheel or freehub is not engaging.

New Bike, - bring it back to the shop where you purchased it.

alcjphil

The OP only posted here once - 7 years ago

bykemike 

Maybe he's still pedaling back to his car...

squirtdad

zombie thread please don't wake the zombies, not all of us have finished our zombie apocalypse bike builds

JoeTBM 

That's what I get for reading so early in the am.....