I have a new Sun EZ Sport CX with 24 gears. What is the shifting pattern going from 1 to 24? I can't seem to find a diagram. I've been playing around while riding, but would like to see a diagram
Crank: FSA 335 170x52/42/30
Freewheel: Sram 11-32 8-speed
Thanks for your patience with this newbie!

about pattern since you'd be messing around with both shifters most of the time. Just shift up or down as you need it. You are riding along in the large ring at the base of a long tapered hill. You could just shift a cog (rear), but since you're starting a long hill which ends up steep shift to the next smaller chain ring then you can change cogs as you climb if you ned to. You'll get used to it and know what to do as you see the terrian in front of you.

If you really want to know the changes count all the teeth and divide the number on the cog to the nuber on the chain ring. The bigger the number the harder the gear.

Good luck with it.
Joe
:beer:

The usual answer for this question is to refer you to the Sheldon Brown part of the Harris Cyclery website (www.sheldonbrown.com). You will find an online gear calculator with a little searching on the site. Frankly I never bothered to calculate the gear ratios on any of my recumbent bikes or trikes but just choose gears that give me a comfortable cadence and shift frequently to keep the cadence comfortable. It is always advisable to avoid the combination of the big gear on the chainwheel and big gear on the rear cluster (and vice versa) but with the long chains on a recumbent it probably is not as big a deal as on a regular bike. If your chain is too short the big gear/big gear combination can sometimes lock up the drivetrain. It is not a pleasant experience. In that case, your bike was probably not properly set up.

You can calculate each gear out and make a chart, since no two bikes are the same (almost.) It's easier to think of your gears as an 8-speed, with 3 ranges. Put in a range that fits most of your riding, and only shift out of it when needed.

The formula for calculating the gears is:
(chainring teeth) * (wheel diameter) / (cassette teeth)
... and to get accurate numbers you *must* measure the actual diameter of the drive wheel! Numbers will change a little bit when you change tires.

Thus, with a 26x1.25 drive wheel which actually measures 24.5 inches in diameter, and a 42/15 gear combination, you get:
(42*24.5)/15 = 68 inches.

I just ride along on whatever front gear I'm in, shifting my rear gears as needed until I think the steps between shifts start to seem too big or too small. Then I shift my front derailleur up or down as needed. The bigger the front gear, the bigger the steps will be between each rear gear shift.

In general, use the small chainring for climbing, the middle chainring on flat areas, and the large chainring for downhill. Hope it helps.

Are you by chance an engineer? Just ride doood.

The "range" approach is the only practical way ride. On the occasional long, flat hwy stretch, I might find myself between two gears. One might shift up one click on the rear and down one click on the front to get a few more rpms, but it's usually not worth the effort. The way these bikes move from crawling up the hill to blasting down the other side your question seems somewhat naive.

Thanks, everyone, for the info. After determining the cog sizes on my Sram 11-32, I went sheldonbrown.com and found my answer.