jonwvara 

To get the low gearing (without big jumps between gears) I need for the long steep climbs where I live, most of my bikes tend to have a pretty low top end. For example, I've got a double with a 45-14 top gear and a half-step-and-granny triple with a 46-14. My Raleigh sports has a high of around 76 gear inches, I think.
That means I do a lot of coasting while going downhill. If I'm already going 20-25 mph downhill, my reasoning goes, why pedal? Since air resistance increases as the cube of speed (I think that's right), you have to invest a lot of energy to boost your speed from 25 to 35. Why bother? The amount of time you spend going down is brief enough that it has little effect on your average speed. (If you're racing of course, this does matter.) Where you DO gain from trading high gears for more low ones is in the ease and efficiency f going up, which is something that you spend more time doing.
That said, I know there are people out there who like having a 52-11 top gear. What do you have for a top gear, and if it's something really high--say over 105 inches or so--when, how, and why do you use it?

Mr IGH

I don't need much more than ~90" on the road bikes and ~70" on my mountain bikes. I don't ride in a group so I can't really push much more than 20mph unless I have a good tailwind.

mickey85

The Professional has 52X13, the Rapide has 52X14, the Univega is 48X13, the Peugeot coaster is 52X19 (probably the best for singlespeed, at least around here), the Phillips is 46X18 (I think) with a SA AW, and the Kabuki is 48X14.

High gear is much more diverse - Pro: 47X18, Rapide, 38X22, Uni, 28X22, Kabuki, 36X20.

In all truth, the 48X13 on the Uni is probably my best gear on my multi-speed bikes. It'll hit 30 mph relatively easily, allows good climbs, and works well for group rides. I will say though that usually for cruising in the group rides, I usually use 15-16 gear.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

52x14 ....but truthfully I really only use it on downhills....can get me up over 35mph pretty well though.

I just like going that fast downhill for the thrill...and the extra help it gives me in coasting partway up the next hill. There's no bigger bummer to me than a fast smooth downhill with a Stop light at the bottom. Completely ruin the momentum

Ex Pres 

53x11, what else?

Oh, this isn't the road forum.
52x13 on the Trek, (I've never actually counted the FW teeth on the Frejus)but my modern ride truly is 53x11. My SS is 46x16, my fixed is 48x16

EjustE

I got a couple bikes with 52x11 high gear, I am building a bike with a 53x11 in mind. I use this combination mostly on flats and downhills and mostly during races (or in fast training rides) and only after my legs are warmed up. I can get 35+ mph on it depending on drafting, and that's why I use it.

embankmentlb

In my modern bike i can crank a 53-11 & i do it regularly!

mike047

52x13 road bike
44x11 city bike

jan nikolajsen 

On group rides without minimum 52x13 on my vintage bicycles, I will have to spin soooo hard on the descents.

sciencemonster

Competition - 50/13 top, 34/28 low. That will get me there fast, but get me up any hills on the way.

Gran Sport - 46 and a close ratio 12-21. It's set up as a city bike, no need for hills.

I find I always ride in the same gears: 50/16 on the Comp, and 46/14 on the Sport. That's 82.5 and 81. It's nice to have that 100 inch gear though, for when you feel frisky.

I like the biggest spread possible, so I can go anywhere - any recreational ride around here involves steep hills. And that's how I gear all the bikes I build for various people. On the Comp, I've crowded all the gears at the high end, and then added a bailout gear - 13-14-15-16-17-18-28. I am going to do that to the Sport as soon as I gather the parts.

ldmataya 

Your reasoning is correct - you don't need a 53x11 for going downhill, even if you race. Tall gear inches are for going fast at very select times, mostly in sprints and for time trialers who prefer lower cadence. And very few guys other than pros can actually make a difference with a 53x11 as opposed to a 52x12 or lower. I race with a 50x11 high and train with a 50x13 high. It works fine for me because I am not a sprinter. A 50x13 can keep up with just about anyone in an amateur category, and is much better for me than a 53 in group rides.

dit

I have a 52/12 on one bike but I never use it. My other two bikes have a 44/13 which I usually spin out at something over 20 mph at which time I coast. It is quite hilly here and the low gears are very welcome to these old legs on the really steep hills.

big chainring 

49x14 is my top gear and use it on occasion when on a fast group ride. 49x15 is my favorite go fast gear and about as big a gear as I can push( and only for a short while). Most of the time I like riding 49x19, on the flatlands of Illinois.

strop

I started with a 53x12 as my top gear. 53/44 front chainrings and a 12-18 straight up suicide cluster on the rear. These days I've settled down a bit to something more sensible, 12-23 on the rear and 53/39 chainrings. Getting up steep hills with a 44x18 bottom gear is probably half the reason my knees were so bad when I was riding as a 20 something. Mid forties now and more disciplined with the 90rpm cadence.

oldpedalpusher

I live in an extremely steep area, so I'm either grinding up or screaming down. So a low one to one 27 inch gear gets the nod over high which is only a 44-12 for 99 inches. Anything faster than that, I just coast anyways. I don't like big heavy rear cassettes, or large spaced gearing gaps between the cogs. So this is what I run...



It's a triple 20/30/44 up front... with an ultraclose ratio "corncob" 12-20 rear.

Kommisar89

My Bottecchia and Peugeot have 100" 52x14 gears. My Bianchi Veloce has a 108" 53x13. Oddly, I can spin out the Bianchi at around 42-mph but rarely spin out the C&V bikes. I'm not sure why and I don't have a computer on the C&V bikes but I'd guess I'm going about 5-mph slower than on the Bianchi.

On the Bottecchia Gran Turismo I run a 31.5" low and a 100" high with 10-speeds so the gear jumps are pretty big. I prefer cross-over gearing but I think 7 cogs would suit this spread better than 5.

The Panasonic has a 50x13 top gear and I never spin it out even downhill. Too much drag from the racks, bags, fenders, lights, etc.

Oregon Southpaw

Kommisar89,

Semi-random question but what size are your bikes? Also what size are the cranks?

I've been very interested by gear-ratio and how it relates to frame size and cranks because I've ridden alot of bikes this year and every one I ride is a wildly different experience, and I feel like I can just rock out on a tiny bike like I can't on a bigger frame.

For me my high gear is 52/12, ridiculous and I went for it today just because of this thread. I had to find a big hill to climb up just to come down. It was 32 degrees and I'd been riding most of the day so it really wasn't that fun mashing out of the saddle at 45mph.

Oldpeddaller

Biggest high gear is 54 - 12 on my Vitus - 42/54 front, 12/21 rear. ridiculous, but I find I can stomp higher gears on this bike than any of my others, which range from 46 - 14 highest gear to 53 -13. This could be because it's a lot lighter and a bit noodly? Even so I rarely use the 54 - 12, except on long shallow downhills ! My fixed is 46 - 17 and that's a pretty good all round ratio. I find I'm starting to gravitate to lower overall gearing on my current builds, it's easier on the old knees and calf muscles.

gomango

53 X 11. On three bikes (Professional SLX, Master Extra Light, and my Primato) to keep up with the young ones in our group. I should add a tow rope to my wife's Mazda CX-7. Then I could almost pass these guys. Also, my bikes are a longer tt, 58 cm'ish +, with at a 57 cm + seat tube.

big chainring 

I like that, nice set up. I'm building a city bike with a mixte frame. I was thinking of a single speed but now I'm thinking a 6 speed. Using a 40 tooth chainring and a 13-18 freewheel will give me a range of 60 to 83 inches. A good range of gears for a flatlander grocery getter kinda bike.

John E

From the late 1950s well into the 1970s, 52/14 = 100 gear-inches was the default top gear for racing and touring, with some 52/13 = 108s and some mid-90s combinations, including 49/14 and 52/15. For comparison, a typical English 3-speed with a standard Sturmey AW (1.33 - 1.0 - 0.75) hub runs spans about 50 to 90 gear-inches. (Interestingly, a 39 or 40T chainring with an AW hub is like having a 52-39-29 or 53-40-30 triple, close to today's very popular 53-39-30 combination.) For almost two decades, folks raced in the Tour de France with a spread of about 50 to 100 gear-inches, such as 52-48 / 14-16-19-22-26 or 52-42 / 14-16-18-21-24. Today's TdF default is 53-39/11-21 -- no change at the bottom, but a significant increase at the top, presumably to allow the use of a more moderate cadence at high speeds.

I have never gone over 104 gear-inches (52/13 on 26" wheels or either 54/14 or 50/13 on 27"), and today my gear ranges are:
Capo #1: 47-38 / 13-23 = 45 to 98 gear-inches
Bianchi: 50-42 / 14-26 = 44 to 96 gear-inches
Schwinn: 48-40-28 / 13-28 = 28 to 96 gear-inches (26" tires)
Capo #2: 49-46 / 14-26 = 48 to 94 gear-inches
Peugeot: 45-42 / 13-26 = 44 to 93 gear-inches
I almost never wish for anything higher, and I am not willing to open up a gap in my ratiometric progression or to sacrifice my lowest gear to obtain a higher top gear for which I have very little use. If I want to go fast, I spin or coast.

dit

I understand the big gears in a pace line, pelaton, and for sprinting but as a mostly solo recreational rider even as a young man I seldom had need of those big gears. 90 inches was plenty high and seldom used. My normal, flat Indiana riding is done in 54 to 75 inches depending on wind and road surface. I now live in very hilly area south of Nashville TN where the only flat areas are at the top of hills and between the bottoms of hills and I now use all of my gears on every ride. ( 27 to 90 inches ) I do lots of double and triple freewheel shifts which is probably why I still like friction shifters best.

RFC

Now this is interesting! The first triple setup I like.

Am I correct, particularly given the corncob, that you treat this like three separate gearing systems? It looks like your big ring low of 44x20 is about the equivalent of a 53x28 or 50x32 and your 30x20 close to a 39x27 or 34x30. Again, I like the close gear corncob.

This is the same two system conceptual approach that I like to apply by using compact double cranks. However, I like to run a 11x28 with a 50x34 crank. This gives me a high and low roughly comparable to a 53x12 and 39x32. I set up the FD so that I can run the full range in the big ring (yes, crosschaining) and 6-7 gears in the small ring on a 9-speed setup. Actually, 6 and 7 speed drivetrains are much easier to setup to get the full range of gears with each ring.

Some complain that compact cranks require upshifting when going from the big to small. I have never found this to a significant irritation, particularly given the benefits of being able to take advantage of more cassette or freewheel capacity.

BTW, I do have two C&V six speeds set up with 13x21 freewheels and 52x42 cranks. I actually like to force myself to climb hills on those bikes when I need a blow out the carburertor / HTFU workout.

David Newton

I live in a flat town and ride single speed free wheel on 27" wheels, with a 63.4 ratio. That is slightly long for my style of riding, so am considering going back to 26 x 1 3/8" wheels.


How do you post full size pics? I'm posting them at a server...

91MF

on the commuter cannondale a 53t chainring with a 'J' hyperglide 7-speed. 13-14-15-16-17-19-21 only i swapped the 13 for a 12 so high gear is 53/12 = ~116gi on a 700x23c with 170s. my low gear is 66gi which is low enough for me on my commute. i also like the ultraclose ratios 'corncob' haha.
on my singlespeed/fixed gear bikes i usually run 46/16, 48/16, 46/15.
the vicini conversion i have right now is 42/16 and a bit spinny for me as i can +100rpm consistantly in a reasonably higher gear.