racer102

If there is a limit on size of gears how do you tell what size your gear is. And i read in another post that a third chain ring in the front( name slipped my mind) is for touring and not racing is this true.

DannoXYZ 

Well, there are some steep climbs where a triple is needed...

When I was racing juniors, there was 100 gear-inch limit. This worked out to be a 52x14t combo. They would test this by a "roll-out" test where they spin your crank once and measure how far your bike went over that one revolution. Actually they had a 100 gear-inch distance measured out and marked. They'd roll your bike's tyre up to that 1st mark. Put the cranks horizontal or vertical and spin the crank one revolution. By the time your tyre hits that other mark 100 gear-inches away, your crank had better come back to where it started.

AnthonyG

Yes there are age based gear limits but to find out acurately what they are you will need to talk to an official with the group you intend to race with.

Something to be careful of is you calling yourself "Junior". At 12 years of age I don't beleive that you qualify as a junior yet so I don't think you are getting the right answer to your question. In Australia 12-14 is Juvenile 2, 14-16 is juevenile 1 and 16-18 is junior. Above that is senior of course. I'm not however familiar with how they classify different ages in America so that's the first question you should ask.

Regards, Anthony

The Carpenter

First off, this assumes that you are in the U.S.

Yes there are gear limits. Yes it is about 100 gear inches. The USA Cycling rule book states a rollout of 26 feet for all juniors for road races, except cyclo-cross. The officials use rollout to check your gear, NOT gear inches calculated from a gear chart. The reason for this is that the size of wheel and the size of different tires can have a different rollout with the same gears.
The first thing you should do is go to the USA Cycling website www.usacycling.org
and download the 2006 rulebook and start reading through it. If you are going to race track the gear limits are completely different.

Back to rollout. This is a process to determin how far a bicycle will travel in one revolution of the cranks in any given gear. The limit is on your bigest gear, the one that is the hardest to pedal. With your front in the largest chainring(the most teeth) and your rear in the smallest cog (the least teeth), place a mark on the ground. Now with one crank arm of your bike in the 6 o'clock position, place the pedal of that crank arm directly over the mark on the ground. Roll your bike BACKWARDS in a straight line until the pedal that was down goes all the way around and is down again. Make a mark on the ground directly under the pedal. Measure the distance between the two marks. This is your rollout.

In the U.S. we have four age groups for juniors men and women.

Snicklefritz

Why do they have gear limits for juniors?

ed073

To protect developing muscles and connective tissue from injury.

AnthonyG

Here's an excert from the rules,

29
1J6. Junior Gears. For Junior Men & Women, the authorized
maximum chaingear ratio allowed in any road event (except
cyclo-cross) is 7.93 meters (rollout 26'). [45x12 or 52x14
chain ring teeth]. Blocked gears will be allowed, except in
National Championships. For track events the following limits
shall be used: (10-12 years old – 6.00 meters or 19’8” [48 x
17], 13-14 years old – 6.36 meters or 20'10.5" [48 x 16], 15-
16 yrs – 6.78 meters or 22'3" [48 x 15], 17+ yrs. -
unrestricted.) All tests for compliance (road and track) shall
be done using the "roll-out method."

The limits for the track are pretty much in line with what we used on the road as well which makes more sense to me than a blanket 100 inch limit for road which is HUGE.

Back when I was racing ( yeah I know, I know) 100 gear inches was all that any of the seniors were using anyway. As I said in the other thread I can spin out an 80 inch gear to 50 kmh (31 mph) so why do you want juniors under 16 using bigger gears anyway.

Regards, Anthony

Warblade

In the US, he would be considered a "junior". Seeing that I race a lot of junior races as well as senior races I think I should know a little bit about this subject. First off, the gear limit is 100 gear inches, which is perfectly a 52/14. Actually it's like 100.8 but you can't tell the difference. And since you are 12 I would recommend a triple crankset.

Also Anthony, 100 gear inches is not "HUGE". In the junior "B" (15-16) peloton we have been known to be doing about 90 rpms in our 52/14 gears ON THE FLATS. In fact we caught the Womens 1/2/3's the mens 4/5's and were catching up to the men's 3's, but our race ended before we could catch them.

AnthonyG

Everythings relative Warblade.

I consider 90 rpm to be an ordinary sort of cadence. I do the same sort of speed with 80 gear inches @ 110 rpm and in the context of developing young riders the lower gear/higher cadence approach would aid your development.

Regards, Anthony

Warblade

Please realize that a high cadence/small gear combo is not for everyone. Some people just can't produce the same type of consistent power that way. Take Ulrich, for instance, he in no way could produce high cadence as efficiently as he does low cadence. Now granted, those that can produce a high cadence efficiently can benefit greatly from it. Lance Armstrong ring a bell?

racer102

How do you tell what size your gears are

climbo

gear chart, or calculate it using the teeth on each ring.

i.e a 53 front ring, 15 cog = 53/15 x 27 (approx. diameter of wheel) = 95 gear inches.

You can do it for every combination possible on your bike.

The Carpenter

Here's a gear chart/ calculator
www.andysbikes.com/articles/gearchart/
There is alot more of them out there. Find one you like better by searching the web for cycling gear chart

AnthonyG

Well my point is that when your a junior its the right time to learn to spin. At age 15/16 100 gear inches may not be that bad but at age 12 its just rediculous. Having said that your all probably caught up in the machismo of pushing large gears rather than riding efficiently.

If you want to work out gear inches then as someone else said its

Front chainring divided by rear sprocket multiplied by wheel diameter in inches.

For more accurate wheel sizes for your calculatations the old 27 x 1 inch is actualy 26.75 inch, 700c x 23c is 26.3 inches, 700c x 25c is 26.45 inches and 650c x 23c is 24.3 inches.

Regards, Anthony

Jose R

Warblade, if I were you I would heed AnthonyG's advice very carefully. And to add to his arguments, here is a quote from Dirk Demol (Discovery DS) about Tom Boonen who he coached as a junior (from the most recent issue of Cycle Sport):

"Before I came to US Postal I was working with young riders, juniors and espoirs. [ ] I worked with him in that team [Kortrijk Groeningespurters] since he was a debutant, so I know him very well, almost since he started," Demol says.

"As a youg rider Tom was not living as a pro. A lot of young riders are doing that, and its wrong. He won a lot races, but he wasn't living as a pro. He was young and made jokes with his friends and played around, but still he won alot of races and he was one of the best of his category.

"I really liked seeing him pedaling on small gears. He was a big guy when he was young; a tall guy and also really muscled. But he never won his races because of his power - it was always on souplesse, spinning all the time. That is something that I really like to see."

If Tom Boonen has the humility to spin a small gear as junior, despite his physical prowness, then a junior racing in the US can do the same.

Understand one thing, talent is talent, and it will always shine through. And you don't become a world class rider by relying on your strengths, you do so by working on your weaknesses.

Saying, "Please realize that a high cadence/small gear combo is not for everyone. Some people just can't produce the same type of consistent power that way. Take Ulrich, for instance, he in no way could produce high cadence as efficiently as he does low cadence," is a damn poor excuse for being lazy. And using Ullrich as an example is ridiculous. You have no idea what his training program was in East Germany as a junior.

A good coach would never allow his 15-16 year old juniors to spin a 52-14 gear at 90rpms. That's an utter joke. That's only 42kph (26mph)! As a junior you should be able to easily spin a 52-17 at those speeds.

ed073

+1

Excellent postage.

The Carpenter

My 11 year old daughter can spin the 45x16 (75.9 inch) gear on her track bike to 30mph, that's 135 rpm. By the way that's the max racing gear on the track for 10-12 juniors.

Spin to win.

Jose R

You got that right.

And let me tell you, your daughter would ride circles around alot of the "trackstars" here at Kissena.

lolzorz

In my first race I was disqualified because of gear limits. I didn't know about them. However they rolled out my bike before the Time Trial and it passed. But after the TT it failed. I do not know how. To make things worse I had just beaten my field by 2 minutes in the Time trial and now I get the DQ. Kinda pissed me off.

urbanknight

Did you add air to the tires after the first rollout? Did they do both rollouts with you on the bike? Maybe you sweat a lot of weight off in the time trial while simulatneously increasing the air pressure due to the heat generated by your blistering pace, and had emptied your water bottles. *Note, the last comment is sarcastic.

ElJamoquio

Just like McEwen and Rasmussen.

kukusz

Which one is the climber and which one is the sprinter? It's hard to tell by looking at their physiques.