ciocc_cat

Frank's wonderfully-written articles in Bicycling really got me thinking about gearing. I often meet cyclists who are clueless regarding their bike's shift sequence and essentially just shift until they find a gear that "feels good". I suppose if you have an eleven cog freewheel there's bound to be just the right gear in there somewhere, but how many shifts are you going to have to make to find it?

J.P.

After reading Frank Berto’s articles I realized that my 1975 Fuji Dynamic 10 really only had 6 speeds since the others were actually just repeat gears. So I converted it to a triple and set it up with a “half step plus granny” an idea I got from Mr. Berto’s articles. His articles were a good part of the reason I used to subscribe to Bicycling Magazine and why I dropped the subscription after they dropped him.

oldster

I recently changed from 52/42, (12/27 10 sp) to a 48/39,, low is 38" , but more important to me is the 48 lets me keep the rpms easily in the 80's to mid 90's on most of my general flat rides...and makes it much better on the knees, and keeps the general good rpm range, in the close spaced part of the casette so its easier to keep the knees in good shape...Bud

LAriverRat

Good timing for this article. After looking up and reading its making some sense of what i am riding. My Bianchi is a killer, 52/42, 13-18 cassette. Any kind of uphill length and it just killed me. Know i know why. My main bike now is a Trek 1400, 52/42 with 13-24 cassette. Low of 47 gear inches. Its OK for some hills and i am getting stronger but i want to go into the mountains. I have a 72 Schwinn Sports Tourer 54/36 with 14-34 cassette. This would give me 28.6 gear inches. I just need to find the right rear derailleur for it. I also have an Giant OCR3 that started as a triple but when i got it it only has the two big rings. Was thinking about a 30 however after reading some of the articles might go with 28 or 26. It has 9 cogs on the cassette. At least i have something to go on to make a decision on the small ring.

akohekohe

I've migrated to low gears over the years with a low of about 16" and highs of around 120". I use all these gears and pretty much never get out of the saddle. If you're wondering how I can get this range I have used various strategies including triples, the Schlumpf bottom bracket gears, and the SRAM dual drive. This gets me the range with reasonably small gaps between gears. With my current favorite bike, my Alex Moulton Dual Pylon, I combine an SRAM Dual Drive with 38 x 53 chain rings and an 11-32 cassette (20" wheels) to get the range. Anyway, I recognize that many will consider this an extreme approach but it works for me.

bobthib

My current low is 35.7 for recreational flat terrain. 50/34 and 11/25. Close enough for now. I'll look into an 11-23 cassette next time.

billydonn

Thanks for the reference. I've ordered Berto's book... it sounds like interesting reading. I've recently migrated to a Sugino touring crankset (48-36-26) with various cassettes according to need. The 36 middle ring works just great for me and, with granny on board, I fear no hill. (Well no known local hill anyway!)

backinthesaddle

Don't know exactly why this thread has been resurrected after 2 years, but it's timely for me.

After a lengthy illness I'm back riding again, but much weaker than before.

Right now I'm just riding flats, so my triple with 53-42-30 chainrings + 13-26 cassette is more than adequate.

For hills I'm in the process of ordering a new rear wheel built with a 12-32 cassette. That will give me about a 25 low gear, compared to 31 now, so that's almost a 20% drop in gear ratio. I'm hopeful that will allow me to resume hill riding.

BluesDawg

There must be more to this story.
Why a new wheel instead of putting a 12-32 cassette on your existing wheel?

Rick@OCRR

Thanks to this thread I did the math and found out that my bike with the SRAM double compact is geared lower than my bike with the Shimano triple!

Not a lot of difference (about 1-1/2"), but still . . . I would have guessed the other way around.

Based on that I've decided to ride my SRAM bike (11-32 cassette) on the Grand Tour Double Century this weekend, esp. for the Potrero Climb that's mostly 12-14% but ramps up in a couple of places to 18-19%.

Probably won't need the 32t on the other big climbs (Grimes Canyon, Dennison Grade, Casidas Pass).

Low gears are good!

Rick / OCRR

Hermes

Realizing that I have selective memory, I recall that Bicycling Magazine during Frank's time as technical editor was interesting. I thought Frank's articles were the sht! and I could not get enough of his gearing articles. What happened? Are there no more smart guys? I find the articles today so dumbed down that they are almost insulting.

Allegheny Jet

This thread had me checking my gearing on all my bikes. I guess I lucked out with my vintage 10 speed Raleigh that has a 12-22 freewheel and a 46/34 crank giving me 7 distinct gear selections. When I restored the bike I wanted to keep it a 10 speed and not have race gearing so I purchased the new crankset. 40.6 is my easiest gear and 100.7 inches in the fastest gear, which is not bad since I only ride the bike on recovery and recreational rides.

Monoborracho

I've been riding my Mountain Roadster with a compact. It makes sense to me.

Terex

President Obama's recent address to the nation was written at a 10th grade level. It was criticized as being "over the head" of most people. Bicycling Magazine = lowest common denominator.

(Please, just using this reference for illustrative purposes. Not intended as any sort of political comment. Thanks!)

ahsposo 

Check out the slide show of his bike on his website. I think you'll understand. That bike is like a fly in amber from around that year. You vintage guys will love it. Pretty bike.

backinthesaddle

Because I've been doing a lot of flat riding -- base training -- lately and I'm very happy with the ratios I have for the flats.
So I want to have another wheel for rides where I climb, instead of having to swap cassettes.

ciocc_cat

Old Bike World and Bicycling magazine articles may be viewed at this link:
https://www.velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=30

Some great articles about gearing by Frank:
https://www.velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=13258
https://www.velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=13304
https://www.velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=13205
https://www.velo-pages.com/main.php?g2_itemId=13206

Enjoy!

John E

Great minds think similarly -- I run 47-38 / 13-15-17-19-21-23 on Capo #1. If I had a 46T outer ring, I would get a near-perfect 1.5-step pattern, similar to the 50-42 / 14-16-18-20-23-26 setup on my Bianchi.

Since I generally do not require a super-low granny and have no use whatsoever for super-high gears, I can cover the range I need with decent ratiometric progression with a 6- or 7-speed freewheel.

Velo Dog

Berto changed my life, too. When I started riding in the '80s, after a post-college layoff, the standard gearing on road bikes was 52-42 rings with a big cog of 24 or so. Twenty-six was for sissies, and nobody had ever seen a 30. Some of that was due to the limitations of the derailleurs, which were fragile to begin with and tended to explode if you tried to push them. The Japanese started building better derailleurs (which made mountain bikes possible, by the way), Berto came along, people realized that suffering wasn't mandatory, and now here we are.

LAriverRat

Had a few moments today and went over the combos that i have versus what i use most on rides. Found my sweet spot in gear inches, for me its 62 to 94. My low of 47( i need lower ones), and high of 108(52/13, not used very much yet). Now i can try to dial in my bikes for what i want to use them for. With out this article i would not have thought much about this. Now i have something to base a plan for what i have and my ability to ride.