Originally Posted by
kraemouse
Yeah I've read a lot of people like to do this.. now the idea is that with the current cog, 2nd is the "true gear- with one tire rotation to one gear rotation?" .. sorry I can't eloquently explain this, don't know the lingo.. but then the 3rd gear has more "resistance," with more than one tire rotation for a turn of the cog? Yes? .. and the idea of adding a 22T cog is to bring 3rd to the "true" speed 1:1, so that 2nd and 1st are high gears and therefore can bring you up hill more easily... and for downhill, you'd just coast in third (which now feels like 2nd with a 22T cog), as apposed to having a low gear at all...
Is that what this does?
Because I personally like riding with resistance.. I'm torn here. I live at the top of a BIG hill.. but riding in high gear is not comfortable for me on flats.. I like really having to work my legs on the flat... goes back to my 18 speed mountain bike I had when I was a kid, I suppose.. I always had that thing in super low gear.. haha.
Anyway.. thats my own personal trouble to deal with..
But from you guys I need to know.. this 22T cog will do what I've described above, yes? Makes 1&2 high and 3 true?
OK, first some how the 3 speed hub works, then some terminology, then my recommendation, then a clarification.
You are correct that in 2nd gear the cog in the rear turns one rotation for each rotation of the wheel. Also called direct drive, 1:1 ratio. 1st gear is a 2:3 ratio, or 33% "easier" to pedal. 3rd gear is 3:2, or 50% "harder" to pedal
LOW gears are those where you turn the cranks at a faster rate for a given speed - more leverage, less pedal pressure. HIGH gears are the reverse - you turn the cranks slower at a given speed but have to puress much harder on the pedals. Generally the goal is to use the gears on a bike so that you don't have to pedal at too fast a rate or push too hard on the pedals. Low gears are for starting up, uphill and headwinds, high gears for downhill, tailwinds and when you are up to speed.
The larger cog will lower
all of the gears (easier to pedal). Usually the stock gear on a 3 speed is 18 teeth, so changing to 22 teeth lowers all the gears by about 18% (4/22). But that is not enough to make the 2nd gear the same as what 1st used to be - more like halfway in between.
I would recommend doing the 22 tooth, or at least a 20 tooth, because the high gear with the 18 tooth is very, very high even if you like riding harder to push gears.
Finally, the phrases underlined above seem contradictory, and I therefore don't know what you mean by the one in bold.
Do you prefer harder and slower pedaling, or easier and faster?