Commute Gear Ratio

karlitob

Hi all,
Interested to hear people’s thoughts on the gear ratio i use. Getting a little more into cycling to looking to understand more.

I do a 25k commute daily. I push hard enough but not too hard. There’s one hill - n11 up to Stillorgan Park Hotel. I have a triple set in the front 28/38/48 and a 9speed 11-32 in the back. But I seem to just use the 38 and 11-12-14-16-18-21. I did use the 48 when needed but with bad weather/traffic etc I rarely feel comfortable getting significant speed. The Hill is tough but I manage ok on that set up.

Any comments? What do other people use? Is it worth trying a chain set with a 42t etc to start building up leg strength.

magicbastarder

is that up mount merrion avenue?
there are a couple of sayings which may or may not help - one being 'if you're not spinning, you're not winning'. grinding a tougher gear ratio does not necessarily mean you'll power up the hill faster. what sort of cadence do you think you're maintaining up the hill?

ED E

Im on a 50/34 - 12/25. Never use the 34.

07Lapierre

I use a 53/39 with a 25/11 10speed cassette

karlitob

magicbastarder wrote: »

is that up mount merrion avenue?
there are a couple of sayings which may or may not help - one being 'if you're not spinning, you're not winning'. grinding a tougher gear ratio does not necessarily mean you'll power up the hill faster. what sort of cadence do you think you're maintaining up the hill?

Thanks for that. Yep that’s the hill - from scoil iosagain to Stillorgan park. Not sure exactly my cadence but it tends to be the same-ish throughout my commute and I adjust my gears accordingly. I see some people with a 46-53t frontring. - not sure I’d manage that at all but wondering if I should make the effort to do so.

Wishbone Ash

48x16 (singlespeed)

OleRodrigo

48 X 16 fixed

magicbastarder

karlitob wrote: »

Thanks for that. Yep that’s the hill - from scoil iosagain to Stillorgan park. Not sure exactly my cadence but it tends to be the same-ish throughout my commute and I adjust my gears accordingly. I see some people with a 46-53t frontring. - not sure I’d manage that at all but wondering if I should make the effort to do so.

i would have guessed your 38 with the range you have on the cassette should be fine - where do you usually find yourself on the cassette when climbing the hill? i'd just guess you should change down on the cassette if you want to push harder.

a 46/53 would be quite rare AFAIK.

boardbeer

magicbastarder wrote: »

'if you're not spinning, you're not winning'

but didn't that get modified after the King of Spinning, LA, got busted, to something like: 'if you're not spinning, you're not doing enough EPO'?

karlitob

magicbastarder wrote: »

i would have guessed your 38 with the range you have on the cassette should be fine - where do you usually find yourself on the cassette when climbing the hill? i'd just guess you should change down on the cassette if you want to push harder.

a 46/53 would be quite rare AFAIK.

Up the cassette a little - 21 at highest. Usually 18.

I’m asking these questions as I’m thinking of changing to a single drive train. Anything I’ve seen is monsters like you guys with a large front chain ring.
I guess start with what I’m used to - 38r front and 11-32 back or even 11-25 back and go from there.

ford2600

karlitob wrote: »

Up the cassette a little - 21 at highest. Usually 18.

I’m asking these questions as I’m thinking of changing to a single drive train. Anything I’ve seen is monsters like you guys with a large front chain ring.
I guess start with what I’m used to - 38r front and 11-32 back or even 11-25 back and go from there.

You could fit a narrow wide chainring up front, in place of middle ring and remove inner&outer along with derailleur.

Fit appropriate case to give you the range you want and dependent on speed of shifters.

Raceface and superstar components do NR rings.

Make sure you get the right bcd for your middle ring

https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/shop/mountain/mountain-drivetrain/mountain-chainrings/

magicbastarder

what sort of bike are you on?
switching to a 1x will involve changing a lot of your drivetrain; you seem to be using a six speed cassette, so getting the kit you need may be more than your bike can take if you want a decent range.
if i understand correctly, you'd probably also need a new rear derailleur so you wouldn't have issues with the chain unseating itself.

karlitob

magicbastarder wrote: »

what sort of bike are you on?
switching to a 1x will involve changing a lot of your drivetrain; you seem to be using a six speed cassette, so getting the kit you need may be more than your bike can take if you want a decent range.
if i understand correctly, you'd probably also need a new rear derailleur so you wouldn't have issues with the chain unseating itself.

Thanks for that.
I’m on a specialised sirrus elite - using a 9speed cassette. Instead of a new bike I’m thinking of upgrading as I go along.
I had a look at the 1x and I understood that if I can go for a single 38t front chain ring (a narrow wide), then keep the 9speed cassette and upgrade derailleur to a clutch mechanism to keep tension. From what I’ve read it’s not a major requirement for commute - it’s only for off road MTB.

magicbastarder

ah, i misread your first post entirely.

karlitob

ford2600 wrote: »

You could fit a narrow wide chainring up front, in place of middle ring and remove inner&outer along with derailleur.

Fit appropriate case to give you the range you want and dependent on speed of shifters.

Raceface and superstar components do NR rings.

Make sure you get the right bcd for your middle ring

https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/shop/mountain/mountain-drivetrain/mountain-chainrings/

Great. Thank you.

Interested about bcd. Wanted to upgrade crankset also - something nice. Spotted the Truvativ omnium. I know it’s for singlespeed. Is the omnium an example of bcd not fitting a 36t nw chainring?

Could you recommend something similar. Strong and polished!!!

C3PO

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

48x16 (singlespeed)

OleRodrigo wrote: »

48 X 16 fixed

44 x 16 (SS) for me ... Clearly a complete blouse!!

boardbeer

70x20 SS (belt) - delivers a nice mixture of spinning & mashing to liven-up the ride to work.

py

Using a 46*16 single speed for commuting right now, not much of an ascent out of the city in the evening to cause me much trouble with it.

mcgratheoin

42*16 Kona Paddywagon drop bar singlespeed - perfect gearing for stop start in the city although it's a bit low for anything above about 35kph. No bother on any draggy hills though

magicbastarder

i go up and down newtownpark avenue on my commute so use anywhere between probably 52x13 on the downhill, and about 36x20 on the uphill.

Colonel Panic

36/46 in front, 11/28 in the back. Spot the CX bike!

I never use the 36 and stick to the 4th to 8th rear gears during my commute

Plastik

I commuted for a while from Bray to D1 on a 46x16 singlespeed. Eventually sold it to make room for other bikes, but even at that stage I had grown tired of it and rarely used it. It was a bit of a chore on days when the wind was blowing. If I was to buy again I'd be looking at lowering the gearing sacrificing a bit of top end and flat speed to make it a bit more of a happy medium all over.

Idleater

Plastik wrote: »

It was a bit of a chore on days when the wind was blowing.

At the risk of offending one speed purists, I run a SRAM automatix at 40/19 and 40/11 which suits me nicely for varied terrain and weather with a decent commuting pannier load.

The 48/16 mentioned earlier sits right in the middle of the gear inch calculations for my setup. I've always wondered what single ratio would suit me for my commute.