rick11

This is a 2 parter - the first paragraph is my stupid question and then my ride today!

Riding today i was playing around on gearing between my large front with large rear gear and small front small rear. I was left wondering which is better (that's the stupid part of the question) or does it even matter? Now if you want to hear about my ride, read on - otherwise just ignore me.

I have not been riding outdoors since December - too cold for me in Cincinnati. So I bought a trainer and actually liked it - although the most I could do was about 75minutes. The forecast today was for 60F so about 11am went out and rode the little miami trail beginning in Milford. Rode for 22 miles, turned around and rode back - was out for about 3 hours. Got tanned, listened to the birds and ducks along the river, communed with nature - it was absolutely fantastic. Just having a glass of wine now reliving the ride. The weather was supposed to be nice across most of the country today (ex the North East) so if you weren't working were you out riding? and wasn't it fantastic!

rick

jeffremer

Avoid using the small chainring with the smallest cog. But if are consistently in your big ring on a big cog think about shifting to a smaller ring and smaller cog. Either way what you are doing now is cross-chaining - something most people agree should be avoided and some people are proud of doing.

Phantoj

small-small is the bad one.

slim_77

Hey rick, hell yeah it was great! I hope it holds as long as they say!

FrankBattle 

+40 this weekend. I will be out riding!

And why is "small-small" .. "bad?"

Carbonfiberboy 

Small-small and big-big are bad. That's called cross-chaining because the chain comes on and off the cogs and chainrings at an angle. That causes chain and tooth wear.

Cross chaining is bad. But beyond that, you want the largest ring in front that you can ride without cross chaining, because that reduces chain tension and thus chain wear. It also depends on your cassette. When I can, I like to ride on a part of the cassette where the cogs are pretty close together, so I don't get such a big jump when I shift in the back. You guys with straight blocks don't have to think about that.

Doggus

small-small is worse because of the torque.