Best Gain Ratios or Gear Combos for hills
08-18-05, 02:31 AM
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Best Gain Ratios or Gear Combos for hills
I am new bike rider as a retired senior. I am in fairly good shape as a result of marathon day hiking with several pounds of 35 mm photography and lots of elevation gain in the local wilderness areas in the last few years, a local daily 4 mile or greater walker prior to biking when not in the wilderness, but in the beginning process of developing my biking fitness. I am a non-smoker and mostly vegetarian. I think I am getting enough carbs.
My cardio endurance seems to be pretty good on the bike but my lower quads and muscles near the knees seem to bonk out early on hills. I have an HRM which I have used on pre biking activities and hav'nt used it with the bike since I don't seem to running out of breath.
On the flats, I am most effective and comfortable with Gain Ratios as Sheldon Brown defines them, of 4.2 to 5.6. That is, 46 tooth chainring and 23,20 and 17 tooth cogs or the close equivalent combination on the 36 tooth chain ring. I have acceptable endurance there. I can pedal comfortably (aerobically) at 10-15 mph continuously on those ratios and can spurt(anaerobically) at 20 mph on the higher ratios. I can't seem to make effective use of the 26 tooth crank ring on hills before developing early muscular tiring.
I am having trouble finding the effective gear combinations for myself on hills. So far, I have poor endurance spinning. I bonk early on the granny gear combinations of gain ratios of 2.7 or less on most hills of reasonable length. I think I may be more effective staying in the higher ratios and standing up to pump at a much lower rate than spinning on the hills. I am of small stature with shorter legs and longer torso. I recently modified the crankset from 170mm to 165 mm cranks. I think the longer crank would be better for stand up pumping.
I have set the seat height so my legs are straight when I heel the pedal. The fore and aft seat position is determined using the plumb bob position from the knees when the ball of the foot is over the pedal axel. My handle bar reach to all positions of the drop bar is comfortable. The bike seems to be a good fit but it is a vintage cross bike with 30c wheels, 26mm tires and a slanted top tube rather than the classic horizontal top tube. The effective horizontal top tube distance is close to the value recommended by the LBS when I was considering buying a new entry level road bike from him. The LBS also recommended a 165 crank for me. I am using clip pedals. I may benefit from a larger size clip so the pedal axle is further back from the ball of my foot, which I will try next.
Harris Cyclery has a freewheel that fits my bike with a 40 tooth granny cog, but I don't think I can spin fast enough with any reasonable duration to make effective use of it.
I am biking right now about 5-6 days per week of 2-4 hours and hav'nt developed any significant muscle stiffness or sorenes.
I would appreciate any comments from those of you experienced bikers.
Sinchi
My cardio endurance seems to be pretty good on the bike but my lower quads and muscles near the knees seem to bonk out early on hills. I have an HRM which I have used on pre biking activities and hav'nt used it with the bike since I don't seem to running out of breath.
On the flats, I am most effective and comfortable with Gain Ratios as Sheldon Brown defines them, of 4.2 to 5.6. That is, 46 tooth chainring and 23,20 and 17 tooth cogs or the close equivalent combination on the 36 tooth chain ring. I have acceptable endurance there. I can pedal comfortably (aerobically) at 10-15 mph continuously on those ratios and can spurt(anaerobically) at 20 mph on the higher ratios. I can't seem to make effective use of the 26 tooth crank ring on hills before developing early muscular tiring.
I am having trouble finding the effective gear combinations for myself on hills. So far, I have poor endurance spinning. I bonk early on the granny gear combinations of gain ratios of 2.7 or less on most hills of reasonable length. I think I may be more effective staying in the higher ratios and standing up to pump at a much lower rate than spinning on the hills. I am of small stature with shorter legs and longer torso. I recently modified the crankset from 170mm to 165 mm cranks. I think the longer crank would be better for stand up pumping.
I have set the seat height so my legs are straight when I heel the pedal. The fore and aft seat position is determined using the plumb bob position from the knees when the ball of the foot is over the pedal axel. My handle bar reach to all positions of the drop bar is comfortable. The bike seems to be a good fit but it is a vintage cross bike with 30c wheels, 26mm tires and a slanted top tube rather than the classic horizontal top tube. The effective horizontal top tube distance is close to the value recommended by the LBS when I was considering buying a new entry level road bike from him. The LBS also recommended a 165 crank for me. I am using clip pedals. I may benefit from a larger size clip so the pedal axle is further back from the ball of my foot, which I will try next.
Harris Cyclery has a freewheel that fits my bike with a 40 tooth granny cog, but I don't think I can spin fast enough with any reasonable duration to make effective use of it.
I am biking right now about 5-6 days per week of 2-4 hours and hav'nt developed any significant muscle stiffness or sorenes.
I would appreciate any comments from those of you experienced bikers.
Sinchi
08-18-05, 03:22 PM
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You may want to consider compact crank with a more tightly spaced rear cog (12-23 or possibly 12-25 if you need it). This will give you similar flat gearing and a more linear gearing for the hills. You can calculate your effective gear ratios here: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/
Hope this helps.
You can also search the cycling forums for similar topics.
Hope this helps.
You can also search the cycling forums for similar topics.
08-19-05, 12:15 AM
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Hi Landa,
Thanks for responding. Yes, I did use Sheldon Brown's site to calculate my gear gain ratios. I also taped a miniature copy of the table to my top tube. I have the Sugino mtb crankset (46,36,26) which is a favorite of many tourers. My seven speed freewheel is 13,15,17,20,23,26,30 which is not too far from linear. What Harris Cyclery has is a Shimano NOS seven speed freewheel which is similar to the above with a jump to 40t for the largest cog. This is for ease of spinning up the worst grades.
I don't think the problem is the bike set-up: it's me. As a beginner I need to learn and develop my strength for biking.
I started a thread in the 50+ forum for help in developing spinning strength and stamina and received many helpful suggestions. I think the thread that I started in this forum is too long-winded, going into bike fit and all, and had turned off many potential responders.
Sinchi
Thanks for responding. Yes, I did use Sheldon Brown's site to calculate my gear gain ratios. I also taped a miniature copy of the table to my top tube. I have the Sugino mtb crankset (46,36,26) which is a favorite of many tourers. My seven speed freewheel is 13,15,17,20,23,26,30 which is not too far from linear. What Harris Cyclery has is a Shimano NOS seven speed freewheel which is similar to the above with a jump to 40t for the largest cog. This is for ease of spinning up the worst grades.
I don't think the problem is the bike set-up: it's me. As a beginner I need to learn and develop my strength for biking.
I started a thread in the 50+ forum for help in developing spinning strength and stamina and received many helpful suggestions. I think the thread that I started in this forum is too long-winded, going into bike fit and all, and had turned off many potential responders.
Sinchi
