FZ1Tom

I just read that thread about running out of gear. Soon as it dawned on me he wasn't talking about bike swag, I realized what little I know about gears, cadence, and all that. When I was growing up riding my Schwinn Varsity 10 speed all I knew was to use what felt right for the terrain. Usually in terms of 'big ring/little ring' and whatever rear cog worked. Never had any idea how many teeth they had, although I'm guessing as I reached almost 50mph on some downhills and still didn't 'spin out' it must have had a huge ring in front (53T?).

I've heard 53x13, 53x11, 48x14, etc. So I understand that part. And I understand cadence since I ride a stationary bike a lot....turns out I like to pedal around 75-90rpm's. Above 90 and I tend to bounce a bit which is a no-no. And under 75 isn't really getting a workout unless you've got the resistance turned way up.

So I go with a medium amount of resistance at 75-90rpm's and the stationary bike's computer tells me I usually average 15 to 18mph.

So what I'm mainly curious about is, is there a speed/gear/cadence calculator of some kind online and, when the time comes, what to look for when getting either a road bike or a fixie/singlespeed?

Tom

LarDasse74

https://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

Your old theory sounded good... use the gear that feels comfortable in the situation... hills or wind or hangovers or whatever.

But Sheldon Brown (as always) has advice for you.

sstorkel

Sounds like you need to work on your pedaling. I'm about as uncoordinated as they come, but I can pedal comfortably in the 90-100rpm range and don't start bouncing until I get above 110rpm. I use clipless pedals, but toe clips also help. I normally select gears that allow me to pedal at my preferred 90-100rpm cadence. When climbing hills, I let my cadence fall to around 70 or 80rpm and select gears that favor this cadence.