gear inches for groceries

[makeinu]

What's a good gear size for hauling groceries?

At present I spend the vast majority of my time pedaling in either first or second gear (37 inches and 47 inches, respectively). When I'm hauling weight I just put it in first gear and stand. So I'm going to be getting a smaller chainring to lower the middle of my gear range so I don't have to stand when hauling groceries. However, I'm having trouble deciding how low I should go.

What gear size do you use to haul a couple of bags of groceries up a big hill? Xtracycle owners, what is your low gear?

[wahoonc]

makeinu,

What type of hub? It may be easier to swap out the back cog. My current grocery getter is a 24 speed so I have quite the gear range to choose from. But when I was using my Raleigh I had a 48/20 on it that gave me a middle gear of 62.2 which allowed me to roll along at about 15 mph at my normal cadence of 80 or so, that gearing also gave me a low of 47" and a high of 83" which on flat ground would get me up to 20+mph, but wind resistance and a weak motor would usually limit that for the downhills:o I also have a 22t and 24t cog for that hub. It takes all of 5 minutes to swap it out, unless I have to add links to the chain.

Aaron:)

[pedex]

75-80 gear inches, fixed gear

[makeinu]

makeinu,

What type of hub? It may be easier to swap out the back cog. My current grocery getter is a 24 speed so I have quite the gear range to choose from. But when I was using my Raleigh I had a 48/20 on it that gave me a middle gear of 62.2 which allowed me to roll along at about 15 mph at my normal cadence of 80 or so, that gearing also gave me a low of 47" and a high of 83" which on flat ground would get me up to 20+mph, but wind resistance and a weak motor would usually limit that for the downhills:o I also have a 22t and 24t cog for that hub. It takes all of 5 minutes to swap it out, unless I have to add links to the chain.

Aaron:)
It's a Sturmey Archer 8-speed. At present the range is 37-113 inches. As I said, most of the time I only use the first two gears, so I can afford to lose quite a bit at the top end. The question is, how low should I go?

I'm considering a range of 28-86, which I can get if I replace both the cog and the chainring. Any lower than that and I might have to replace the cranks too. Although, it'd be better to replace the cranks now than to redo my selection later.

75-80 gear inches, fixed gear

You pull two or three full bags of groceries uphill with that gear?

[Roody]

75-80 gear inches, fixed gear
I'd like to see you try that on a planet with a red sun! :D

Seriously, I'm not sure most of us will ever ride as strong as you do, but you give us a goal to shoot for.

[wahoonc]

makeinu,
That 28-86 inch sounds pretty good to me. I ran the number on my Staiger and it has a 18.8" low:eek: (talk about a stump puller) and the high end is a 95.6" which I seldom use. I spend most of my time on the middle ring which gives me a 27.3"-72.9"

Aaron:)

[pedex]

You pull two or three full bags of groceries uphill with that gear?

no, I put 35-40lbs of groceries in my messenger bag and ride home

no big hills to speak of, just the short one coming out of the grocery store then the small dip and hill on front street, then its a false flat uphill the rest of the way

but ive done what hills there are around here the same way, you just stand up and pedal

[The Human Car]

My low gear Xtracycle is 23.6 which I find it sufficient for hills in Baltimore even with a 110 lb load (there are a few places where it’s really hard.)

Edit: My next two gears up are 30.9 and 34.9 so 30 or lower should be doable with a modist load. I will also note my range is 23.6-128.9 which I really like.

[jeff-o]

Ummm... 42 tooth front, start at 34 rear then work my way down as I gather speed.

[Frankenbiker]

Fortunately, there are no hills between the grocery store and home. So I can ride my bike "normally" without worrying about huffing and puffing up hills. I have a 34T on my Shimano "Megarange" and work my way down to midrange. No problems here. I'm not a speed-demon when carrying a large load anyway. I like to savor the ride and take pleasure in what I'm doing.

[40 Cent]

Love the question. Rather new to this forum but I've always enjoyed the utilitarian purpose of bikes. I have a choice of 75 or 81 on my flip-flop fixed gear, and "haul" as much as I can in my backpack. The max until now has been 2 six-packs and a couple of pounds of swordfish from Chinatown, Manahattan to Park Slope, Brooklyn (5 miles) but I'm most impressed with "The Human Car." 110 Pounds on hills in Baltimore??? That's phenomenal. Most non-bikers think a bike is only a diversion or exercise tool.

[oneredstar]

69 gear inches, fixed. Not too many hills though. I load about 3 grocery bags of stuff into my backpack and ride.

[mhifoe]

I have a hybrid with a triple that has a gear range of 27 to 93 inches.
I find 27 inches good for pulling my daughter in a trailer up a hill (At least 80 pounds), so it should be good for a serious amount of groceries.

[geebee]

If you have real hills (20~30%) a low of atleast 20" would be good for long term knee survival, since you mention not using any of the higher gears I would go with working out what you need gearing wise to maintain your currrent top USED gear and then go as low as you can keeping that top gear, sounds logical to me.

[ong]

My Xtracycle is a 1x9, with a 34t chainring up front, and a 11-32 in the back, which gives me 26 to 75 gear inches. The bike itself is around 45 lbs, I'm around 215, and I've hauled roughly 140 lb loads up fairly steep short hills... So far I haven't found the need for a granny gear, nor do I usually spin out my biggest gear. I'm very seldom in my lowest, but it's a useful bail-out for steep hills combined with big loads (e.g., the girlfriend!). My usual load is 3-4 sacks of groceries, with maybe a 12-pack of beer on the Snapdeck.

It does sound like a lower gear would be useful, since you're often at the very bottom end of your gearing. I bet you'd be fine with the 28 gear inch setup you mentioned.

EDIT -- with the caveat that geebee mentioned above about "real hills." Although 20-30% is a huge grade! The steepest I regularly ride on the X would be ~10% or so.

[HardyWeinberg]

I drop down to ~20 gear-inches (26/34) to pull a ~120# trailer the last block to my house (20# of trailer, ~70+# of kids, ~30# of groceries, sometimes w/ panniers on the bike too). I always wonder when I'm doing it if I should make that granny gear smaller, but then I pop up at the top. Whew...

[Bikepacker67]

I've never been too proud (when it comes to gearing anyway)

My low is a 22/34 for a wimpy 17 gear inches.
But no hill will make me walk.

[livewirerc]

My "grocery getter" is a fixed gear/freewheel multi-geared bike. I run a 44/40 compact double up front, a 17/21 surly dinglecog on the fixed side and a 17/19 white industries dos eno freewheel on the flipside. I get 5 usable gears out of the mix that give me a range of 70-52 gear inches. 90% of the time I'm running 70 gear inches though, and don't really mix it up much unless I'm doing off-roading. It's good to have options though. :)

[makeinu]

Look at all the responses I'm getting now that we have that "utility cycling" crosspost. :)

[AllenG]

Similar thread in Commuting recently.
I run internal hubs.
On my Salsa I have a 52 tooth chainring and a 16 tooth cog
Gear Inches from top to bottom are:
125.3
110.3
96.9
85.4
75.2
66.1
58.2
51.2
45.1
39.6
34.9
30.7
27.0
23.8
On the Salsa unloaded, I cruise in the 85.4 inch gear, loaded I use the 58 or 66 inch gear on the flats, and I love that low bottom for the big hills.

On my Xtracycle the gear inches are continously variable between 32.6 and 114.2 inches (NuVinci hub).
However my big cargo hauler has an electric assist motor, so that skews the results.

[makeinu]

Similar thread in Commuting recently.

On the Salsa unloaded, I cruise in the 85.4 inch gear, loaded I use the 58 or 66 inch gear on the flats, and I love that low bottom for the big hills.

On my Xtracycle the gear inches are continously variable between 32.6 and 114.2 inches (NuVinci hub).
However my big cargo hauler has an electric assist motor, so that skews the results.

Have you ever actually used those high gears? I can't imagine ever needing a gear higher than 90 inches, even when going down a big hill. Is there something wrong with my bike that I don't push such high gears?

[AllenG]

Rarely, but I do (decents only).

[ken cummings]

19 gear inches. Sure I could go up in 25 to 35 but why bust my knee joints.

[makeinu]

Rarely, but I do (decents only).

Descending what? An unobstructed bike trail or a road with traffic lights? :o

[AllenG]

No bike trails where I live (rural GA).

[cman]

My Xtracycle is a 1x9, with a 34t chainring up front, and a 11-32 in the back, which gives me 26 to 75 gear inches. .

I run a 1x9 on my Xtra too.

I recently switched from a 44t front to a 39t. Somewhat for the low gears but more so I could use my top gears more often. The back is your typical Deore LX setup- sorry didn't count the cogs originally and I don't do gear inches. I just know what is comfortable.:)

[The Human Car]

Have you ever actually used those high gears? I can't imagine ever needing a gear higher than 90 inches, even when going down a big hill. Is there something wrong with my bike that I don't push such high gears?

You live in Baltimore right? St Paul St has such a lovely gradual descent going into the city and I easily get up to 30-35mph on that stretch of road, big gears are fun! But to me it seems that there are a lot of Marylanders who enjoy trying to go fast uphill and slow on the downhill (to recover.) I sort of work in reverse, I take it easy on the uphills and put a little extra into the downhills.

I should note that I recently upgraded my big ring from a 43 to 44 tooth so I have even a larger spread now in gear inches. I like to keep working my way to being faster.

[Leigh_caines]

Interesting tread
Always seem these lots of people like pushing high gears even when loaded...
Me I'm an old man that likes low gears for big loads...
give me a 20 gear inches low...I may not need it all the time but it's great having them when you do.
Top...well it's great to have as high as it'll go but not at the coast of the low

[ong]

Yeah, I use my lowest gear a lot on the Xtracycle! Even 34:32 seems a little rough when I've got a passenger on the back and a long hill ahead....

[Sixty Fiver]

My fixed gear utility bike / commuter runs 65 gear inches and gets used for most of my shopping errands... the other night I weighed my groceries (24 pounds) and had weighed my bike earlier (42 pounds in winter dress).

There aren't any hills to climb between my home and the grocer so I ride at the same speed I always do... the extra weight only affects acceleration and I can still climb well with what I consider to be a rather low (fixed) gear.

My fixed tourer runs the same low gear as my utility bike and carries similar loads except my rides on this bike tend to involve hills, wind, and distances between 60 and 100 miles. It runs 63 and 70 gear inches on a flip flop (both fixed).

On the other hand, pulling a trailer warrants some gears so my cross/commuter bike (and my new tow vehicle) runs a 2 by 8 drive with a gear range from 29-109.

[dr.raleigh]

How do you figure out your gear inches? Thanks

[Sixty Fiver]

The easiest way...

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/